‘The Missing’ review: Jaded horror

Easy Ferrer’s The Missing has almost everything one would expect out of a Filipino horror film.

Jump scares and jarring sounds

It has the jump scares that are always accompanied by the most jarring of sounds. 

It has a tolerably deliberate pace that adds tension to the carefully constructed atmosphere. It has the stereotypical protagonist with a troubled past, and of course, the protagonist will also have a partner, whose motives will be shrouded in mystery, all for the purpose of magnifying the lack of safety. 

It has all the familiar grooves that one can expect from the genre. 

It opens quietly, introducing Iris (Ritz Azul), an architect whose expertise is in the restoration of old buildings, in the process of completing her work for a client. During the reopening of the building, she is invited by Job (Joseph Marco), an old flame and fellow architect, to accept a contract to restore a house in Saga, Japan. Despite her psychological condition, which has forced her to take medications or risk being reminded of a traumatic event through haunting visions, she agrees to take the job.

Unpredictably, the foreign land and the array of characters like suspicious Mr. Watanabe (Joe Ishikawa), his strange son (Seiyo Masunaga), and Job’s assistant (Miles Ocampo), force Iris to confront her inner demons while battling possibly real horrors. The Missing dutifully goes through all of the motions of a standard scarer, hesitant to add anything new to the process.

It is familiar but humdrum fare.

The safety of formula

Ferrer wastes a wealth of opportunities for the sake of the safety of formula.

That The Missing is set in Japan and already touches on traditions that are endemic to the land could have made distance and alienation as vital facets of its horror. That it has a side plot involving Filipino overseas workers being sacrificed could have added layers to its discourse, making it more of an exploration of the tenuous relationship between the two lands rather than a skin-deep study on post-traumatic stress disorder.

The film settles for surface-level frights.

The Missing is simply not memorable enough. It is satisfied in providing momentary shocks and erstwhile disquiet, stubbornly refusing to leave any long-lasting rhetoric that could have rendered it more than just fleeting entertainment. 

Loud but feeble scare

The Missing is jaded horror.

It is competently crafted, with some fine performances, the most apparent of which is Azul’s. However, its effect dissipates as quickly as its many loud but feeble scares. – Rappler.com