This zombie comedy has little success in delivering the laughs it intended to generate.
Viva Films
Actors: Candy Pangilinan, Jerald Napoles, Kim Molina, Johnny Revilla, Andrea Barbierra, TJ Valderama, Yayo Aguila
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Premise: Two maids and a driver have to survive their longest night ever while being trapped inside a mansion, as green-bloodied zombies rage outside.
Running Time: 80 minutes
Director: Mike
o Livelo
Watch it on: Vivamax app, web.vivamax.net
Why You Should See It:
The whole of Viva Films’ newest offering in its seemingly endless streak of pandemic movies, seems to be anchored upon a well-intentioned aim: to provide a little bit of positivity at a time when most people are having a hard time. Humor becomes the film’s answer, but since it’s also Halloween, Viva decides they might as well make it a zombie movie.
In the film, Vivamax staple, Kim Molina plays Jhemerlyn, who gets forced to join her cousin Neneng (Pangilinan) at the mansion house she works for. Though she [already] earned her college diploma, she felt the need to take a chance to help her family in meeting the hospitalization needs of her father, who got injured by playing basketball.
She eventually arrives at her cousin’s workplace, which is bound to be the only refuge from a looming zombie apocalypse in town.
One can sense that the film is having trouble fulfilling its goal in its first few minutes alone.
The fault [mostly] lies with the choices employed in the film, which had a more unflattering effect on its storytelling. There are unnecessarily lengthy conversations, the script can drop, but they feel to be a persistent feature that the film continues to bank on to deliver its humor.
For a film that is just 80 minute-long, Sa Haba ng Gabi still feels very long. That doesn’t necessarily need to be a problem, but in this case, it is.
Characterization is also a persistent problem as most of the roles are mostly two-dimensional and predictable.
Pangilinan’s Neneng, for example, spends so much time talking about how lucky she is to enjoy all the perks of being [practically] the owner of the mansion, her boss rarely stays in).
Molina as the talkative, but barely sensible, Jhemerlyn, had all the time in the world to excessively display her naivety and sense of wonder for new things, but it’s a quality the film repeatedly mistakes for charm, when it is in fact, more like a nuisance.
That said, there surely are things in Sa Haba ng Gabi that can still please casual audiences.
Humor, after all, finds audiences in any population. To its credit, this worn-out zombie flick has that appeal that can still ignite interest, no matter how poorly executed and uninspired it feels.
5 – Excellent
4 – Very Good
3 – Good
2 – Tolerable
1 – Terrible
Sa Haba Ng Gabi now streams on VIVAMAX. Watch the full trailer below:
