Dormitoryo

Dormitoryo
Also known as	The Dormitory
Genre	Horror Suspense thriller Whodunit
Created by	GMA Entertainment TV Group
Developed by	Robert Villela
Written by	Jules Dan Katanyag Borj Danao John Kenneth de Leon Liberty Trinidad Ma. Acy Ramos
Directed by	Jun Lana
Creative director(s)	Jun Lana
Starring	Lauren Young Enzo Pineda Joyce Ching
Theme music composer	Tata Betita
Country of origin	Philippines
Original language(s)	English, Filipino, Tagalog
No. of episodes	13 episodes
Production
Executive producer(s)	Mona Coles Mayuga
Location(s)	Tagaytay City
Cinematography	Mackie Galvez
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	approx. 45 minutes
Release
Original network	GMA Network
Picture format	480i NTSC
Original release	September 22 (2013-09-22) – December 22, 2013 (2013-12-22)
External links
Website	www.gmanetwork.com/entertainment/shows/dormitoryo

Dormitoryo or The Dormitory (international title) is a Filipino teen drama-suspense thriller television series created and directed by Jun Lana and produced by GMA Network. It premiered on September 22, 2013, Sundays at 2:00 p.m. timeslot, and on September 29, 2013 worldwide via GMA Pinoy TV. The series was topbilled by Lauren Young. Also in the cast were Joyce Ching, Enzo Pineda, Ruru Madrid and Wynwyn Marquez.

Set in the fictional Holy Spirit Manor, the series follows the life of Hazel Mendoza (played by Young), an inquisitive college student and her quest to know the truth behind the death of Maika Benitez (played by Marquez).

The show explores several relevant issues faced by the youth, including bullying, peer pressure, dysfunctional relationships, rivalry, infidelity, vague sense of morality and even crime. The series is slated to run for only one season, comprising thirteen episodes.

Premise

Hazel Mendoza is a freshman Mass Communication student at Branwood College and resident at the Holy Spirit Manor — the same dormitory where her half-sister Maika died. she developed friendship with the other dormers but made a rivalry between the Popular Girls, Burn helps him in discovering the dark secrets of branwood College as she begins to piece together the truth about Maika's tragic demise.

Plot

A "flashback" scene is shown where the troubled teenager Maika Benitez was seen pushed in the bridge, which forces the 18-year-old Hazel Benitez to enter the Holy Spirit Manor and change her last name to Mendoza to secretly find out who killed her sister who committed the crime. Mrs. Rona informed her that the room next to her was locked because of many suspicious occurrences, and that dormers often see a ghost in the room. She then begins to know the Good Guys and the Bad Guys of the Campus, in the process of finding the truth, Hazel crosses paths with Burn Chavez, Maika's alleged "secret lover". Burn eventually develops feelings for Hazel—making her the main target of the Mean girls' clique led by Airiz. Hazel saw that Charlie took pictures of Maika before she died wearing the watch Hazel gave her but Burn hides the watch in his house. Hazel begins to realize that Maika was the Queen Bee of her clique before and Hazel plans to join the Sorority and soon passed the initiation rights of the Sorority.

Meanwhile, Airiz entrusted her the box invitations. In the box that Airiz assigned her to arrange, she saw Maika's camera and a video of Maika and Janet in pursue threatening to "kill" her as she finds more evidences. Hazel begins to suspect Charlie, Rose, and Burn. Rose joins Hazel's company and begins to show her true colors. Airiz then tells that Rose has a history of nervous breakdown and a bi-polar. Later at a vacation house she attempts to kill Hazel but didn't go too far as she was saved by Burn. As the story digs deeper, many mysterious things happens such as Hazel having extreme nightmares and "hallucinations" seeing Maika.

After weeks of nightmares, Hazel was pushed by Sophie to join the pageant which Hazel won. Hazel and Burn became victims of a 'hit-and-run', luckily Hazel survived but Burn died, Airiz being in a catatonic state for losing Burn. She begins being paranoid and thinks that someone is going to kill them. Danica, the twin-sister of Maika arrives. She tries to scare Hazel by pretending to be Maika. Hazel's father confirms then that Danica is Maika's sister who lived overseas. Charlie and Hazel begin to suspect Danica for her malicious behavior.

As things get worse, Airiz was killed and found dead in the woods, meanwhile Mrs. Rona was stabbed to death by the killer. After that, Sophie begins having extreme panic-attack and begins being anxious. Koby and Sophie decide to find their way out and leave. Danica soon revealed that she wanted to torment Hazel because of her sister's death and Danica forces Hazel to find out who killed her sister.

Hazel was deadly wounded but Danica saves her. Unfortunately the killer stabbed Danica leaving her unconscious. Soon it is revealed that the "madman" is Airiz, she planned all of this because of her jealousy and hatred to Hazel. Airiz admits all of her crimes and that she gave many chain letters and death notes to Maika which cause her to be afraid and to draw Hazel to the Manor. She even acted as a victim herself so that no one would suspect that it was her. She also killed Mrs. Rona and accidentally killed Burn. Finally she revealed that she pushed Maika Benitez to her death. Hazel tries to escape but is choked and becomes a vengeful spirit. Airiz then tries to escape but Hazel's spirit haunts her. In the end, Airiz tried to push Hazel believing she's "alive" but accidentally falls off the bridge to her bloody death, leaving Danica and Charlie safe.

Cast and characters

The series featured six main characters throughout its run:

Main Characters

• Lauren Young portrays Hazel "Haze" Mendoza / Hazel Benitez+, the series' main protagonist. Hazel is an eighteen-year-old freshman, a MassCom student at Branwood College and the newest dormer of Holy Spirit Manor. She is a kind, sensitive and a loner girl. The death of Maika Benitez intrigues her and believes that the death of Maika Benitez is not accidental but it is because of a foul play and became the focus of her attention. In the process, Hazel crosses paths with Burn Chavez, Maika's alleged "secret lover". Burn eventually develops feelings for Hazel—making her the main target of some girls in the campus. She revealed herself to be Maika Benitez's younger half-sister (whom she loved dearly) and explained that she change her last name to cover her identity and to find out her sister's alleged murderer. Later after the unfortunate events of revelation, she died because Airiz choked her with an axe. And her spirit haunts Airiz to revenge until Airiz died because of an accident on the bridge where Maika died.^[1]
• Enzo Pineda portrays Barney "Burn" Chavez+, the main suspect in the series, the nineteen-year-old, third-year Sports Science major and Branwood's heartthrob varsity player with a dark secret. Burn used to have a secret relationship with Maika—which makes him one of the possible suspects in the latter's murder that took place in Holy Spirit Manor. As Burn tries to help Hazel solving the case, he eventually develops feelings for her. he is proved to be innocent in all the killings in the campus, he is protective, brave and somewhat passive-aggressive person. He died because of Airiz drove a car to kill him because he can't take away his feelings for Hazel.
• Joyce Ching portrays Airiz de Ocampo+, the show's primary antagonist and the real Campus Killer. She is bitter & depressed because her family neglected her most. As a freshman, she is called loser and nerd and she had no friends before. A Nineteen-year-old "Queen Bee" of her clique and the most popular girl in the campus. She is also the president of the Holy Spirit Manor dormers council. Airiz is mean-spirited, bitter, cold, a flirt and a certified attention whore—she is quite a snazzy dresser and loves to be at the heart of a scandal. She has a huge crush on Burn Chavez. Burn's attraction towards Hazel Mendoza drives her to torment the latter, Like what she did to her sister, Maika. In the second to the last episode, it was revealed that she is the killer in the Holy Spirit Manor. She is killed by Hazel's spirit by pushing her off the bridge where Maika died ^{[2] [3]}
• Ruru Madrid portrays Charlie Chavez, seventeen-year-old freshman MassCom student, Hazel's batchmate, and Burn's younger smart and secretive, boy-next-door and a horror movie fanatic, Charlie is an aspiring photographer, film director and loves stalking girls capturing them using his camera. Charlie also develops feelings for Hazel and becomes his brother's rival to her.
• Wynwyn Marquez portrays Maika "Mykee" Benitez+, The truth is Airiz pushed her in a bridge to death. , Branwood's former "it girl", the diva of her clique, and the most popular girl in the campus who supposedly committed suicide at the Holy Spirit Manor. The series' main lynchpin; plot revolves around the mystery of her death. Maika died a year prior to the beginning of the series. She is Hazel Mendoza/Hazel Benitez's older sister. She killed Gemma in an accident.^[4][5]
• Wynwyn Marquez also portrays Danica Benitez, Maika's bitter twin sister and Hazel's half-sister. At first, she haunts them and acted like Maika. But eventually revealed as Danica. She probably wants to get revenge to Hazel, because of Maika's death.

Recurring Characters

• Mayton Eugenio portrays Weng Demagiba, Hazel's snappy roommmate who believes that Maika's ex-boyfriend Burn Chavez was the one who pushed Maika in committing suicide.
• Annicka Dolonius portrays Janet Pulido+, Airiz de Ocampo's friend and used to be Maika's Best Friend; one of the mean girls. Janet always appears into Hazel's dreams and imaginations as warning when she was killed by Rose.
• Ashley Ortega portrays Rose Angeles, a suicidal and bipolar friend of Maika and Airiz; and becomes psychopathic after killing Janet, she is one of the mean girls. Later confined to Ulysses Mental Hospital.
• Mel Kimura portrays Mrs. Rona Sancuevas+,the Holy Spirit Manor's strict supervisor and used to guide Hazel in her journey. To protect the dormers and the place, she planned to kill Airiz but later she was the one killed.
• Yassi Pressman portrays Sophie, a two-faced but a caring friend of Hazel, She pushed Hazel to join the contest; She has a phobia of crimes. (Plan coordinated by Airiz, Danica, and Rose, but only Airiz left out so the plan did not push through.)
• Mike "Pekto" Nacua portrays Inspector Silva, The Inspector who will help Hazel and Burn to solve the case for the death of Janet and Maika.
• Julian Trono portrays Kobe, the perky and care-free, comedic leader council of the beauty pageant.
• Sanya Lopez as Thea - Hazel's loyal and caring cousin and friend.
• Christian Ramirez as Jude - Burn's jokester sidekick and close friend. He has a huge crush to Rose, but later stabbed to by Rose whom he called 'weird'.
• Gabbi Garcia as Gemma delos Santos - new student and dormer, who wants to join Maika's clique, but later killed by Maika.
• Ehra Madrigal as Dr. Nathelete Santos - The psychopathic doctor in Ulysses Mental Hospital wherein Rose is her client.

Production

Conception and development

The idea for the series was conceived when GMA Network wanted to put "something new" on their Sunday-afternoon block, which traditionally dominated with either teeny bop series or showbiz-oriented talk shows. And so, the network's drama department decided to "try something different on that block." Jun Lana wanted a show that represent "Generation X" and explore some relevant issues faced by the youth today, including bullying, peer pressure, dysfunctional relationships, infidelity, sibling rivalry, vague sense of morality, dishonesty and even crime. So he decided to come up with an edgy teen series with mystery-filled plot, twists and turns, wherein the lead characters deal with the controversial death of a colleague and peel away secrets that link them with each other. Lana presented the concept and the network found it to be interesting. The show is set in the fictional dormitory—the Holy Spirit Manor. The series creator had to decide on whether the setting should be inside a school or outside of it. It went through the approval and timeslot matching stages.^[6]

Casting

The casts were all announced during the story conference held in August 2013, with the main cast being Lauren Young together with Joyce Ching, Enzo Pineda, Ruru Madrid and Wynwyn Marquez. The lead role Hazel Mendoza was originally intended for singer-actress Julie Anne San Jose,^[7] but the network pulled her out for another TV project.^[8] Lauren Young was chosen to replace San Jose for the said role,^[9] while the antagonist Airiz de Ocampo, the role which originally intended for Young, went to Joyce Ching.^[10] Enzo Pineda and Ruru Madrid were cast as Burn and Charlie Chavez, brothers and Hazel's love interests.^[11] Wyn Marquez was cast as Maika Benitez, the lynchpin of the series. Minor cast Mayton Eugenio, Annicka Dolonius and Ash Nordstrom were cast based on their auditions.

Filming

The series was supposed to premiere in August but it needed some "fine-tuning" before getting the go-signal to tape the pilot episode. Production began in September 4, 2013. The entire series was shot in Tagaytay City.^[12] The dormitory, (as well as the school) used in the show is actually Divine Word Seminary—a seminary retreat house located also in Tagaytay City.^[13] The series premiered on September 22, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. timeslot. Dormitoryo is slated to run for only one season, comprising thirteen episodes. But according to Ali Nokom-Dedicatoria, the show's program manager, "[...] if the ratings are good, we can extend it and do another 'dormitoryo' story (it could take another genre)."^[14]

International Broadcast

Country/Region
Vietnam

See also

• List of programs broadcast by GMA Network
• List of drama series of GMA Network
• SRO Cinemaserye: Suspetsa

External links

• GMA Network official website
• GMA Network Official Facebook Page
• Dormitoryo on Facebook

References