Sukob

Sukob (titled The Wedding Curse internationally) is a 2006 Filipino horror film starring Kris Aquino and Claudine Barretto. The movie was directed by Chito S. Roño who previously worked with Aquino in the 2004 hit horror film Feng Shui. Sukob is considered as the highest-grossing Filipino film of all-time earning PHP 186 million until in 2009 when it was surpassed by You Changed My Life in box office. The film's premise is based on a Filipino superstition in which one should not get married in the same year an immediate relative dies or is married or no siblings should be married within a year.^[2]

Plot

Overseas Filipino Worker Sandy (Kris Aquino) return to the Philippines with Dale (Wendell Ramos) from Dubai, United Arab Emirates in preparation for their wedding. After returning to her home, Sandy learns from a caretaker of her neighbor's house that Helen, Sandy's childhood friend, had died along with her family years ago. She tried to convince her mother, Tessie (Boots Anson-Roa) about what happened to Helen. A short time after the death of Helen's father Dr. Quisumbing, Helen plans her wedding but is advised that she must postpone the wedding because her marriage will be cursed which one should not marry within the same year when an immediate family member passed away. Helen didn't heed the warning and resumes the wedding. A few weeks after the wedding, Helen's husband dies in a plane crash. As Helen goes to the crash site, she dies in a bus accident. A few weeks later, Helen's mother suddenly disappears inside her house. After several years, their house has been abandoned after their deaths and no other tenants had sold it.

Meanwhile in Bibiclat, Aliaga, Diana (Claudine Barretto) and Brian (Bernard Palanca) celebrates their marriage when they were interrupted along with the other sponsors by a sound of a funeral toll from the belfry of the church. After they resume the wedding, Diana saw the glimpse of a mysterious flower girl watching her during the reception.

The next day, Sandy and Dale proceeds with their wedding. During the ceremony, Sandy became bewildered and her nose began to bleed. While Sandy resume her rites with Dale, she saw the ghostly flower girl in front of her. Meanwhile, Diana witness Brian accidentally fell off the roof of their house. She, Erning (Jhong Hilario) and the other builders take him to the local hospital but dies from his defenestration. At the morgue while Diana was mourning of Brian's loss, Brian's mother Belen (Raquel Villavicencio), Diana's aunt Lagring, Erning and Lagring's daughter Grace (Glaiza de Castro) arrive but Brian's carcass suddenly disappears and left Diana's wedding veil, which she tried to find it earlier.

After their reception, Sandy and Dale witness the van of Sandy's friends Betsy and Edith had crash down the cliff. The guests couldn't find their bodies and found Sandy's wedding veil inside the van. Joya (Maja Salvador), the psychic daughter of Dale's cousin Paola (Maurene Mauricio), was present at the accident and also saw the flower girl at the reception earlier. She recalls to Sandy in her vision about what happened to Helen's wedding. After Joya left, the police give the veil to Sandy, who was anxious of how it got here after it was packed at the box along with the other wedding customs from the accident.

After they return to the house, Lagring and Grace chase after Diana when she was following her husband's ghost into the forest. Diana stops at the forest and tried to find him but finds Brian's writing on a tree, seeking for his distress before Grace arrive. They suddenly saw the flower girl when Lagring is rammed by a speeding bus, leaving Diana's bridal cord from the accident.

Later during their sleep at her house, Sandy frantically saw the flower girl in her bedroom when Dale awakes and comforts her. The couple decide to seek help from Joya and ;after they learn from Dale's mother Gilda (Liza Lorena) that she'll be leaving with Paola to Nueva Ecija, arrive at the bus station before Paola could leave with her daughter.

Things become more mysterious when Sandy and Diana receives their respective wedding photos. The people who died are all headless in the photos, and they realize that these people are bound to die. Joya tells Sandy that she is cursed by sukob. Sandy is shocked, as no one in her family has died recently nor gotten married.

In searching for the truth, Sandy unearths a dark family secret. Sandy goes to her hometown with Dale and while staying at a hotel, Dale was taken away by the flower girl with the candle. She goes to the police station but the station runs out of electricity, while tables and chairs begin to move by themselves. Sandy runs outside and as she drives her car, she accidentally hits Diana. She helps Diana and, after asking questions, finds out they are really half-sisters.

Both realize they were married in the same year and on the same day, and one must sacrifice a life in order to break the curse. Diana and Sandy go to the church where Diana was wed and are encountered by the ghostly flower girl. The two are entrapped at the top of the belfry and the flower girl, whose mission is to take the life of the sacrificed, attempts to touch Diana's belly. This meant that her baby is the sacrifice. Sandy stops the ghost and falls from the belfry, dying and thus breaking the curse. Diana finally meets their father, and the movie ends when he sees the ghosts of Tessie and Sandy, causing him to scream.

Cast

• Kris Aquino as Sandy
• Claudine Barretto as Diana
• Wendell Ramos as Dale
• Boots Anson-Roa as Tessie
• Ronaldo Valdez as Fred
• Bernard Palanca as Brian
• Liza Lorena as Gilda
• Maja Salvador as Joya
• Raquel Villavicencio as Belen
• Jhong Hilario as Erning
• Glaiza de Castro as Grace
• Maurene Mauricio as Paola

International Release

Sukob (The Wedding Curse) was released in the United States in eight theaters. It earned $300,454.

Reception

The film was a critical and commercial success. The film earned P186.41 Million domestically and P203 Million Worldwide. The film was considered by some as one of the scariest Filipino horror films ever made, alongside the 2004 hit Feng Shui,also starring Kris Aquino and directed by the same director.

Awards and recognitions

• 1st Gawad Genio Awards (The Annual Critics' Academy Film Desk)(Zamboanga City)

  Best Film sound engineer: Albert Michael Idioma

  Blockbuster Film: Sukob

  Blockbuster Film Director: Chito S. Rono

  Blockbuster Film Actress: Kris Aquino

  Blockbuster Film Actor: Wendell Ramos

  Blockbuster Film Producer: Star Cinema - ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc.

See also

• Star Cinema
• ABS-CBN

External links

• Official Website
• International Website
• Sukob at the Internet Movie Database

References