Shake, Rattle and Roll 13: Parola

Verdict: Value for Money

Pinoy Rebyu Score: 3.77 (15 ratings)

Genre: Horror

Director: Jerrold Tarog

Writers: Maribel Ilag, Jerrold Tarog

Cast: Kathryn Bernardo, Louise de los Reyes, Sam Concepcion, Hiro Magalona, Dimples Romana, Ina Raymundo, Ara Mina

Synopsis: Parola is about best friends Lucy and Shane (Kathryn Bernardo and Louise de los Reyes) who go up to an abandoned lighthouse and unwittingly unleash the spirits of two rival witches. The spirits slowly take over the best friends, just as a familial conflict tears their friendship apart. (From Click the City)

Teaser: 

Reviews:

4.5          Philbert Dy (Click the City)

“Aside from a couple of shaky effects (particularly one in the ending), it is as polished a piece of filmmaking as has ever been seen in the series. A fairly simple story is turned into a psychosexual exploration of adolescent friendship, enhanced by layer after layer of subtext.” (Read full review)

4.0          Oggs Cruz (Twitch)

“Tarog successfully turns what essentially is the normalcy of high school life into something seductively sinister, like a Freudian nightmare. Immature infatuations, corridor-set insults, chemistry experiments, menstruation, and friendship bracelets are fascinatingly turned into threatening objects and occurrences. ” (Read full review)

4.0          Mario Bautista (Showbiz Portal)

“The story is much thicker and more absorbing than the other two episodes… Tarog is well served by his cast of women. Kathryn and Louise are totally credible as the teeners whose friendship is slowly eroded by jealousy.” (Read full review)

4.0          Katrina Stuart Santiago (GMA News)

“The storytelling is swift, and this narrative maintains the story—without belaboring the travails—of teenage friendship and rivalry, one that’s about security and insecurity both, with a cute boy (Sam Concepcion) thrown in for good measure.” (Read full review)

4.0          Carl Papa (Whatever, Carl)

“What I loved about the film was how the story unraveled the mystery, not all at once, but gradually.  At first you thought that it was going to be another family feud, but it was more than that.  The movie offered more than what I expected from it.” (Read full review)

4.0          Allan Diones (Abante Tonite)

“Bago ang konsepto at exciting ang face off ng rival witches kaya klik na klik sa audience ang episode na ito.” (Read full review; Warning: Contains spoilers)

4.0          Ihcahieh

“As for the story, it is both creepy and awesome at the same time. Creepy because Dimples Romana and Julia Clarete are both effective in their portrayal of two rival witches who just would not end their annual rematch, victimizing poor pairs of souls in the process.” (Read full review)

3.5          Ria Limjap (Spot.ph)

“Except for a slightly cheesy flashback sequence, Parola is a stylishly executed and scary at the same time—imagine a face pressing against the ceiling from where worms begin to drop—an endless battle of witches whose cycles of revenge reach from one lifetime in to the next.” (Read full review)

3.5          Juan Miguel Sevilla (Lagarista)

“The characters are developed surprisingly well throughout the course of the episode. And it helps that the two central performances are strong, particularly that of Kathryn Bernardo. Thereʼs smart directing, great camerawork and some genuinely frightening moments, some of which have never been seen before in the seriesʼ history.” (Read full review)

3.0          Dodo Dayao (Lagarista)

“It gets palpably malevolent when it reverts to its high school setting, and Kathryn Bernardo and Louise De Los Reyes get to play out their protracted supernatural catfight, with all that heightened and pent-up spite and malice and venom that leak out when best friends turn archenemies.” (Read full review)

2.0          Jessica Zafra (InterAksyon)

“The director of Parola throws in references to many horror movies including Carrie, The Frighteners, and The Shining. The elements do not bind together; the result is a lumpy mishmash that does not hold our attention.” (Read full review)

Comments:

5.0         Nico Quejano (Cinephiles)

“I love this. This one was the scariest to me, at pinaka maganda. The lighthouse as metaphor for teenage alienation, tapos juxtaposed pa yung mundane problems ng teenage kids with that of their parents and with that of the mangkukulams. Ang galing lang. Same problem, different levels. Of the three, ito yung pinaka effective ang Horror. Pinaka mahusay din ang acting. Dapat may spin off ang characters nina Julia Clarete and Dimples Romana.”

4.5          Kayo Jolongbayan (Cinephiles)

“WOW. This is what a horror film should be. The mood, the atmosphere and the tone of the film…all of them worked well together. Tarog’s direction is superb. One of the best episodes of this franchise.”

3.5          Manuel Pangaruy (Taga-ilog Special)

“Ito ‘yung pinaka-up for the challenge na manakot in an MMFF fashion na pinatunayan ng mga tili mula sa audience. Pero hindi s’ya mababaw. In fact, kumpara sa ibang movie ni Jerrold, naka-focus pa rin sa story. May ilang teaser dito kung ano ang magiging take ng direktor sa isang period movie at appealing sobra ‘yung part na ‘yun.”

3.0          Json Javier (Cinephiles)

“Proving that conventional horror still works best, this strong episode provides the only genuine scares in this series. Bernardo, Delos Reyes, Romana, and Clarete were so good they deserve a full-length movie.”