Deleter, 2022
This is a Philippine techno-horror movie of director Mikhail Red. This was theatrically released on December 25, as the entry to the Metro Manila Movie Festival of 2022.
The movie was reported as the initial collaboration between Viva Films and Mikhail Red. Red worked on a Philippines’ reputation as a “content moderation center of the world” and also the mental health plus the working status of the content moderators for this movie Deleter.
The Cast Lists
Main Cast
Nadine Lustre performed as Lyra
Louise delos Reyes performed as Aileen
McCoy de Leon performed as Jace
Jeffrey Hidalgo performed as Simon
Supporting Cast
Sarah Jane Abad performed as a Grey Woman
Matthew Francisco performed as Benru
Nic Galvez performed as the Gossiping Co-worker
Charo Laude performed as Armi
Bombi Plata performed as Lyra’s father
Billy Villeta performed as Axel
Kedebon Colim performed as Store Attendant
Keiko Fox performed as Sheka
Elia Ilano performed as young Lyra
JC Martin performed as Jace’s Co-worker
Madelaine Red performed as the Gossiping Co-worker
Erica Zerna performed as Lyra’s mother / Crowd
Story Outline
The film followed Lyra, who worked shifts at the dim online content moderation work space where employees, called as deleters, are being tasked with the procedure of filtering the graphic uploads from the reaching social media programs. The responsibility of the censorship proved bearable for Lyra and whom the co-workers, and also Simon, her boss, observed as the cold person unfazed through the disturbing imageries she saw on everyday basis. What they are not aware of is that Lyra was hiding her deepest trauma. Lyra attempted to erase and also forget, but her past is forcing her to keep an indifferent face to the terrors of the world.
Writer’s Observation
The initial 30 minutes was really good: the dark subject matter, appealing questions that need answers, the eerie atmosphere. It was also a fine setup. However, the movie went down there, but still not that much as to name this movie a failure one.
The great part about this movie is the rarely discovered world of the content moderation. We are seeing here about the trauma that the workers in this kind of field are experiencing, however, even though they attempt to disengage from a terrible video they watch often, they can’t. Seeing just the scraps of these videos from the movie will made the viewers look away, and you will not surely imagine what these individuals are going through. They have tackled this really well and I just wish that they explored and utilize the theme more than what they did.
Overall, the acting was nice. There had been scenarios where the viewer will want more from their actors, however, the positives outweighs the negatives. Also, it is best if they used the characters more and gave the viewers more data about them. The ambiance was creepy during the initial half but downgraded it from there. This would have been great if they went it all-out and had taken some background music. The dark lighting of this movie became tiring also as it went on. The movie had an interesting topic, nice initial-half atmosphere and a decent acting. However, the second half did not hold it up to the initial one, particularly with the weaker mystery and the bad ending. But still, you will think it had a few positives that the Filipino horror moviemakers should build on.
Also, the biggest downside from this movie is the mystery. It had been a letdown considering the great setup from the start. They had something great and then they chose the weak side, uninventive answer into the mystery. The final part was also a letdown. It is open to analysis but it had been bad.
