I'm sorry but I just have to write something about this movie given the very kind reviews in the page.First off, I don't think this is the kind of movie that even the mass audience will like as commented in one of the reviews. It's evident with the gross of the movie. It tanked.Now I'm a huge fan of horror movies and I'm a fan of great tagalog horror movies like "feng shui", "sigaw" and for some parts, "sukob". But c'mon, this movie is just wrong starting from the premise: How they were able to capture Guada??? I mean c'mon. These aswangs should have superhuman strength and if I can remember it right, they don't have any idea how to kill or even weaken them.I also have a HUGE problem with Alfred who apparently tried everything to kill Guada. Duh! Why didn't he thought of decapitating her??? Isn't that one of the top five ways to kill a beast? And those are just the big problems, also have problems with: - the romantic insinuation between Guada and Lukas which didn't quite take off. Was that just bad acting or was it really part of the story? - the ending: what's with the face of Lukas as he drives away? - In one of the scenes, Lukas just barred the door with a rolling hospital bed and it seriously kept the aswangs out. what??? - the lack of visual effect to show the agility of the aswangs... totally made the film look like a B movie All in all, the screenwriter decided to make a movie with characters who apparently lacks common sense. or even worse, he's expecting the audience to leave their brains out before watching the movie. Yam Laranas did display his mastery of the camera but that alone makes you a good director.I believe this is the first time I'm rating this low and believe me, the movie deserved it.

The latest movie of Richard Gutierrez, PATIENT X is a sure Halloween treat for everyone. His performance together with Christine Reyes and Richard's brother made the movie terrifying and worth considering for International release. It is Rated R-13 that is why I was not able to watch the movie with my son but upon watching I presume that it definitely should be rated that way because of blood and gore. Although by my standards it is still way below films like Final Destination and SAW.The story tells the tale of a survivor from a family massacred by the famous Philippine, "Aswang." Lucas, played by Richard then received a message that the killer of his family was captured. The hospital in which the patient is in made emergency evacuation after creatures began attacking the hospital.STORY: 10 - means the depth of the story and the overall plot. CHARACTERS: 10 - this pertains to the ability of the characters to portray their roles. COHERENCE: 10 - ability of the story to be coherent as the episode progresses. DEPTH: 10 - the effectiveness of the story to relay the full plot and to show the story of each character. MUSIC: 10 - effective use of music in the story. VISUAL EFFECTS: 10 - amount and effectiveness of special effects. POPULARITY: 10 - relative popularity of the story/TV series. RECOMMENDATION: 10 - my recommendation TOTAL RATING: 10.00 Definitely this is another movie on the "Best Movies" section of this blog. The plot and performance was superb as well as the music and the suspense. You will surely jump off your seats while watching this movie.This is Richard's first producer role as well and I can say that he made one hell of a great movie specially that it is directed by Yam Laranas who is also behind the critically acclaimed, "Sigaw" which has now a Hollywood remake entitled, "The Echo."The ending of the movie is also an open ended ending which gives us some hint that it might have a sequel depending on the local and international reception of the movie.

According to press releases for this movie, Patient X shows us director Yam Laranas' take on the Aswang folklore (an Aswang is a vampire-like creature of Philippine folklore), and puts it in the storyline that asks "What if we ever caught one of these aswangs?" The movie does show that, but it quickly becomes this survival horror about a group of people stuck inside a rural hospital that is being attacked by a group of aswangs. PATIENT X is a movie that many Pinoy horror audiences will definitely enjoy. Preferably for the same audiences that had made movies like Feng Shui or the Shake Rattle & Roll movies a hit at the Philippine box office. Because Patient X does provide the jumps, the scares, and the monsters, all enough to make its mainstream audiences scream. It is the kind of movie that will preferably be enjoyed by a large mainstream crowd (preferably not film critics) who just want to have a good time, brains left outside the theater doors preferably. Now that is the extent of what little praise I have for the movie. I am really sorry to say this because I am a fan of his works, but Patient X is probably Yam Laranas' weakest movie. The movie has a good premise to begin with. The idea of an aswang held in captivity is something that can create a far more interesting film than what was made. The story never does a good job in covering its loopholes. For instance; none of the characters seem to think of using their cellphones or their mobile radio communicators to call for outside help. This error just makes the film's characters look like idiots. The policemen in the movie felt like cardboard horror victims, their characters are almost too cartoonish. It's like they all wore a bright yellow t-shirt that says "filler character" or "victim no.1". The flow of the film is oozing with predictability. One could even easily guess the sequence of who dies first and who survives at the end. I feel that the monster design on the aswangs looked awkwardly-placed. It was as if they just came off a Halloween Party, what with faces too white and outlandish. Sure their make-up was intricate, but there were moments that they looked silly. It was also a bit inconsistent that at an earlier scene the aswangs could talk to each other coherently, and the next scene, they appear and act orc-ish (communicating in growls and snarls and acting animalistic. Even though one could justify that they were in their "aswang mode" it still felt so inconsistent with their earlier scenes. As if they were taking on a completely different character all of a sudden). But this is just a very minor factor, because what really made a difference in the movie was Richard Guttierez's acting, which is really unbearably bad.I felt that it really is unfortunate that Guttierez plays the lead role in this movie. No matter how many times he's had movie and TV appearances, it seems to never have any progressive effect on his acting. His performance looks like it is only equivalent to some high school actor in a classroom play. In some scenes he looks like he's too conscious of how he looks, and in most of the scenes, I feel like the director should inject him with some heavy narcotics just to get him to do some real acting. Somebody better either get him into some military-type acting workshop or get him into substance abuse. But then again, some people are just born to be really bad actors. Despite these bad factors that plague Patient X (pun intended), the film does have its great points. A Yam Laranas film always looks great. His direction makes sure that the cinematography is outstanding. As harsh as my review seems to be, I still urge true lovers of cinema to watch this because of how Laranas executes beautiful lighting and stylish scenes. His use of the lightning effects on some characters, the use of shadows and darkness in a scene, the blurry silhouettes that gives way to creeping anticipations. These are things that make Patient X worthwhile to watch despite its flaws. I also love the concept of how the aswangs hold their victims using their mouth, as if how a wolf carries around their victims: held tightly in their mouth. Critiquing Laranas is not a simple task because his skill has already gone beyond just local filmmaker borders. Laranas is to be judged alongside international mainstream-friendly directors, like Paul Anderson (Event Horizon, Resident Evil), James Wan (Saw, Death Sentence), and even Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Drag Me to Hell). You just can't compare Laranas' works to the typical Philippine mainstream films. Patient X is not a movie that I liked. But at least in comparison, this was a great, spectacular horror movie compared to what is usually released by the mainstream local film industry. As I have said earlier, this is a film recommended for mainstream audiences, preferably in large crowds. If you and your friends are out to watch a movie where you can just scream or maybe laugh at, this is for you.