Feng Shui (2004 film)

Feng Shui is a 2004 Filipino supernatural horror movie starring Kris Aquino. The film centers on a cursed Bagua mirror where a person gets killed if they stare at the Bagua mirror, with their death relating at any way to their Chinese zodiac. The film grossed Php 137.56 million and was a Philippine highest grossing film of 2004. The Hollywood version of the movie is still frozen and it is unknown if Star Cinema have decided to have a contract with Hollywood. A sequel, Feng Shui 2, was released on December 25, 2014 as the official entry to the 2014 Metro Manila Film Festival.^[1]

Plot

While on a bus, Joy Ramirez (Kris Aquino) finds a package left by a man named Evart Mendoza. She visits Aling Biring (Luz Fernandez) at the bakery and shows her the package: an antique bagua mirror. Following Chinese belief, Aling Biring thinks that the mirror will drive away evil spirits and bring good luck to her husband Inton (Jay Manalo) and their children Denton (John Vladimir Manalo) and Ingrid (Julianne Gomez).

Joy places the bagua mirror in her home and a series of fortunate events happens: her friend Alice (Lotlot de Leon) grants her a promotion and she wins the grand prize at a grocery store. Soon, Joy becomes suspicious of how she became so lucky.

The next day, Joy learns that Evart, the man who left the mirror in the bus, was run over by a Rabbit Liner bus. She discovers that he was born in the year of the Rabbit after she examines his age. Later, Joy learns that Aling Biring died from leptospirosis that morning and that she was born on the year of the Rat.

Joy notices her husband reconciling with his former lover Dina (Jenny Miller) at work. Denton's neighbor Billy (Ernesto Sto. Tomas) tells Joy about the omens in the neighborhood and the deaths occurring in their neighborhood. Joy sees her tricycle driver Mang Nestor, who was killed earlier in a cockfight. Nestor is revealed to be born in the year of the Rooster. She is later haunted by the ghosts of Nestor, Biring, Evart, and a woman. Their deaths seem to be connected to the Chinese zodiac of their birth year. Joy visits Evart's wife Lily (Cherry Pie Picache) and she tells her about the mirror's history.

When Lily was still working as a real estate agent, she found the bagua mirror from an old rental house. As it brought her good luck it also left deaths. Lily tells Joy that now that she is the owner of the mirror, it would bring her both good fortune and a curse. She urges Joy to give the bagua mirror back, but Joy refuses and leaves. Later, after Joy accepts an inheritance from her late client, she learns that the security guard, whose reflection he had seen in the bagua mirror, has been found dead after being bitten by a snake. The security guard was found to be born on the year of the Snake.

Joy, along with Alice and their friend Thelma (Ilonah Jean), seeks help from a feng shui expert Hsui Liao (Joonee Gamboa). Liao tells them that the bagua mirror was once owned by the children of a rich Chinese family from Shanghai. During the revolution of Sun Yat-sen, his colleagues and other rich families were evacuated. The brother and his family left, leaving behind his foot-bounded sister, nicknamed "Lotus Feet", stating she is a burden. Her nickname refers to the Chinese tradition of binding the feet of young girls to keep it small. Her servants betrayed her and killed her by burning her at the stake. Before she died, she took the bagua mirror and placed a curse where in she will take the soul of anyone who stares at the mirror. Liao warns Joy that if she tries to destroy the mirror, the soul of the owner will be taken away before it restores itself.

Before they leave, Alice realizes that she had glanced at the mirror earlier. Joy then confronts her husband about his affair. Joy remembers that when she accepted the prize she had won from the grocery store earlier, she and her family had witnessed a robbery from Billy's house which resulted in a gunfight. The robbery suspect was born in the year of the Monkey, revealing that Alice was next. After an argument, Alice, who was born in the year of the Horse, was killed when she landed on the crates of Red Horse Beer bottles after she was attacked by her drunken neighbor who pushed her out of the window. The ghosts of all the victims haunt Joy's house and her family is forced to leave. Joy attempts to destroy the mirror, but is stopped by Alice's ghost. Joy eventually faints, overwhelmed with all the ghosts.

The next morning, Master Liao calls Joy and tells her the key to end the curse: she must reject offers of good luck so that she would be able to destroy the mirror and save the next victim. Just before they leave, Billy gets involved in an accident and Joy volunteers for a blood transfusion to save him. She then realizes that Inton is the next victim.

Joy arrives at the motel where Inton and Dina are but she arrives too late. As they are attempting to flee, they are shot and killed by Louie, Dina's husband. Both Inton and Dina were born in the year of the Dog. Louie tries to kill Joy but she pleads and tells him that both of them were cheated on by their spouses. Louie spares her as he shoots himself.

Later, Joy calls Thelma about what happened. Thelma took Denton and Ingrid with her in the hopes of taking them to Joy. Thelma sees a truck of cows and chickens in front of her car. She comes to the realization that Ingrid was born in the year of the Ox, and Denton and herself were both born on the year of the Rooster. Horrified, Thelma tries to alert the truck but an oncoming vehicle speeds towards them.

Joy arrives home and was greeted by Attorney Regalado, a lawyer sent by Lily to offer Joy the chance of returning the bagua mirror to her in exchange for money. Joy refuses the offer. Distraught by the string of deaths that followed her, Joy finally destroys the mirror. Thelma arrives with Denton and Ingrid. Joy is filled with relief thinking that she has finally broken the curse and saved her kids but she soon discovers that they were all killed earlier in the truck accident along with Thelma after she saw her dead husband joining with them as Joy screams.

A family is shown moving into their new house and the family's twin daughters wander into Joy's former home while playing. They find the restored bagua mirror and decide to show it to their parents. From Joy's house's window, the Lotus Lady watches over them, awaiting her next victim.

Cast

• Kris Aquino as Joy Ramirez
• Jay Manalo as Inton Ramirez
• Lotlot de Leon as Alice
• Ilonah Jean as Thelma
• John Vladimir Manalo as Denton Ramirez
• Julianne Gomez as Ingrid Ramirez
• Ernesto Sto. Tomas as Billy
• Cherry Pie Picache as Lily Mendoza
• Nonie Buencamino as Louie
• Jenny Miller as Dina
• Gerard Pizzaras as Teodoro
• Joonee Gamboa as Hsui Liao
• Luz Fernandez as Aling Biring
• Daria Ramirez as the mother-in-law
• Leo Gamboa as Mang Nestor
• Emil Sandoval as Evart Mendoza
• Rosie Salco as Lotus Feet

Reception

The film was released at the time that 'Asian horror' gained popularity. It was a critical and commercial success, receiving positive reception from critics and audiences alike, and grossing PHP 137.56 million at the box-office. The film was the first in the line-up of box-office horror hit that Kris Aquino did under Star Cinema in which she was tagged as "Philippine's Box-office Horror Queen". It was followed by Sukob (also directed by Roño), Dalaw, and Segunda Mano.

Sequel

A sequel was confirmed by Kris Aquino, and the cast includes Coco Martin, Carmi Martin, Ian Veneracion, Beauty Gonzalez, Rez Cortez, Ian de Leon, Martin Escudero, Elizabeth Chua, Diana Zubiri, Francine Prieto, Pinky Marquez, Raikko Mateo, Kych Cyl Minemoto, Randy See, and Teodoro Baldomaro. Roño returned to direct the film. It served as Star Cinema's official entry to the 2014 Metro Manila Film Festival. The film focused on Coco Martin's character who, upon getting the cursed bagua, starts to get all the luck and prosperity he could get in his life, but with deadly consequences. Kris Aquino reprised her role as Joy Ramirez to save him from the curse. Filming of the film commenced by late August 2014.^[1]

See also

• List of ghost films

External links

• Feng Shui at the Internet Movie Database

References