For most Filipino horror fans, watching Shake Rattle and Roll each time Regal Entertainment releases an installment is almost like tradition. However, after churning out countless gems in previous years, perhaps its time to admit that the franchise is running out of steam and it’s time to shelf the next installment until they really come up with good material. That being said SRR 16 aka Shake Rattle and Roll Extreme was extreme, alright — extremely unoriginal and overblown.

Synopsis: Episode 1 Glitch centers on a young child who welcomes the spirit of the demon into her home after the devil masquerades as a television mascot. Mukbang brings together popular influencers for a collab feast with a never before tried menu. Rage turns villagers into bloodthirsty loons after a meteor shower causes them to become extremely violent.

As a veteran of Shake Rattle and Roll, in one of my favorite episodes Yaya, Iza Calzado drew the short end of the stick this time because no matter how much I love her, I could really not bring myself to heap praises on Glitch because of the story and treatment. Everything seemed so cliche. The scenes were formulaic. The shower scene, the epiphany scene, and the fight scenes between the family and the demon. The extreme violence and the slow motion sequences with the background warrior sound, all seemed like they were trying to oversell the episode, which really delivered nothing new. The episode tried to use shallow gimmicks to introduce some depth to the episode and failed because the story had none.

Of the three episodes, Mukbang had the most promise. Even though it was unoriginal like the previous episode, at least it had passable acting and charming semi-rootable characters played by Jane Oineza, RK Bagatsing, and real life vlogger Ninong Ry, who played a fictional version of himself, basically. The characters were all horrible caricatures of real life content creators and it would seem as whatever fate they received, they deserved.

The final episode was the most ridiculous one because it was almost an exact copy of the Thai horror film The Sadness. They served up the gore and the brutality in spades but really, you would shake your head at how unbelievable it was. The episode had one goal and one alone, to establish Jane de Leon’s character Trina as the final girl but did it make sense? How did the characters instantly become experts in wielding guns when they showed no indication of knowing how to use weapons in the beginning? There was a wealth of annoying characters, especially Most who portrayed himself as a hero but lacked the receipts to back it. Also, it seemed that the three directors did not share notes about their approach to their episodes because the impact of Jane de Leon being drenched in blood lost some steam after Jane Oineza already had the same moment in Mukbang several minutes before. There were two bright spots in this episode, however. I liked the portrayals of young stars Bryce Eusebio and Angel Guardian.

All in all, Shake Rattle and Roll Extreme was a major disappointment. All the hype failed to deliver the typical fun that the franchise served up. Instead, it delivered lukewarm copycat stories from foreign films, and worse, they copied even the approach. In the end, it was unoriginal, gimmicky and not very satisfying.