Two years ago, Regal’s entry was “Haunted Mansion” and it ended up as one of the topgrossers even if its stars have no proven track record at the box office, led by Janella Salvador. The films of Janella after that didn’t do well at the tills, like “Mano Po VII” and “Bloody Crayons”.
Now, she has a new film that was also entered in the filmfest, “My Fairy Tale Love Story”, a fantasy-romance. But we think it’s “Haunted Forest” that has better chances of being a blockbuster since, for some unexplainable reason, viewers just want to get a good scare at the movies on Christmastime.
Just like “Haunted Mansion”, “Haunted Forest” also has no big stars in its cast. They’re mostly
borrowed young stars from Star Magic, like Jane Oineza, Maris Racal, Jameson Blake and Jon Lucas, who are supported by more senior stars Raymart Santiago and Joey Marquez. This is under the direction of Ian Lorenos who, last year, also entered the family drama “Mano Po VII”, but which failed to make it as an official entry. As they say, kundi ukol, di bubukol. He’ll be vindicated this time since “Haunted Mansion” is the only horror entry in this year’s festival and has great chances of ending as one of the topgrossers.
The other four entries previously approved are “All of You”, a romantic-comedy-drama with Derek Ramsay and Jennylyn Mercado from Quantum Films who has a good track record at the filmfest with past hits like “English Only, Please” and “Walang Forever” ; “The Revengers Squad” with Vice Ganda, Daniel Padilla and Pia Wurtzbach; “Ang Panday” with Coco Martin and Mariel de Leon; and “Meant to Beh” with Vic Sotto, Dawn Zulueta, Andrea Torres, Sue Ramirez, JC Santos, Daniel Matsunaga, Ruru Madrid and Gabbi Garcia.
