Heads up, spoilers ahead!
Sofia Pablo gets to flex her acting skills in Huwag Kang Titingin, a new horror movie by GMA Pictures and Mentorque Productions.
As Selene, she plays a trauma-laden schoolgirl, who unknowingly drags her friends to a cursed town haunted by the Ang Umaaligid, a mysterious demon that eats human souls.
To save her friends, Selene must deal with the consequences of a past death that haunts her dreams.
Will she be able to solve the mystery on time, before all her peers become demon chow?
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HUWAG KANG TITINGIN: CAST PERFORMANCE
Sofia’s portrayal of Selene is raw and deeply moving.
The young Kapuso actress delivers a vulnerable performance that demands attention and establishes her status as one of her generation’s most promising actresses.
More impressive still is how Sofia brings nuance to her character, even with a role that can sometimes feel a bit one-note.
Selene is a teenager out on a mini-vacation with her friends, but there are no moments of levity or warmth. The character is just so heavy.
The lack of solid characterization plagues most of the characters.
Allen Ansay’s Badong is probably the most layered character, a young man willing to sacrifice even himself to save Selene.
He doesn’t have much dialogue, but his eyes are already so expressive that he doesn’t really need lines to convey the depth of his devotion.
Shuvee Etrata is magnetic and effortlessly funny as an influencer named Diane, but is quite unable to fully shift away from her jovial personality during the scary sequences.
She’ll be perfect in a horror comedy.
Sean Lucas is another influencer named Arjay with comedic moments that sometimes don’t quite land as strongly as intended.
Marco Masa and Charlie Fleming fare better as Bryan and Kira, but they are underutilized.
Similarly, Josh Ford’s Onat and Kira Balinger’s Liza deliver the most nuanced performances of the entire barkada. Too bad, they don’t get a lot more elaborate moments.
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HUWAG KANG TITINGIN: hiccup
The promising performances of these actors are often held back by a narrative that struggles to gain momentum and lingers in a kind of suspended animation for much of its runtime.
There are scenes that feel “bitin," and are squandered on a loop of passivity: waiting in a stalled vehicle, waiting for a friend to return from a solo excursion, or waiting for an eerie priest while bickering over an escape plan.
Aside from the passivity, the screenplay occasionally includes details that are a bit unclear.
The mechanics of the Ang Umaaligid are incoherent. Is it triggered when someone follows ghostly footsteps? When someone opens their eyes during a ritual? Or is it a punishment given by someone else?
There’s also mention that Selene is the only one who can defeat the monster because she’s the only one who has safely escaped its clutches.
But another character also escaped it at the beginning of the film.
HUWAG KANG TITINGIN: BREAKTHROUGH
The film's strength is its striking visual flair.
The monster’s character design is truly out of this world, and there are some cool kills that are creepy enough to satisfy horror fans.
One standout scene is the moving church statues, which relies not on jump scares but slow psychological dread.
Huwag Kang Titingin boasts high-caliber monster designs and moments of genuine atmosphere, but its main draw ultimately lies in the cast’s performances.
It serves as a testament to the untapped potential of its young stars.
For those seeking inventive kills and a fresh face for local horror, it is worth the watch—just don’t expect the internal logic to be as sharp as the creature’s claws.
Now showing in cinemas nationwide, it is directed by Frasco Mortiz, and produced by GMA Pictures and Mentorque Productions.