Verdict: Proceed with Caution
Pinoy Rebyu Score: 2.56 (24 ratings)
Genre: Drama, Suspense
Writers: Richard Somes and Jerry Gracio
Director: Richard Somes
Cast: Erich Gonzales, Derek Ramsay, Mark Gil, Tetchie Agbayani, Jeffrey Quizon, Maria Isabel Lopez, Bodjie Pascua, Mon Confiado, Mosang, Dan Alvaro, Sharlene San Pedro, Ermie Concepcion, Sue Prado, Laiza Comia
Synopsis: The film is set just after World War II. Corazon and her husband Daniel (Erich Gonzales and Derek Ramsay) are having trouble conceiving. They’re directed to a healer living in the woods, who instructs Corazon to go on a personal pilgrimage, a harrowing devotional journey to pray for a miracle. Amazingly, it works, and Corazon is soon pregnant. But her joy is short-lived, as her child emerges without life. Corazon, feeling betrayed by God, turns to madness. She soon turns her back on all that is holy, and becomes something to be feared. (Click the City)
Running time: 105 mins.
Trailer:
Reviews:
4.0 Nico Quejano (Pinoy Film Buffs)
“What I love about it is that the movie made sense of why society makes monsters: whether to scare our children, to explain things our intellect cannot comprehend, even to unify us against a common enemy. But in the end, the movie made us realize that we make monsters because of love. Unfortunately, love can also make monsters out of us.”
3.5 One-Minute Movie Review
“Richard Somes does a superb job of establishing a nostalgic ambiance in Corazon as reflected in the movie’s lush visuals.” (Read full review)
3.0 Philbert Dy (Click the City)
“This is a concept that deserved something weirder, offering a sense of a world where everything has gone wrong. But all we get are the same tired piano strains informing audiences that a scene is supposed to be dramatic. Corazon offers moments that are unlike anything we’ve seen before, but the production seems intent on making it feel more mundane.” (Read full review)
3.0 Oggs Cruz (Twitch)
“The film ultimately suffers from being both confused and confusing. While the material challenges genre conventions that are strictly followed by their practitioners, it still decides to spoonfeed its audience with the use of voice-over narrations, no matter how illogical and needless they are.” (Read full review)
3.0 Ria Limjap (Spot.ph)
” This is a fairly polished movie—with more than decent production design, cinematography, and editing—with glamorous network stars who look great on screen.” (Read full review)
3.0 Jansen Musico (Pelikula Tumblr)
“The film could have been better, but I cannot discredit it for trying. It’s an undeniable step forward for Philippine horror cinema. Once you peel off several layers of the movie’s faults and dispensable details, you get to see its heart: Monsters are not born; they’re created.” (Read full review)
3.0 Jowana Bueser (The Birth of Damnation)
“I enumerated FOUR elements: PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIO-POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS and HISTORICAL. None of these elements are fleshed out and it kind of kills me because there is something spectacular about the premise.” (Read full review)
3.0 Ihcahieh
“It could have been a good period piece had it gotten rid of the horror scenes, which could have been shot in a way that would still give the audience a jolt, but without the theatrics typical of the horror genre.” (Read full review)
3.0 Rod Magaru (The Rod Magaru Show)
“Let us forget the mythical, magical flying-half body creatures. Corazon gave the viewers a good perception of how a human being turned into the monster she never thought of becoming.” (Read full review)
3.0 Arsenio Tan Liao (Pinoy Cinephiles)
“Malinis naman ang pagkakagawa ni Somes kaya lang ang pinaka-liability ng pelikula ay ang interplay ng dialogue. Kapag rural ang setup mo, dapat consistent ang dialogue na babagay sa milieu at time ng pelikula.”
2.5 Skilty Labastilla (Young Critics Circle Film Desk)
“The film’s first half is actually well-made, laying out the groundwork for an intriguing tale of village paranoia and personal hysteria, but then in the second half, Somes made the mistake of virtually remaking his own Yanggaw, which, despite being less technically proficient, is still the more honest, more engaging work.
The main flaw of Corazon is with its script: there’s just not enough motivation for Corazon, who’s so in love with her husband, to willfully descend into madness and risk losing the love of her life just because of a stillborn baby. It’s not like she’s 48 and has next to nil chances of conception.”
2.5 Rito Asilo (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
“Somes fails to build on his film’s intriguing premise—and it doesn’t take long for viewers to realize there really isn’t much going for his meandering chiller other than its sparkling cinematography and good-looking leads, who are sometimes caught in moments of unintentional comedy—not a good sign for a movie that’s supposed to be scary or cautionary.” (Read full review)
2.5 Reymund Salao (IMDB Reviews)
“The story’s progression in the middle was moderately impressive. The tragedy of Corazon’s ‘becoming an aswang’ was one that was nicely done and, in a good way, reminded me of Bram Stoker’s Dracula that Francis Ford Coppola directed. The aswang montages were savagely direct and were indeed a re-visit to Somes’ own Yanggaw.” (Read full review)
2.5 Nicol Latayan (Back to the Frying Pan)
“However, it seems as if there was no room for any expansion in terms of the writing of the main character. Corazon was supposedly a woman that was just tested with a lot of overwhelming circumstances, but instead, we saw a woman overwhelmed with a lot of make up.” (Read full review)
2.5 Cinerama Etcetera
“The problem was that it lost focus on what it wanted to establish. As a result, the film became too wordy, too whiny, too dragging, and basically too much of everything.” (Read full review)
2.5 Yvette Tan (Lagarista)
“When one directs a movie under a major studio, there is always the assumption of too many cooks spoiling the broth. And while Corazon had the potential to be a beautiful and touching supernatural love story, the effort to turn it into a scary one takes away part of its effectiveness.” (Read full review)
2.5 Jeff Vadillo (Roadman Adventures)
“In its aim to please a wider audience, the movie lost its initial edginess and eventually became lost in the shadow of the great movie it could have been.” (Read full review)
2.0 Cathy Peña (Make Me Blush)
“But what promises to be an immersive cinematic experience turns out to be an ugly film! Yes, ugly! The narrative elements are anarchic and sometimes, even aimless.” (Read full review)
2.0 Anton Umali (FHM)
“It may sound gruesome, and it is, but the problem with this movie was it wasn’t really sure what it wanted to be. It was short of a tragedy, lacking in consistency as a period piece (we don’t think Ramsay’s tattoos were 1946 appropriate), not really hair-raising, and lacks tension for a horror flick.” (Read full review)
2.0 Mark Angelo Virly Ching (PEP)
“But one thing going against Corazon is that the storytelling is a bit messy. When Corazon curses God for a tragedy that befell her, it doesn’t make a lot of sense since Corazon is not established to be religious.” (Read full review)
2.0 Christopher Aquino (Pinoy Movie Blogger)
“Corazon: Ang Unang Aswang tried as much as it can to avoid the supernatural elements of the Aswang mythos to provide a more ‘realistic’ feel and be the definitive origin story of the infamous Philippine monstrosity. Unfortunately the horror elements became the film’s ultimate casualty.” (Read full review)
2.0 Kikko Kalabud (Hot for Movies)
“The problem was that they wanted the film to do more than what it could have done without becoming too ambitious, which explains some messy results. However, it could have just been the mainstream sensibility it wanted to keep that held this film from becoming what it was supposed to become.” (Read full review)
2.0 My Iloilo
“There’s the post-war concerns, the hacienda issues, the connection of Corazon to the crazy woman, the healer with that freaky saint made of carton, and a whole bunch of nosy neighbors – each of whom try to talk about their lives. Were they trying to make an epic?” (Read full review)
1.0 Reel Advice
“To be honest, it felt like an Underworld movie minus the action and the charisma of Kate Beckinsale. At least an Underworld flick has something to sell to the audience (even if those are the most shallow of things) – for Corazon: Ang Unang Aswang there really was nothing literally.” (Read full review)
SFFR 