Feng Shui (2004 film)

''Feng Shui'' is a 2004 Filipino supernatural horror film starring Kris Aquino. Co-written and directed by Chito S. Roño, it centres on a cursed Bagua mirror that brings death to those who stare it, with the circumstances of their death relating to their Chinese zodiac. Its screenplay was written by Roy Iglesias. The film grossed and was the highest-grossing film of 2004 in the Philippines. 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.

In 2022, ''Feng Shui'' has been digitally restored and remastered for viewing on Netflix in Southeast Asian regions beginning October 14, 2022.

Plot

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

Joy returns to her home in a prominent subdivision and places the bagua mirror at their front door. A series of fortunate events happen: her friend Alice (Lotlot de Leon) grants her a promotion and she wins the grand prize at a supermarket. This makes Joy suspicious of her luck. The next day, Joy finds out on a newspaper that the man who left the mirror, identified as Evart Mendoza, 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; her birth corresponding to the year of the Rat. Denton's friend Billy (Ernesto Sto. Tomas) tells Joy about the omens and deaths occurring in their neighborhood. During a conversation with Denton over dinner, Joy sees a spirit resembling tricycle driver Mang Nestor, a regular visitor to the subdivision who always fetches its residents to and from their workplaces, with Joy being one of them. The subdivision's security guards later inform her that Nestor was fatally stabbed in a brawl during a cockfight, having been born in the year of the Rooster. She is later haunted by the ghosts of Nestor, Biring, Evart, and a woman. Their deaths are connected to the Chinese zodiac of their birth year.

Joy visits Evart's widow, realtor company owner and businesswoman Lily (Cherry Pie Picache), who tells her about the bagua's history; Lily found the bagua in a house she sold during her first years of working as a real estate agent and decided to keep it. The mirror brought her good luck, but like Joy, also left a series of deaths. Lily reveals that anyone who owned the bagua would receive good fortunes, but for each stroke of luck, a death would always follow afterward, with her husband's death occurring after he tried to dispose of the mirror once and for all. She urges Joy to return the mirror to her, but the latter refuses and leaves. Later, after Joy accepts an inheritance from her late client, her husband and children discover the corpse of Raul, one of the subdivision's security guards, who saw his reflection in the bagua mirror earlier while checking the Ramirez house for a suspected burglary. After a close inspection of his corpse, the other security guards surmise that Raul died from a snakebite; Joy later realizes that his birth year corresponds to the year of the Snake.

Joy, along with Alice and their friend Thelma (Ilonah Jean), seeks help from a local geomancer Hsui Liao (Joonee Gamboa). Liao reveals to them that the bagua was once owned by siblings belonging to a wealthy Chinese family in ancient Shanghai during the Qing Dynasty and Republican eras. During the revolution of Sun Yat-sen, and communist takeover by Mao Zedong, the family was forced to evacuate, wherein the brother abandoned his foot-bounded sister, nicknamed "Lotus Feet", referencing to the Chinese tradition of binding the feet of young girls to avert its physical growth. Because the brother had thought of her as a burden, her servants joined the Chinese Communist Party, betrayed and killed her by burning her at the stake. Before her death, she took the bagua and placed a curse on it, claiming that she will take the soul of anyone who sees their reflection on the mirror.

Before they leave, Alice realizes that she had glanced at the mirror earlier. Having suspected her husband's affair with his former lover Dina (Jenny Miller) at work, Joy begrudgingly confronts him. She later realizes after accepting the prize she won at the grocery store that Alice is the next victim. After an argument, Alice, who was born in the year of the Horse, is assaulted by a drunk neighbor and dies after falling on a stack of crates of Red Horse Beer bottles from her 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 spirit. Joy eventually faints, overwhelmed by 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 and then 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 after accepting an offer from Billy's uncle to stay at a relative's condominium. Joy arrives at the motel where Inton and Dina are to warn them but arrives too late as Dina's husband Louie arrives at the parking lot and kills his wife and Inton, both born in the year of the Dog. Joy successfully pleads Louie for her life as both of them were cheated on by their spouses, only to witness Louie shoot himself with the last bullet of his shotgun. Meanwhile, Thelma takes Denton and Ingrid with her in the hopes of taking them to their mother. 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 Rooster, and Denton and herself were both born on the year of the Ox. Horrified, Thelma tries to alert the truck but an oncoming vehicle speeds towards them.

Joy arrives home and is greeted by Regalado, a lawyer sent by Lily to recover the bagua from Joy 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, which happened after she was spared by Louie. Joy then sees her dead husband joining them as she screams in horror.

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 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

Main cast

*Kris Aquino as Joy Ramirez
*Jay Manalo as Inton Ramirez

Supporting cast

*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, Billy's uncle
*Joonee Gamboa as Hsui Liao
*Daria Ramirez as Inton's Mother
*Archie Adamos as Tito
*Emil Sandoval as Evart Mendoza
*Luz Fernandez as Aling Biring
*Leo Gamboa as Mang Nestor
*Mon Confiado as Raul
*Denise Joaquin as Office mate
*Jon Achaval as Mr. Mateo
*Hazel Espinosa as Billy's aunt
*Jenine Desiderio as Wife Neighbor
*Froilan Sales as Husband Neighbor
*Archie Ventosa as Atty. Regalado
*Aloynius Noroña as Atty. Ocampo
*Bianca Ito as Girl 1
*Blanca Ate as Girl 2
*Rosie Salco as Lotus Lady

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 ₱114,236,563http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v405/mariedg/File0987.jpg at the box-office making it the first local horror film to breach the 100 million pesos milestone 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.

Parodies

*In the 2012 comedy film ''Sisterakas'', the protagonist Bernice (played by Vice Ganda) hires Lotus Feet, who turns out to be a DVD vendor, to scare off her business rival Roselle (played by Kris Aquino), which leads to her falling down a stairwell. The film reused the scene where Lotus Feet was holding Alice's battered corpse in the original film.
*In the 2014 comedy film ''The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin'', the titular character (played by Vice Ganda) uses a bagua mirror to distinguish Aquino's son Bimbee from a group of similar-looking children by seeing which of them will imitate their mother's screams upon seeing the mirror. This may be coincidental since ''The Amazing Praybent Benjamin'' was part of 2014 Metro Manila Film Festival which included the film's sequel.

See also

* List of ghost films

References

External links

*

{{Chito S. Roño

2004 films
2004 horror films
Filipino-language films
Films directed by Chito S. Roño
Philippine ghost films
Philippine supernatural horror films
Star Cinema films
Cockfighting in film