U Turn (Review)
by TE Simmons
Director – Roderick Cabrido (as Derick Cabrido) (Tuos, Purgatoryo)
Starring – Kim Chiu (The Ghost Bride, Bakit Hindi Ka Crush Ng Crush Mo?), JM de Guzman, Tony Labrusca
Release Date – 2020
Rating – 3.5/5
U Turn (2020) is a Filipino remake of a Bollywood version of the same title dated two years earlier (not much time between remakes). The first film was both written and directed by Pawan Kumar. He receives credit in this one, too. Both films are worthwhile ghost flicks and different enough from each other in several respects to make back-to-back viewing enjoyable. But the newer Filipino variation does a better job at a maintaining a slightly dulled visceral edge and a decent momentum.
Horror movies typically employ a moral subtext, some more subtly than others. What happens when Little Red Riding Hood leaves the path? Gore and consumption. What happens when teens procreate? Guts and slashing. This one is no different.
**Spoiler Alert** In U Turn, the moral is – you guessed it – that one must obey traffic laws. Specifically, characters face comeuppance for deviating from the ‘No U-Turn rule’ at an out-of-the-way roadway construction site where a spooky hobo tabulates violators. This sounds campy, and it is. But not in a self-aware way that makes fun of itself – or in a way which detracts from the narrative. The climax involves the heroine finding her moral center and just talking some sense into the avenging spirits. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen in an American horror film.**Spoiler Alert**
Our lead character is Donna, a journalist at an online news site where the pressure to produce viral-worthy stories and generate revenue tempts her to cut a few ethical corners at accident scenes. While a love triangle sub-plot ambles along, she uses her journalistic chops to investigate a question: Who is the ghost or ghosts making mayhem in Manila? Played by the talented Kim Chiu, Donna doggedly tackles the issue after the mayhem affects her personally, surrounded by a cast of supporting players you’re unlikely to see elsewhere.
Part Scooby-Doo who-dunnit and part Asian ghost tale, U Turn features a minuscule gore budget which relies mostly on darkened scenes and below-average antagonist make-up. This is no bloodbath. The ghost kills are predictably placed. The scare factor is modest, but the production is slick and it’s an engaging film where the characters utter a charming Tagalog-Spanish-English mishmash that makes the subtitles halfway optional.
U Turn is a morality play, but not a straightforward one. There are a host of implied admonitions besides the eponymous traffic rule. The plot enforces strictures against unethical journalism, lukewarm interpersonal commitments, the misuse of police authority, mis-delivered texts, tampering with evidence, co-opting jewelry, inattention to family time. The list goes on. Transgressions multiply.
The film itself suffers from a few transgressions of its own. The plot is routine and it suffers from some un-repaired pot-holes. Still, it has a charm of its own. The emphasis on the mother-brother-sister relationship of a driven, single professional making her way in the world gives more contours to the protagonist than her tepid love interest. It’s a nice touch. Unintentional chuckles give some levity, such as the film’s revelation of a truly bizarre and inflexible criminal law which mandates that anyone who has touched a corpse is automatically a suspect even if they’re fully exonerated from the evidence.
I liked it. Quirky oddities are more interesting than well executed masterpieces any day.
