Kinsenas, katapusan

In GB Sampedro’s erotic thriller, even fifteen days feels like too long.

“You’ll regret crossing me … daddy!”

Erotic thrillers are a difficult genre to pull off nowadays. Putting aside the complexities of modern-day sexual politics, the genre is simply not massively flexible. People use sex to manipulate others, and at least one main character is a psychopath. The details change, but the basic gist is so unwaveringly simple that it’s a wonder the genre has survived this long.

GB Sampedro’s Kinsenas, katapusan doesn’t stray far from this either. It stars Ayanna Misola as Beth, the new girl at school, who quickly makes friends with the quiet Ana (Madeleine Red) and attends Ana’s father Conrado (Joko Diaz)’s birthday party. Conrado, despite his frequent claims of loving his wife is constantly cheating on her with anyone who walks past him, and eventually gets into a sexual relationship with Beth. Eventually Beth is revealed to be a psycho killer.

Kinsenas, Katapusan which I believe translates as “in fifteen days, it ends”, fits perfectly into the genre by giving us sexually manipulative people by the truckload, at least one psychopath, and very little else.  Conrado is a very unlikeable main character, and Beth is little more than a piece of eye candy (all of the women in the movie are, for that matter, save for the long-suffering office assistant Sita), serving only to get naked around Conrado, who I have to assume is some sort of author insert.

These kinds of movies really only work if the characters and their dynamics are interesting, which they are not. Dull characters (though often well-acted) and predictable script make for a boring time, and it’s all pretty evident here. The film is so rote that you’re just waiting for the scene when Conrado comes home to find Beth happily chilling with the rest of the family, accompanied by sinister music. The only thing the movie does new is wait half its runtime before giving us the affair the entire plot is hinged on.

Kinsenas, Katapusan is clumsily-written, often awkward and while it delivers on its promise of nudity, it’s all pretty generic – and boring sex scenes in an erotic thriller are as bad as a boring shoot-out in an action film. Occasionally, the film flashes back to scenes of incestuous rape, so if you weren’t really feeling all that sexy before then get ready to spend entire minutes just sort of wincing unhappily, before spending the rest of the time wondering what the film is trying to say about victims of sexual assault.

Anyway, if you’re looking for some exciting Glenn Close-boils-a-rabbit action then you won’t be finding it here. There’s no real plot, just an extremely average looking middle aged man who uses his position of power to sleep with whoever he wants, and then gets murdered for it. If that’s your jam go for it. If you’re in it just for the sex scenes, I’m sure somewhere’s compiled them all into a single video for you.

Verdict: Some decent performances do little to save a mediocre script, tame thrills and stilted nudity.

Overall entertainment: 4/10
Violence: A shockingly boring 2/10
Sex: 9/10 for quantity, 5/10 for quality
Tension: 1/10
Kids: Always spending their time on TikTok
Relationship goals: Find yourself a man just like papa

Kinsenas, Katapusan (2022)
Tagalog, Filipino

Director: GB Sampedro
Writers: Luigi Perez, GB Sampedro

CAST

Ayanna Misola – Beth
Joko Diaz – Conrado
Jamilla Obispo – Melba
Janelle Tee – Karen
Angela Morena – Carla
Madeleine Red – Ana
Marissa Sanchez – Sita