Online streaming giant Netflix released the trailer of the first-ever original movie from the Philippines loosely based on the Letran kidnap-for-ransom case involving students.
“Dead Kids” is a gender-bending film that tells the story of a socially awkward teenager who bonds with a group of misfits and then plots on kidnapping their school’s arrogant rich kid.
It is directed by award-winning director Mikhail Red, who is behind internationally acclaimed films “Birdshot,” “Eerie” and “Neomanila.”
His latest film “is a story of young lives running wild yet cut short with their potentials unfulfilled.”
“I have always wanted to make a film about the complexities of my generation. I wanted to expose the entitlement and insecurities of a generation growing up in a country of extreme social disparity but cleverly package it as pop entertainment,” Red said.
He described “Dead Kids” as a “crime story in the age of social media and a bleak vision of the Filipino youth’s psyche.”
“It is a commentary on the youth’s views on masculinity, morality, and vigilante justice paralleled with today’s political climate. It is both a coming-of-age story and a cautionary tale for the builders of our future,” Red continued.
“Dead Kids” is starred by Sue Ramirez, Khalil Ramos, Markus Paterson and Vance Larena. It also includes rising young actors Kelvin Miranda, Gabby Padilla, and Jan Silverio.
The film is produced by Globe Studios and is set to launch globally on the platform on December 1.
Many Filipinos are excited about its premiere.
will definitely wait dead kids on netflix 💀✊🏽
— KNcontentplz (@_fordnardo) November 14, 2019
i want to support dead kids on netflix because for once im listening to onscreen scripted taglish without cringing
— ĸitty (@oowakizashi) November 14, 2019
What is the Letran kidnapping case?
In August 2018, a 19-year-old student from the Colegio de San Juan de Letran was rescued by police officers from his classmates who held him up for two days and demanded a P30 million ransom for his freedom.
The victim was found with his eyes and nose wrapped in duct tape in a safe house of the perpetrators located in Nava Street, Balut, Tondo, Manila.
Reports note that he was deprived of food and was only given a few drops of water to sip.
Prior to the kidnapping, the victim was waiting for a bus with his classmate near LRT-1’s Central Terminal Station when a group of men grabbed them and forced them inside a van.
Authorities eventually found that his classmate was part of the abduction when the latter confessed in the interrogation.
The classmate, along with three other students, were slapped with kidnapping charges and serious illegal detention which was reportedly a “fraternity initiation gone wrong.”
He later pleaded “not guilty” in his arraignment at the Manila Regional Trial Court.
Police officers also found out that the group had planned to kidnap another student.
