THE DEBUTANTES (2017) Review
Directed by Prime Cruz
It was quite a momentous turn for cinema when Carrie (1976, a TV Movie) premiered for tackling bullying in school and turn it into a much scarier scene. Prime Cruz’s The Debutantes also goes with that route, but the mystery here unfolds in the end in a big way, not emotionally but visually.
The film is Cruz’s second horror film after Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B. Like his first, The Debutantes is deliciously shot. From the angles to the colors, the film looks beautiful and is easy on the eyes even if some blood or shocking elements appear on the screen.
Also Prime Cruz’s strength in his previous films is building the mood. It’s hardly noticeable or some actually don’t mind building moods in their films, but it actually helps the audience on how they should or could feel at the same time. In here, building the mood also applies to building the scares. And how the film effectively pulls of its scares, may it be jump scares or the ones that are disturbing.
Sue Ramirez, Jane de Leon, Michelle Vito, Chanel Morales and Miles Ocampo clearly can deliver and carry the film all on their own. Even if some of them are newcomers and all of them gets to star in their own film for the first time, everything The Debutantes has are all but amateurs.
The Debutantes surprisingly goes simple. For a horror film, the film’s main attraction are its stars, cinematography and of course, the scares. The story is straighforward, it’s fast paced, characters’ take on bullying are on point and the story conclusion connects everything.
3.5 OUT OF 5 STARS
“The Debutantes” is now showing in cinemas nationwide from Regal Entertainment, Inc. and The IdeaFirst Company. Rated PG by the MTRCB.