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An illusion is brilliantly hatched. Playing alongside each other are two storylines, seemingly separated by time and an immense change in the character of Pol (Pen Medina), a jailed convict who doubles as an assassin for the jail warden (Archi Adamos). The illusion is cleverly maintained, at least up until the cleverness wears off and the need for exposition becomes imminent. The film opens with Pol's unflinching assassination of a man, briskly revealing in a sequence so judiciously executed Pol as a man of hollow virtues. Yet, Pol, noticeably aged, is also seen communing with a group of other retirees, revealing a character that is opposite the ruthless man of the opening sequence. The gargantuan distinctions between the two Pols of the supposed two storylines of Michael Angelo Dagñalan's Layang Bilanggo (Life Sentence) are so gargantuan, that it is impossible not to be intrigued by what could have converted...

Filipino director Yam Laranas did such a bang-up good job with his 2004 horror movie “Sigaw”, that he repeated the process on 2008’s “The Echo”, an English-language remake of “Sigaw” that went straight to DVD. Laranas is back with a new horror movie called “Patient X”, which has the makings of an effective “last stand in a haunted house” type, which is always something I’m down for. Trailer and poster for the movie via Bloody-Disgusting below. Here’s the not-all-that-coherent plot synopsis for “Patient X”: After twenty years, local police captures the murderer of the older brother of a young boy. Now a doctor, he must go back to his old town and face the murderers himself. He then discovers that the murderers are Aswangs (folkloric Filipino vampire-like creatures) and they pose a deadly threat not only to him but also for the entire town. Starring Richard Gutierrez, Cristine Reyes,...