Sukob (2006)

Sukob (2006) Movie Review
Written By: A.C.P
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff

Film Information

Director(s): Chito S. Roño
Writers(s): Chito S. Roño, Chris Martinez
Producer(s): Charo Santos-Concio, Malou N. Santos
Date Released: July 26, 2006

Cast:
Kris Aquino as Sandy
Claudine Barretto as Diana
Wendell Ramos as Dale
Bernard Palanca as Brian
Boots Anson-Roa as Tessie
Ronaldo Valdez as Fred
Maja Salvador as Joya
Liza Lorena as Gilda
Raquel Villavicencio as Belen
Jhong Hilario as Erning

Rating = 3.5/5 Graves

***May contain some spoilers***

Synopsis

Sukob (2006) is about two couples, Sandy and Dale, who reside in Manila, and Diana and Brian, who are settled in Nueva Ecija. They are married within the same week, and both experience visions of a diabolic flower girl. Family members also disappear one by one. Kept secret all these years by Sandy’s father, Diana is Sandy’s stepsister from an illicit affair. According to a Filipino wedding superstition, siblings are never to be married the same year or misfortunes will befall them. Sandy and Diane, the latter being in her first month of pregnancy, reach out to each other, and together they find a way to end the curse.

Gore Factor

The main tormentor in this film is a bedraggled, corpse-like flower girl. The film does not specify her origins, but she is cleverly placed in scenes where the scare factor is maximized. As the film progresses, we already begin to get used to her, dwindling the shock. However, she surprises us still. An example of an exremely creepy scene nearing the end is Diane and her friend Grace walking on a benighted street by themselves, only to see that moving alongside them is a shadow of the flower girl on the road. When they stop, it stops. Deaths of the characters are not particularly bloody and gory, but their spirits that appear later on are used for good scares.

The Grave Review

Sukob (2006) is undeniably a gem in the local horror industry. It builds up from an old superstition into a masterpiece which sake is not solely to give us all a good scare. It’s hard to put drama and horror together, but this film does it with its great cast and production. All the actors and actresses, main or supporting alike, down to the van driver and the photographer in the story, did great with a slight exception of the two husbands—Dale and Brian—who can be awkward sometimes. Family relationships are explored: the friction between Sandy’s parents Tessie and Fred, and between Diane and her mother-in-law Belen. We are immersed in their misunderstandings and reconciliations, and at the back of our minds, we look forward to the crossing of paths of the sisters, Sandy and Diane. The curse can only be broken if one of them is willing to sacrifice herself, and seeing that Diane is pregnant, Sandy offers her life for her sister at the end of the film. The transitions and flow of events are also seamless, sound effects rather than music are utilized. One of the most effective scare tactics they used is Sandy’s house being adjacent to another house whose former occupants have died in the same chain of events that a wedding curse entails. Here and then we are kept on the edge of our seats expecting apparitions to turn up at the windows.

Considering all points above, Grave Reviews gives Sukob (2006) a rating of three and a half graves over five.

---

Do you agree with our review? Comment below.

You may also like our review of the film, Aurora.