The Healing (film)

The Healing is a 2012 Filipino supernatural horror film directed by Chito S. Roño from a story concept he co-created with Roy C. Iglesias, who solely wrote the screenplay, with editing and music compositions by Jerrold Tarog. The film stars Vilma Santos and Kim Chiu, with the supporting cast includes Janice de Belen, Pokwang, Robert Arevalo, and Martin del Rosario.

Produced and distributed by Star Cinema, the film was theatrically released on July 25, 2012, as part of commemorating Santos' 50th year in the entertainment landscape.

Seth brings her father Odong, a stroke victim, to Manang Elsa, a faith healer. As they leave, she sees a man waiting in line collapse and get brought inside.

The following day, Seth is met by a fully healed Odong. Amazed by his grandfather's recovery, Seth's estranged son Jed asks her to help his half-sister Cookie, who is suffering from glomerulonephritis, to Elsa. Seth gives them the healer's address.

At a party to celebrate her father's recovery, Seth is approached by guests seeking help. Eventually, the group, consisting of her housekeeper Alma, policeman Ding, Chona, Greta, and Cacai, Cita's daughter, goes to seek Elsa, who cures all of them. On the way home, Seth crosses paths with Jed and Cookie on their way to Elsa.

A few days later, Seth invites Chona to Ding's wedding reception but Chona just smiles and ignores her. Afterward, she stabs a bystander and fatally slashes her own neck with a knife. At her wake, Seth learns from Chona's husband that she had seen a crow in her dream. The others who were healed speak out about having had the same dream. The following day, Seth learns that Dodi, another patient of Elsa, went on a killing spree at a gym, before killing his partner and himself with a piece of broken glass.

That night, Seth sees Greta in her home. As Seth calls her, Greta looks back by stretching her neck backward. Greta then stabs and decapitates her husband with a machete. Greta then hangs herself after trying to kill her sons. The next day while on a raid, Ding stars shooting indiscriminately before being shot by his colleagues.

It turns out that the people Seth saw were doppelgangers, who demonized the images of the people who were healed before their deaths. Seth and Cita go to confront Elsa about the deaths. Her brother Melchor inform them that Elsa was killed by Dario, the man who collapsed when Seth and her father left.

Dario had actually suffered a fatal heart attack at that moment, and Elsa unknowingly "cured" him of his death. Now the life that was used to resurrect him was the lives of the patients cured after him. Melchor says the only way to destroy the curse is to kill Dario again.

Seth gets back to warn the others, only to witness a possessed Alma goes on a killing spree before setting herself on fire. Fearing for her daughter's life, Cita brings Cacai to a Daoist temple to be guarded by monks. Seth sees Cacai's image and warns Cita. However, she is distracted by a dragon dance and loses Cacai who is then possessed by her doppelganger. Cacai massacres the monks using a ceremonial axe and impales herself on a flagpole. Seth is then haunted by the spirits of the victims, who blame her for their deaths. Seth apologizes to Cita, who tells her to save Cookie.

Seth and Jed take Cookie to a safe house. Seth visits Dario in jail. Revealing he is now a different entity, Dario warns Seth that those who have been cured by Elsa will be possessed by their own alter-egos. Their souls shall be offered to him unless he is killed, which Seth is reluctant to do. When she returns to Cookie's safehouse, she is attacked by her doppelganger, whom she electrocutes with a toaster.

Learning Cookie has been possessed, Jed calls Seth. At her father's birthday party, Seth is visited by a normal-looking Cookie, who kills her houseboy Boni. As Seth receives Jed's call, Cookie stabs her. Jed arrives and tries to stop Cookie from killing her. But Cookie's doppelganger touches Jed, creating another doppelganger in his image who then tries to kill Seth. At the prison, Melchor fatally shoots Dario. A crow falls from the sky, signifying the curse's end and the doppelgangers' vanishing. An unconscious Cookie is woken up by Seth and Jed.

Here are some selected international screening dates and venues of The Healing:^[2][3][4]

According to Box Office Mojo, the film grossed 74 million pesos in its first two weeks.^[5][6] The film grossed P104.6 million. It became the third Filipino film of 2012 to gross over 100 million.

The Cinema Evaluation Board of the Philippines gave this film a "Graded A", meaning the film will not pay taxes from the gross revenue of the film earned from the box office.

Star Cinema released two versions of the film, one is the censored, wider release, which is rated R-13 while the other one is director's cut, limited release, which is rated R-18.^{[7][8][9][10]}

• List of ghost films

• The Healing at IMDb