Apart from companies which solely focus on horror features, film festivals do not normally cater to exploitation movies, as the overriding features of sex and violence have little relevance to the art-house culture most programmers seem to look for. It is therefore quite refreshing (from the point of view of variety) to notice such a title in Udine, even more so because it is produced by a Filipino company called Viva, who are known for their star-driven, genre pictures which often feature unpleasantly graphic eroticism, using terminology which seems to be furthest from the realm of, what should I say, respectable festivals.
The first scene in the movie depicts a camera drone following a vehicle on a secluded area’s small road. Inside the car, Dan and his wife Trina are arguing on their way to Morindha. Dan’s idea of a healthy family structure nauseates me to the extent where he stops by a highway canteen and proceeds to beat up a man who inappropriately spoke at the wrong time. It looks like Trina has given up on him, but that does not prevent them from having sex in the our next destination, which is a beautiful beach.
Shortly after, a police officer at a checkpoint tells them to do a U-turn and take another route toward their destination. Dan is irritated, he is, but he decides to use one of the back roads he used to ride with his friends when he was younger, despite a roadside vendor telling him not to as it is private property now. The car breaking down feels like a way the universe is punishing him for not listening to anybody, but the appearance of Gemo, a bizarrely polite man who offers to bring them back to his home so he can call a mechanic, seems like good fortune for the couple. However, his unusually subservient wife Lala and and his reluctance to make the call suggests something is off, yet the couple once again is completely undeterred from having sex in the car during the night. When the sun comes up, however, all hell breaks loose.
As is usually the case in exploitation movies, the plot is just an “excuse” to showcase the sex and violence and “Reroute” does not differ in that regard, at least. But the movie is anything but ordinary outside of the script.
To begin with, black-and white Joshua A. Reyles’ cinematography adds a certain artistic touch that perfectly compliments the almost dystopian aesthetic that the movie eventually adopts. The most effective shift occurs at the mid point of the movie when the focus shifts to the relationships between Gemo and Trina, with Lala working as a catalyst in a Stockholm-syndrome sort of way for what happens next. On a different level, Gemo’s past his history is also shown, giving an explanation for his character and actions while maintaining the horror aesthetic through almost blasphemous religious ideas, that, like the frequent screams from the two female protagonists, even when (melo) drama is the main narrative in the background, still retains the essence of the movie’s spine chilling nature.
Honestly, this section, particularly when one reflects on how the previous one caps, the battle of two toxic masculinities culminating into a brutal, unilateral most definitely “winner”, one has to say is too leisurely and essentially isolated from the rest of the pieces, at least aesthetically speaking.
The interest into the changing dynamics concerning the three remaining characters, primarily through how Lala perceives her role in it, is mildly entertaining. Still, at 114 minutes, this second act does start to become a little tiresome. What saves it, to a point at least, is John Arcilla’s performance as Gemo, who plays a sympathetic version of a self loathing man that inflicts pain onto others to cope with his problems.
With all the drama of the second part, and the reality that the movie would most likely be better off as a pure slasher/erotic flick, it is very evident that there is some positive elements here because of the overall feel of the movie, the sensuality, and the blend of the genres support the title as a whole. Moreover, Lucero and Miranda Sidia’s charisma (and looks) as Dan and Trina are immensely alluring which virtually sells the film alongside Arcilla’s portrayal.
“Reroute” is a movie aimed at the audience who appreciates a bit of class in their exploitation and are willing to indulge in drama at the same time and those who care to see it.
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