Banal

Banal is the 2019 Filipino psychological horror movie directed by Peter Abana. The film stars Bianca Umali, Miguel Tanfelix, Andrea Brillantes, Taki and Kim Last.

Plot
A group of five youths are hiking on their way to a sacred mountain as paranormal hauntings resurface en route through the forest.

Why It's Banal, Hence The Title.

 * 1) This movie serves as a blatant rip off of the David Bruckner movie, The Ritual, with some minor differences especially with the characters and the story.
 * 2) Unlikable characters like Mac and Thea with no relatable counterpart that even they were meant to be the hateable jerks, their execution were done so poorly that even when they died during the third act it means nothing to the audience.
 * 3) Clichéd and stereotype Friday The 13th wanna be slasher characters with Erika being the final girl, her backstory doesn't contrast anything at all to the story and suffers from the usual Filipino archetype of the religious and naive girl.
 * 4) Thea is clearly the queen bee who is an egoistic rich girl who also steered her friends to death. Her death in the third act is so meaningless because it was her own injudicious fault.
 * 5) Occasionally, movies does explains the threat at the second act, while it was partially teased at the beginning, but Banal sits there with almost 60 minutes of fillers.
 * 6) Like Slender Man, rather being scary it's downright hilarious.
 * 7) That scene where Thea was more concerned to her Digicam than what's going on.
 * 8) Ham-fisted character decisions that leaded them to their own doom.
 * 9) Horrendous performance from Kim Last.
 * 10) The movie is so predictable especially when you already seen the David Bruckner movie.
 * 11) Some few innuendos or brief and downright unintentional creepy scene that were not even part of the scare.
 * 12) Poor casting choice, most notable the sixteen years old Andrea Brillantes being typecasts because of her previous role as Marga on a popular drama series, Kadenang Ginto.
 * 13) That pointless and disjointed introduction scene where somebody got killed off-screen was never mentioned again.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Amazing cinematography especially that aerial shot which gives the eerie nature of the movie.
 * 2) The sound design is so distinctive and unique for a Filipino movies.

Reception
Banal received mixed reviews from critics, but it was heavily panned by audiences criticizing it as an obvious rip off of the David Bruckner film and accusing it too as a poor man's version of the Blair Witch Project as well as the acting. Banal holds the rating of 4.3 out of 27 votes in 2020. However, in a review from Rapper claiming to be a "surprisingly unsettling" movie. Quoting that "It’s very clear from its prelude that there is real talent involved in Banal." But criticized the characters as a "careless teenagers meeting their dastardly fate because of their unfettered curiosity and their disregard of rules." While Miggy Ramos from Cinema Bravo gave it a 4 out of 5 stars and averred the movie to be the "New Wave of Philippine Horror Genre" quoting that "Banal proves to be an effective Filipino horror film. Despite some of its narrative lapses, it achieves its goal to terrify and unsettle audiences." Praising the movie's haunting setting and cinematography. As of now, Banal is currently available on Netflix.

Full film
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