The Ghost Bride
The Ghost Bride[2] (Chinese: 鬼新娘; pinyin: Guǐ xīnniáng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kúi sin-niû) is a Filipino supernatural horror film starring Kim Chiu. The film is directed by Chito S. Roño and is under the production of Star Cinema.[3][4][5][6]
| The Ghost Bride | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Chito S. Roño |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Starring | Kim Chiu Alice Dixson Matteo Guidicelli Christian Bables Ina Raymundo Robert Seña Beverly Salviejo Mon Confiado Kakai Bautista |
| Music by | Carmina Cuya |
| Cinematography | Neil Daza |
| Edited by | Carlo Francisco Manatad |
Production company | |
Release date |
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| Country | Philippines |
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| Box office | ₱99 million[1] |
The film marks the reunion of Kim and Matteo following their TV series My Binondo Girl aired on ABS-CBN in 2011 and also as their first movie project together.[7] This will also be Kim's third movie with director Chito S. Roño. This movie was shown in theaters on November 1, 2017 which coincided with All Saints' Day.
The film revolves around a girl when she is offered a wealth for her loved ones in exchange for a spiritual ritual.
Plot
During Ghost Month in Binondo, Mayen Lim (Kim Chiu) was the independent middle daughter of a cash-strapped family who struggled to sustain their financial difficulties. The family, who are Chinese opera playwrights at the local temple, is composed of her parents Manuel (Robert Seña) and Dolores (Ina Raymundo), her cousin Matt (Jerome Ponce), and her aunts; Jana (Kakai Bautista) and the schizophrenic Akoh (Beverly Salviejo). She is dating Clinton Yu (Matteo Guidicelli), an architect from a controlling middle-class family who will migrate in Cebu to attend a wedding of his brother's co-worker.
That night, Mayen meets the inscrutable Angie Lao (Alice Dixson), a Cantonese matchmaker who offers her an opportunity in participating the ghost marriage, an old Chinese ritual promulgated by upper-class families where they exchange the vows of their recently deceased bachelor with their selected spouse, to become the wife of the late Xu Jian Rong from a wealthy Chinese family in exchange for her family's debts. The day after she initially decline the request, Manuel's employer and debtor Robert Ong (Mon Confiado) threatened to sue the family in request for his marriage to Mayen. As a result, the latter accepted Lao's offer of performing the ritual to acquire the money. In inclusion, Mayen receives a bracelet for the bride as the bachelor’s family heirloom and down payment of her emigration to Xinjiang for the marriage.
The next night, Mayen was assaulted by Robert who later escapes after encountering malevolent presence of five yaogui ghosts, including Xu Jian Rong's, surrounding her house. The spirits followed him at his house where he is killed by the groom's yaogui who rips out his heart. The following night during his funeral, Mayen berates Clinton for cheating on her in his recent engagement with another in a committed relationship arranged by his parents after her brother Victor (Victor Silayan) informed the truth to her from the previous day. During their confrontation, the ghost possessing Clinton kills him. Realizing the capability of the ritual that bounded Robert and Clinton's deaths, Mayen takes off the bracelet but the ghosts soon attack regardless as Akoh was lured out of the bedroom and killed before her niece could escape the house with her. Mayen confronts Lao, intending to break the ordeal and the latter reveals she attempted to convince her parents earlier before her after Manuel turns her down at their initial meeting.
Mayen seek help from the temple's abbot Lee (Nanding Josef) and the female Buddhist monk mystics led by Suan Ming (Isay Alvarez). The monks used a blessed singing bowl to the bracelet and avert the ghosts' attacks when the bowl sounds. Suan Ming reveals that Xu Jian Rong's yaogui was a soul collector from the fourth realm of Diyu ruled by Wuguan Wang and he was protected by the other four female ghosts who were his concubines in prevention from disrupting the ritual. After arriving home, Mayen was contacted by her childhood friend and programmer David Chao (Christian Bables) who reveals that his group was hired by Lao three years ago to select six women, including Mayen who was currently selected born under the Water Rooster year, in partaking the ghost marriage that resulted to the apparent deaths of the other five participants before her. He also provided a ceremonial exorcism with the monks to end the deal with the spirit which will held on the day of her wedding.
The day before their departure to China for the ritual, Lao discovered that Mayen didn't attend at the airport and confronts her family at the house as Manuel reveals that his daughter had left one day ago to David at Nepal to end the ghost marriage. Mayen and David arrive at the Buddhist temple in Kathmandu to commence the exorcism. During the ritual, Mayen destroys the bracelet as her soul was sent to the netherworld after Xu Jian Rong abduct Manuel at the house while performing a ritual opera for the exorcism with his family, Lee and the monks. Mayen awakens at the "Lake of Fire and Blood" where all the tormented souls, including Clinton and Robert whom she encounterd earlier, settled while searching her father. After finding him who apologizes to his daughter, they are attacked by Xu Jian Rong's concubines but Mayen and Manuel manage to defeat them. Meanwhile, the ghost kills Lao after failing to offer Mayen to him. Her soul arrives at the realm and tried to kill Mayen but is stopped by Akoh's spirit, allowing Mayen and her father to escape the realm through the gateway where they awaken from their respective slumbers. Mayen then burns Xu Jian Rong's portrait to destroy his spirit and complete the exorcism while Manuel and his wife watch their opera peacefully.
In the post-title scene, Xu Jian Rong's yaogui manages to reincarnate in Lao's body, vowing to get Mayen.
Cast
Main cast
- Kim Chiu as Mayen Lim
- Alice Dixson as Angie Lao
- Matteo Guidicelli as Clinton Yu
- Christian Bables as David Chao
Supporting cast
- Robert Seña as Manuel Lim
- Ina Raymundo as Dolores Lim
- Beverly Salviejo as "Akoh"
- Kakai Bautista as Jana
- Mon Confiado as Robert Ong
- Victor Silayan as Victor Lim
- Jerome Ponce as Matt
- Bea Saw as Jane Lim
- Ku Aquino as Xu Jian Rong
- Nanding Josef as Abbot
- Isay Alvarez as Suan Ming
- Elizabeth Chua as Tingting
Guest cast
- Ryan Bang as Passerby
- Jhong Hilario as Passerby
- Denise Joaquin as Maimai
- Luz Fernandez as Lalaine Yu
- Eddie Ngo as Censio Yu
References
- "Philippine Box Office: The Ghost Bride (2017) Box Office Gross".
- "Watch: Teaser of Ghost Bride starring Kim Chiu". Pinoy Showbiz Daily. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
- "News | Star Cinema". starcinema.abs-cbn.com.
- Tabares, Nazamel (February 6, 2017). "Kim Chiu Stars in "Ghost Bride" Directed by Chito Roño".
- "Kim Chiu and Director Chito Roño Reunite in "Ghost Bride"". February 6, 2017.
- PULIS, Fashion. "Insta Scoop: Matteo Guidicelli and Kim Chiu to Star in 'Ghost Bride'".
- "Matteo Guidicelli and Kim Chiu to topbill Chito Roño film". cebudailynews.inquirer.net.