Brillante Mendoza’s thriller, “Red” (“Pula,” 2024), revolves around the family of Faraon and Magda as a tragedy makes them fall to pieces. Starring Coco Martin and Julia Montes, the inclusion of horror elements in the film can be a subject of discussion because, at some points, it seems unnecessary with regard to the requirements of the original story. However, its inclusion brings forth the exclusivity of the film. Hence, there can be a debate over whether the horror part was really necessary or not. Anyway, the film itself is a bit long, regardless of the time it takes to develop the plots. But it offers a new take on thrillers, which can turn out to be intriguing for most of the audience.

Red (Pula, 2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

The film starts with Jeff bringing the healer of the village to a certain house where a young woman named Rosal is possessed by some kind of demonic entity. The healer sees evil in everything around her. When she sees a snake in the middle of the road, she fears that the evil has followed them. Anyway, the healer enters the house, and with the help of some Christian chant, she stabilizes Rosal for the time being.  However, to get rid of the demonic entity once and for all, the healer suggests that Rosal should be married to the love of her life, Lando, to which her parents seem to be quite resistant.

The healer then tells Rosal’s parents they are left with two options only: either they can agree to Rosal and Lando’s marriage, or else they will have to sacrifice their daughter to the demon. Well, the connection, however hard to find out, may be that the demon is trying to take over Rosal’s body since she is unmarried. Marriage with the person Rosal loves can put an end to this saga once and for all. Soon after, we see the village is surrounded by black clouds, and it awaits an impending storm.

How is Faraon’s relationship with Magda?

Jeff and Tricia take shelter in a deserted area of the village since the rain is about to begin. They start making out while hiding themselves from anyone else’s eyes. Tricia is only 15 years old, and she is deeply in love with Jeff, while Jeff’s feelings toward her are quite the same. Meanwhile, we see Faraon, a local police officer, dropping his two sons and wife, Magda, at the school. While going to his headquarters, he sees Jeff and Tricia kissing each other. Faraon stops and sees Tricia going back to her house.

Faraon’s relationship with his wife, Magda, seems to be in jeopardy as Magda resists being intimate with Faraon. Faraon later realizes that Magda is pregnant with their third child, so he leaves the house happily at night. However, soon, we find out that Magda has an affair with Faraon’s superior, Chief of the Police, Raymond. There is a possibility that Magda is pregnant with Raymond’s child. They have kept their relationship very secret from society, as Raymond often helps Magda with her household staff as well.

What happens to Tricia?

One day, when Tricia and her family are praying in the church, Tricia says something to her mother and goes outside. She has already hidden her bag near the church. She grabs it and meets with Jeff. They planned to escape their families, but since there were black clouds all over the village, they postponed the plan. Before all of this, the healer witnesses a unique incident where the water in the river turns red out of nowhere. The father in the church describes this event beyond logic, saying that they must stay strong in moments like this.
A still from Red (Pula, 2024)
Later that night, when Tricia does not return home, their parents get very worried. The following day, the village captain of Bato comes to the police station to report a body that is found in a deserted land near the river. Raymond sends Abella and Faraon to investigate the crime scene. Faraon starts vomiting after seeing the body while a woman runs away, looking at him once. Later, Tricia’s parents confirm that the body belongs to their daughter, who went missing just yesterday.

Who is responsible for Tricia’s Death?

Faraon and Magda go to share their sympathies with Tricia’s parents, while Tricia’s father creates a scene when he sees Jeff. They both blame each other for Tricia’s tragic end. Faraon takes control of the situation and asks Jeff to remove himself from the scene. Soon after, Magda screams at Faraon as she starts losing a lot of blood suddenly, and Faraon takes her to the hospital immediately. The investigation, on the other hand, gives enough clues to make Jeff the prime suspect in Tricia’s case.

As the investigation proceeds, the police seem to have reached a cliff from where they can not go any further. However, Abella receives a message from the father of the church where he has asked her to meet him in private in the church. Abella comes and meets with Pacita, a woman who claims to be the eyewitness to the murder. Pacita tells Abella that the place where Tricia’s body is found is the road she generally uses to return to her home, perhaps on a daily basis.

That afternoon, when she was returning from work, she saw a motorcycle standing there, and a man was shoveling the soil. She hid in a bush near the motorcycle and saw that the man was burying a dead body before he left the place. Later, when Pacita went to the place, she found a mobile phone. The following day, she finds the police discovering the body. She ran away from the place because she had seen the culprit there. It was Faraon himself who was vomiting right in front of her.

Red (Pula, 2024) Movie Ending Explained:

How does Faraon learn about Magda’s affair?

One day, when Faraon, along with his sons, goes to visit Magda in the hospital, he accidentally sees Raymond hugging Magda. Later, when Magda starts to go to school again, Faraon goes to the school and finds out that Magda has taken a leave. Faraon then goes to Raymond’s house, trespasses inside the house, and finds a scarf that belongs to Magda. He even recognizes Magda’s scent in the letters he finds in Raymond’s house.

He comes back home angrily when the subpoena arrives at his door. Faraon realizes that the police have submitted the case where he is the prime suspect, because Abella has already shared the signed confession of Pacita with Raymond. They also have Faraon’s phone as proof. Raymond has also shared the eye-witness copy with Magda, saying that her husband is not what she thinks he is. Faraon has brutally raped and killed a 15 years old girl, and now Magda goes to the church to confess her sins on behalf of her husband.

Is it suicide or Tricia’s revenge that takes Faraon’s life?

Another still from Red (Pula, 2024)
Meanwhile, knowing that there is no place to hide now, Faraon goes on a rampage. He goes to the police station, shoots at random police officers, and leaves the headquarters after killing Raymond. Abella has managed to shoot a bullet at Faraon. But he kills her, and outside the police station. He also kills the Father of the Church and Magda. Later, he kills some locals and goes to the place where Tricia’s body is buried. There have been multiple occasions where we have seen Tricia’s ghost. However, she has never harmed anyone so far.

But now, knowing that Faraon has come to a position where he is left with nothing, Tricia takes the opportunity to shower her revenge. Faraon could see Tricia’s ghost, and he shot at her at random. Later, we see the gun in Faraon’s hand start pointing at him. Faraon tries to resist it with his utmost willpower. But he has less control over his body now because Tricia has taken over. Finally, regardless of how much Faraon tries not to shoot himself, the trigger goes off, and Faraon dies, which can be seen as a suicide. In reality, Tricia’s ghost kills him.

What do the Red River and Black Clouds Represent?

The river continues to turn red, and at the end of the film, Faraon’s two sons are left with no one to take care of them. They have a grandfather, though, who sees everything and talks about bizarre things that make no sense at all. The whole village is still covered with bad weather, which represents the darkness hidden inside everyone in the village. Everyone is kind of responsible for the events that took Tricia’s life.

Take Magda, for example, who is not satisfied with her husband, so she seeks shelter in another man’s comfort. This leads to Faraon’s evil nature that triggers his soul into harming a 15-year-old girl. Magda is not at all directly involved in Faraon’s actions because his actions can not be judged under any circumstance. He basically raped Tricia twice, once while she was alive, and the other time Tricia was dead. There’s no excuse that Faraon is the cruelest human being.

Also, if Tricia’s parents agreed to be happy with her involvement with Jeff, they would not have to plan an escape from the village. Tricia did not have to run away from the church on that very day and she would not have met with Faraon while returning back to the church. But, for some reason, Tricia’s father did not like Jeff, and now they are left with her memories. All this hatred, at what cost? What if Magda had confessed earlier? What if Raymond could have asked Magda to leave Faraon and stay with him?

Nothing justifies the demon, Faraon. This is where I liked Mendoza’s inclusion of the horror elements in the film. We ignore small things that give birth to the utmost demon. The black clouds, the red river, and everything else indicate the threat the village has ignored for a long time. They have ignored the darkness within themselves for so long that a demon like Faraon has finally taken away so many lives along with him.