NOTHING among the past works of Director Bobby Bonifacio Jr. on Vivamax (“Tahan”, “Bula”, “Salamat Daks” and the series “Sex Hub”) will prepare you for what you’ll see in “Kahalili”, which will definitely qualify as the most bizarre, weirdest film of the year.
It starts with the lead character, who goes by the name of Martha (Stephanie Raz), arriving at the remote mansion of a well to do couple, Rod (Sid Lucero) and Isabel (Millen Gal.)
Isabel says she’s had four miscarriages so far.
She and Rod really want to have a child so she tries to convince Martha to be a surrogate mom for them and they will pay her P1 million.
Martha agrees and Rod copulates with her, with Isabel beside her, making them a threesome in bed.
She eventually gets pregnant and the story becomes more and more surreal and complicated. It turns out her name is not even Martha.
And she is really a drug addict who needs the P1 million to help her good-for-nothing boyfriend who is deep in debt with a drug lord.
In turn, Rod and Isabel turn out to be religious fanatics who indulge in ritualistic love making involving sado-masochism that aim to purify their sins kuno.
There is even a wicked, spine-chilling orgy scene involving their followers done in front of an altar.
In one scary scene, Martha is seen lying down with the porcine animals in a pigpen and there’s even a suggestion of bestiality, giving it a touch of “kababuyan”, but it turns out to be a nightmare.
Other sex scenes involving violence turn out to be drug-induced, mind-bending hallucinations of Martha’s disturbed consciousness.
Bedscenes galore show Sid as Rod and Martha’s boyfriend Carlos (Victor Relosa) going down on her then doing various positions in bed, including doggie style.
Martha also goes down on Carlos and Millen Gal and Sid Lucero go down on each other.
The film is actually spiced up not only by unsettling sex scenes, but also by cold-blooded murders, unabashed gore and bloodbaths, in other words, anything and everything that hardcore Vivamax subscribers would ask for.
The storytelling (the story is credited to Bonifacio himself and Juvy Galamiton, with the latter writing the full script) is very twisty and very tricky.
Try to be more perceptive and don’t believe everything that you see on screen.
It can really come only from the warped mind of a visionary filmmaker, but everything is explained well in the end that even shows a child birth scene complete with the use of a real live infant.
Bonifacio’s provocative weirdness truly lingers long beyond the closing credits.
The movie works mainly because Stephanie Raz committed herself totally in portraying the lead role.
We admire her for agreeing to do all the difficult scenes and acts that she is subjected to in this movie, no matter how demeaning they can sometime be.
The role of the “Kahalili” does not only require for her to disrobe but to do a lot of creepy and emotionally challenging scenes.
She even has an outlandish dance sequence while pregnant that will just blow your mind.
“Kahalili” is not for the squeamish and with weak stomachs. It’s streaming on Vivamax starting this Friday, August 18.
