In my almost 18 years of writing for this blog, I've come across a number of real stinkers, films that are shoddily made, produced without thought and told with stories that simply don't work. I was expecting the same when I saw D' Aswang Slayerz, the new film from actor/director Ricky Rivero. But I'm going to say this right now before y'all expect me to lie down like a corpse somewhere and clown on this film: I don't think D' Aswang Slayerz is that bad. I can't say it's a good film, but believe me, I've seen way worse.
Let's take a step back. As far as I know, D' Aswang Slayerz is the first theatrical project of Amartha Entertainment Production, a company that makes Youtube web series featuring its stable of talents. The main guy heading up the company (and the "protagonist" of this film) is one Mel Martinez, whom Filipino film experts will note is the brother of Diamond Star Maricel Soriano. We'll talk about him later.
The film is, perhaps, a means of stepping up their game - a risky and ballsy decision. However, the local film industry is ruthless and pretty costly: I'm sure you've heard of well done, quality productions fizzling out in cinemas before the weekend - well, as of this writing (I started writing this a week ago lol), only a single cinema is still showing the film in Metro Manila - SM North Edsa - and on a single screening, too. The film seems to have a little more success in the provinces, where its brand of humor probably clicks better with audiences there, but I was lucky to have seen the film before it all but disappears.
D' Aswang Slayerz (yes, the Z is intentional) is about Paps Mir (Martinez), an unemployed man who lives in a rented apartment with his adoptive daughter Eve (Athalia Badere). Paps Mir tries to establish several businesses of his own to little success, and the two are in danger of being evicted. However, the two of them are greeted by a mysterious figure who turns out to be La Niña (Magdalena Fox,) a (kinda) long lost relative who is part of an aswang-slaying clan back in the province - and since Paps and Eve are legit blood related to that family, they are inheritors of the clan's famed aswang-slaying powers. The two move to an aswang-infested baranggay in the province where they soon get distracted in various affairs: while Eve takes the vampire threat seriously, Paps decides to become the family chef for the baranggay chairman Eudora (Sharmaine Arnaiz), who coincidentally turns out to be the local queen of the aswangs, Helga.
Shenanigans ensue, and by shenanigans I mean,,, not a lot. Paps Mir, Eve and their neighbor Logan (GJ Dorado) get magical weapons, "train" in various aswang killing techniques and lounge around while the aswangs they are supposedly hunting kill and kidnap a lot of people. It's a small step away from becoming completely nonsensical, but the movie manages to stumble into a conflict between Paps, who is smitten by hunky tricycle driver Troy (Lester Tolentino), and Eve, who knows that Troy is part of the aswang pack. It's a really silly turn of events, but to be fair the movie doesn't take itself too seriously either. This is the low budget equivalent of an MMFF movie, and I would not be surprised if Martinez and his colleagues tried to submit this last year to the festival. Full of insult comedy, references to Filipino cinema and camp, in concept the film should work. But unfortunately, due to limitations in budget and technical expertise, the end product is mediocre at best, and achingly dull at worst.
As mediocre as the film is, there are a few bright spots: the film's MVP is undoubtedly Magdalena Fox. Fox, an internet personality whose origins stem from Tiktok, brings a weird kind of charm to her performance and won this cynical movie watcher over. Unfortunately, the film's main protagonist is in my opinion its weakest link: Mel Martinez' exaggerated facial contortions and bulging eyes are like if William Hung and Graves' Disease had an angry, surly baby. It would have been great for comedy but there's a edgy meanness to Martinez' character and humor that it doesn't really work.
It mostly means well, though because it leans a lot into its self-awareness, it made it hard to find the whole affair ironically entertaining. Add that to the fact that the film is as technically polished as a preschooler's drawing - missing minutes of audio in the most crucial and climactic scene. Though it starts pretty interestingly, D' Aswang Slayerz has a languid, boring middle part and a third act that is plain unfinished.
In times past I probably would have been harsher, but time does mellow a man, and to be fair the five people who watched it with me seemed to be entertained for at least the film's first part, so it's not a total loss. This is not the worst local film of 2023. It's not even close. But don't expect a masterpiece either.
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