Cesar Montano stars,wrote the screenplay and directed this film entitled "Ligalig" which happens to be a French rip off of the movie made by Alexandre Aja and starred by Cecile de France and Maiwenn known as "High Tension".No question that this Filipino film totally imitated the French slasher flick from beginning to end.It took everything from its story,the characters,the murders,the twist of having the main character - Junior - who is suffering from double personality and the conclusion.Too bad that it was a poor imitation as some elements that were done were out of place such as the masturbation scene,the shower scene,the gun toting mother and brother,the prostitutes involved and many others.As for the additional elements such as the melodramatic and violent characters,they looked simply out of place as well and does not contribute to the overall story.What's worse,there are more questions that needed to be answered at the end of the movie as plot holes can be detected by intelligent viewers.Added to that,the use of special effects too were clumsily done and excessive.They could be tiresome as the movie progresses.One might even laugh at their use in some of the scenes.In summary,this was a bad movie.I know that the Philippines can produced better films than this.

Cesar Montano is probably the best Filipino actor I have ever seen in after I have seen numerous Filipino films.One that I like is about the Philippines' national hero "Jose Rizal".Too bad that I felt truly disappointed upon seeing him involved in this Filipino film entitled "Ligalig" (English translation: Anxiety). I felt that he truly has somewhat downgraded his career particularly being a director being involved in an imitation to a French horror film "Haute Tension".Too bad that I have seen "Haute Tension" and what is worse is the fact that almost every scene in this film was adapted from the French original from its rural setting,the double personality of the main character that happens to be a taxi driver and the killer,the killings that have transpired, the "masturbation" scene,the objective of the killings which is obviously romantic and a lot more.What's worse is the fact that it made fools of its viewers as the dialogues that have transpired were both silly and childish.Do I need to even mention the poorly done special effects?Anyone familiar with the French film will definitely see a Filipino version it.A very poor version that is.Skip it at all cost.

I saw the trailer for this movie and it was enthralling and looked like the greatest thriller of 2006. Sad to say, it is a great disappointment for me.The movie starts with a hyper-extended sex scene (complete with audio) which I did not find relevant to the plot of the story (except for the fact that the woman in the scene was the prostitute acquainted to Cesar Montano's character, Junior, who was murdered). I mean, why the full-blown sex scene? What happened to "fade-outs"? The rating was only R-13! I assume that this is something to lure men to catch the movie. It's something to boast about for them, isn't it? ("Hey, this movie is steamy! Go see it!")The second thing I noticed was the use (or misuse thereof) of green/blue screens. Cesar plays a taxi driver in the movie. The problem was that the scenery around him was so so evidently unrealistic. You could see where his taxi ended and where the CGI magic began without subtlety. Most movies have their cameras switching one or two angles every now and then, while this movie kept going 360 degrees round and round over and over. It made me quite dizzy.The third thing was that almost everyone in the movie smoked like chimneys. Again, what relevance to the story? The ending was the biggest bummer. It was a rip-off of Secret Window. Need I say more? I left the theater irritated. One good thing: The makers of this movie know their trailers. It's really deceiving. They should stick to strictly trailers. Leave the actual movies alone. Please.

Ah, it's Christmas once again! And in this festivity-mad country, that means the ubiquitous Christmas lanterns, "noche buena," carolers, and - tada! - the Mother Lily Film Carnival, er, Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). The Philippines has held onto a long tradition of this year-ender film festival, most of which revolve around mediocre fantasy and horror films, much to the dismay of many local film pundits, although in recent years the burgeoning of alternative indie film festivals has somehow made it easy taking MMFF with a grain of salt. As it is, as far as MMFF is concerned, film-making per se is only a junior-grade objective compared to marketability, lending further credibility that the festival has transformed along with the season it is held as one that succumbed to crass and commercialism. But to be fair, some recent MMFF had seen some fair share of decent, if not remarkably good, movies."Ligalig," by director/co-writer/co-producer/star Cesar Montano (best known in the circuit as the director/co-writer/co-producer/star of 2004 MMFF entry "Panaghoy sa Suba"), falls somewhere in this category. Although experienced movie-goers will probably figure out the ambivalent story's twist from a mile away (which is similar to a number of foreign films, Hollywood and otherwise), and that Montano's camera-work tend to be distracting at a few points (honestly the revolving camera during the car scenes get to you after a while), much of the film is dominated by a morbidly thoughtful and stylish atmospherics.The movie tells the story of Junior (Montano), a taxi driver who goes to the countryside one day with his girlfriend (Montano's real-life wife Sunshine Cruz) and her sister (Katya Santos) amidst news that a serial killer (Johnny Delgado) has been rampaging around Manila. Junior meets the woman who could be his mother-in-law (Celia Rodriguez) and she certainly doesn't like him for her daughter. Soon, for some reasons the killer reaches where Junior is and shortly begins to off the folks in the area.Viewing "Ligalig" gives an apparent sense of the director's eagerness in creating a visually arresting if somewhat pokey topic of discourse. The style is so deviant of mainstream Filipino films that it feels more at home with digital film festivals (the cinematography in some parts reminds me of Ron Bryant's "Rotonda") where the gritty quality of the digital camera aids in giving the film its quasi-noir look. But there are times the film feels dilatory and a pruned script could have provided the attempt in ambiguity with more impact.*STATEMENT OF PLOT TWIST FOLLOWS* It probably doesn't help either that the film's posters give much of the nature of the story as we see Montano wearing the outfit of the serial killer. So from there, if you've seen enough films from Hollywood tackling the same theme, it's easy to deduce the ending. Schizophrenia or possession of an avenging ghost? Take your pick. *STATEMENT OF PLOT TWIST ENDS* Besides the ever-reliable Montano and Delgado, the performances are pretty much competent throughout. Cruz (in her second CEB A-rated film this year after "Inang Yaya") is good as Junior's girlfriend (try as I may, I can't recall her name), as is Rodriguez as a woman with something who may or may not hold something up her sleeve. Santos provides extra pull for the male demography but her presence is mostly on-off where her longest scene involves taking a bath in lingerie with John Regala (don't get any ideas; it's an R-13 movie). Fellow Viva Hot Babe Gwen Garci has a love scene with Montano during the opening credits but it's heavily grained and in black-and-white.Released in a period that has virtually become this country's excuse for creating mainstream movies, I don't think "Ligalig" would be the film most Filipino viewers are willing to give a chance to this season. However, it could find its audience in those who can overlook the movie's weaknesses in favor of Montano's strong and refined narrative style. For that, I'm looking forward to brighter (or darker, for that matter) things from him in the future.