Philippines
Review: JA Kerswell
INSANE goes full Camp Crystal Lake, as, in a case of mistaken identity, a psycho-on-the-loose ends up driving a busload of schoolgirls to a remote woodland retreat, then starts killing them off one by one. It is one of the relatively few South Asian slasher movies from the first half of the 1980s that explicitly models itself on North American mayhem.
Every year, the graduating class at the all-girls St Anne’s Academy goes on a weekend retreat in the countryside to prepare for the world, a trip organized by the stern principal, Miss Rivera (Armida Siguion-Reyna), who, in a hoary old exploitation trope, turns out to be a predatory lesbian. The girls gather at 4 am to begin the trip. However, before they arrive, a hairy-lipped madman on the run from the police, Fernando (Ace Vergel), has taken refuge unseen on their bus after stabbing their driver to death. He is wanted by the authorities after killing a father and daughter when their car breaks down (a recreation of a famous Filipino urban legend) and then attacking a couple in a lover’s lane, where the slain man’s girlfriend manages to alert the police led by Lt. Miranda (George Estregan), who give chase to the mustachioed maniac.
Spotting an opportunity to escape Manila, Fernando lies to Miss Rivera that the original bus driver is ill and that he is the replacement. Once aboard, he is immediately transfixed by one of the students, Chiqui (Snooky Serna), who is the spitting image of his dead girlfriend.
After a brief stop at the beach for some frolicking in the water and the obligatory swimsuit cheesecake shots, the bus arrives at Holy Rosary Convent's woodland retreat (despite Fernando presumably having no idea how to get there). But as Miss Rivera holds court, telling the girls this weekend will bring them together, Fernando plans how to tear them apart …
The first thing that catches your attention is INSANE's epic, near 2-hour running time. Of course, that is far too long for a standard slasher movie, so it is little surprise that the film makes diversions throughout, most notably in its action-oriented last 20 minutes, when a SWAT team is sent in to battle Fernando (who has added an automatic rifle to his arsenal). It also briefly dips into the supernatural when a group of girls appears to summon the spirit of one of their fallen classmates via a Ouija board. However, the bulk of the film takes its cues from then-current slasher movies, especially those in the FRIDAY THE 13TH series.
There is much running through rainswept woods, with Fernando chasing female students who have broken away for an illicit date with their boyfriends or to smoke dope. Plus, the film’s earmarked Final Girl finds her slaughtered classmates as they tumble out of closets and doorways in a case of terrible Feng Shui. As well as a few POV shots with a heartbeat high up in the mix on the pared-down electro soundtrack à la John Carpenter. Add the machete-wielding gardener with learning difficulties (Bomber Moran) who the girls at first think is out to get them and who later they good-naturedly try to get drunk. There is also a smattering of gore, too (at least in the uncut version), including a severed head held aloft and a messy throat slitting. Add to this the often repeated refrain from the nursery rhyme ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’ for no discernible reason.
However, Vergel is a significant anomaly as the film’s mad killer. Outwardly, he looks pretty normal; a slight young man who veers from awkwardness to violence with frightening ease. He is pretty good in the role, and the film makes some attempt to explain his psychopathy, showing him rebuked by his mother as a young boy for interrupting her date night (leading to a reprehensible scene showing him torturing a rat, thankfully missing from the recently released upscaled version). Things are muddled somewhat by a further flashback showing his girlfriend (also played by Serna) being raped and killed during a robbery by a couple of snaggle-toothed hoodlums, which also sees him shot and ending up in a mental hospital. Which rather begs the question of why he isn’t targeting sweaty, middle-aged men in badly fitting suits for revenge rather than giggly schoolgirls?
Thankfully, the female students in INSANE are, by and large, a likable bunch, and the film throws in a smattering of humor, suggesting the makers also kept an eye on North American teen comedies of the time. There are also a couple of genuinely exciting set pieces, including one where the girls barricade themselves in the mess hall only for Fernando to sneak in through the back door, and the opening scene where the killer terrorizes a woman in her broken-down car by licking her window before showing her her father’s severed head. Plus some fun touches, such as the moment when one of the girls’ dates listens to the ROCKY (1976) soundtrack on his car stereo, unaware that the killer is hiding in the back seat with a knife. However, while it is admittedly suitably frenetic, the action-movie-style last 20 minutes rob the film of the more traditional final showdown with the Final Girl it originally seems to be setting up.
INSANE was relatively popular on release in the Philippines, given its pairing of Ace Vergel (one of the country’s premier bad-boy action stars) and Snooky Serna (a former child star looking to break into adult roles). Mostly in Tagalog; about 10-15% of the dialogue is in English, and the action is pretty easy to follow. The film was recently uploaded to YouTube by the rights owners in what’s claimed to be 4K (it is actually an AI upscale, but it’s certainly better than what was available previously).
Although I’ve seen shorter biblical epics, INSANE is a lot of fun once it gets going and will be especially rewarding for fans of the subgenre's Golden Age who want to see a classic-era Filipino take on the camp slasher.
BODY COUNT 16:
Female 6 / Male 10
INSANE (1984) - Full movie uploaded by the rights holders
