One of the finest genre directors in the Philippines, Rico Maria Ilarde started producing horror fare from an early age with his earliest efforts appearing in the 1980s. By the time he reached his third directorial performance, he had started to find his style, which includes mixing elements of horror, action, romance and fantasy elements, which are quite profound in ‘Ang Babaeng putik,' or what was released internationally as ‘Woman of Mud.'
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With hidden ambitions of being a horror novelist, Mark (Carlos Morales) sets out to find an abandoned shack in the countryside in order to finally start his career. In his quest to write a story that will showcase his talents, a true horror invades his private life in the form of a beautiful, goddess-like woman named Sally (Klaudia Koronel) who mysteriously emerges from inside a giant fruit. Little does he know that what appears to be a fantasy come true is actually a nightmare that becomes frighteningly real as the mysterious figure begins killing off his friends and others around him.
What really works for the movie is the intriguing and enjoyable storyline, involving the appearance of the fictional creature. This is a common enough storyline that has appeared numerous other times, involving a figure unwittingly summoning something malicious to destroy the protagonist through a ceremonial setup. While utilizing that storyline, the film generates the kind of old-school morality scares that are usually associated with someone slowly being overwhelmed by the oncoming horror of the newcomer in his life. As he slowly comes around to the idea of who he's really hanging out with, that drives the film's strong horror scenes of the creature taking out his friends and others around him. From the seductions of the different friends, to the transformation sequence in the woods, to showing it killing the curious local by the waterfall, this has some incredibly strong sequences. Among them is the fantastic finale which includes the battle in the house with the demonic creature and a final battle in the woods.
The cast is also rather impressive. Carlos Morales as the lead Mark comes off really well as our troubled hero. Understandably whipped by the gorgeous beauty in front of him, his descent from an honest, upstanding student with a strong moral code into a devious, sex-craved recluse is a fine turn and sells this nicely. Klaudia Koronel as the human form of the creature, nicknamed Sally, gives a decidedly one-note role as the mute figure, who is nude ninety-percent of her screen time. She's asked to be seductive or secretive which is fine for this type of role without much to do or clothes on for her role. The other big role here is Joanne Miller as Maite, the sweet neighbor who gets caught in the central romance. She's a genuinely sweet presence that's seemingly a perfect match, yet gets thrown to the side due to the creature and the resentful nature she has in the middle is a fun counterbalance to her earlier self. Combined with the demonic creatures' makeup and a nice amount of gore, these hold it up over the few minor flaws.
Among the film's biggest flaws is a wholly disjointed and chaotic storyline that has way too many ideas in place. The opening goes on way too long with just getting him to the central shack which could've been handled more economically. Afterward, his writers' block consists of him laying around the cabin fixing up broken parts or sitting around staring at nothing. Coupled with a romance of the neighbors' daughter and the utterly unneeded storyline about the rebel soldiers hanging around, these issues simply cause the film to run on far longer than necessary and hold it back from what it could've been. There's no reason for this one to even introduce the fictional woman until the forty-five minute mark, and to then go until nearly the hour point for her to even get birthed as the plot brings these features out far later in the running time.
Aside from the pacing, the other really troubling issue is the low-budget look of the movie. While this maintains a naturalistic look with its remote woodland village where it's set, the fact remains that it is still not blessed with all that much of a budget. Many of the in-camera tricks, from the mirror gags and the different hunting scenes where they're out in the forest looking on over the shack, are all rather obviously done on the cheap in a real location. The small cast also doesn't help much since we don't get all that many people involved, which furthers the whole low-budget feel. However, it's all setup by the actual monster costume which looks really weak and distracting the more it's on-screen, which is thankfully kept to a few brief snippets, yet doesn't diminish the fact that it looks quite hokey.
As the production comes off with a sense of fun and not too many flaws overall, this is certainly a decent enough Filipino horror. Give ‘Woman of Mud' a chance if it sounds like it might appeal to you or are curious about exploring the country's genre fare.
