Kimmy Dora and the Temple of Kiyeme

Plot

Kimmy and Dora (both Eugene Domingo) are identical twins with different personalities. Kimmy is the smart, dictatorial type while Dora is the slow, dimwitted sister. However, they end up being close to each other and appreciate their love as sisters.

The film starts in a scene where Go Dong-hae's house is haunted by a ghost (Alodia Gosiengfiao). Mikky can smell her, Kimmy can hear her, and Dora can see her. The ghost targeted the girls' Korean father, Luisito Go Dong-hae (Ariel Ureta). When Mikky is tapping on the door, Dora followed him to her father's room. Dora opens the door and she sees her father in a state of shock. Before it happened, Kimmy and Dora were still close but their relationship seemed to be strained when Dora accidentally sabotaged the party by ordering the decorations of the venue in the same colour as Kimmy's dress. Frustrated, Kimmy fired everyone involved with the party before leaving. In the car, Kimmy's assistant, Gertrude (Miriam Quiambao), apologised for the fiasco, and Kimmy asked for the name of the head of the decoration committee and, upon learning it was Dora, pushed Gertrude out of the car while it was still moving. After the humiliating party, Luisito requested the two to go to Korea to pay respects to their ancestors. Not long after, Luisito received a package.

At the office, Barry (Zanjoe Marudo) brought some vegetables into the office of Kimmy. Meanwhile, Johnson (Dingdong Dantes) brings flowers and a teddy bear for Dora but he assumed that something bad happened to Dora because she was floating on the pool face down. After flipping her up, Johnson asked if they can take it to the next level. In the airplane, Kimmy heard a strange noise in the bathroom. Later, Dora briefly saw something strange.

In Korea, Dora and Kimmy go shopping and then rest at the park. In the park, Luisito briefly mistook a drummer girl for his ex-girlfriend, but decided it was not her. At a restaurant, he told his two daughters that they will go to a temple. After they visit the temple and pay respects to their ancestors, Luisito told the twins his three wishes before he dies: first, they must visit the temple every year. Second, he wanted them to listen to a story he will tell.

At that very moment, he told them a story about a family named Sang. The Sang family helped Luisito's family, the Go family, become rich, for they were only sellers of kimchi, and the third is that one of them must marry a Sang. The next day, they met the Sang family and their obese grandson, Daniel. Kimmy and Dora do not like Daniel but Daniel likes Dora. Noticing that none of his daughters wants to marry Daniel, Luisito attempts to gain more time. Kimmy heard an agonizing noise during a meeting and eventually fainted from hearing it. However, she was the only one who heard it. Once Kimmy was admitted into a hospital, Dora was told that her sister shows perfectly normal results. Barry visits her. When Kimmy woke up, she and Barry had a conversation, ending with Barry proposing to Kimmy. However, Barry encountered the ghost in an elevator and Dora found him in a state of shock once the door opened. Eventually, Johnson is also assaulted by the ghost after he proposes to Dora.

Luisito later told his daughters that the ghost haunting them may be his ex-girlfriend, Sang Kang-kang. When Luisito was still a young man, he was betrothed to her. However, he eventually started a relationship with Kimmy and Dora's Filipino mother, Charito. Upon finding out, Sang Kang-kang locked herself in her room,beats a drum regularly,eats only papers and eventually died from depression. Now, Sang Kang-kang is back for revenge. Later in their house, Kimmy kept hearing a strange sound and Mikky tapped on Dora's door, leading to the chain of events in the beginning of the film. With their loved ones in an extreme state of shock. Kimmy and Dora then find an album and knows that it was Sang Kang-kang's. After opening the album they see their loved one's soul with Sang Kang-kang and she says "They are all mine! Mine! Mine!" At the house Lolo and Manny are there for some ritual that will happen in their house and at night. After they call Sang Kang-kang's spirit Kimmy and Dora teams up with Gertrude, Elena, Manny and Lolo. Kimmy fighting Sang Kang-kang was a bad idea because Sang Kang-kang attacked all of them.

They now go to South Korea where Kimmy going to marry Daniel Sang when Lolo cames and destroy the wedding because of his idea. Dora who has a Butchers Knife and Kimmy who has a katana. Dora accidentally steps on Sang Kang-kang's tombstone where she appears and attacks Dora. After Dora was attacked, their mother Charito (Domingo) appeared in armour as their spirit protector and guardian, defeating Sang Kang-kang in combat. Their mother told them to take care of each other before returning to the afterlife. The story ends after Kimmy and Dora dance with Barry and Johnson.

Main Cast

Supporting Cast

Cameos

Here are some celebrities who made cameo appearances in the film:

Background and development

In January 2012, the film producer and actor Piolo Pascual reported that he is working on producing more films this year under his own production outfit, Spring Films and stated that the sequel of Kimmy Dora is shooting already. Also, on January 4 episode of Kris TV where the lead star Eugene Domingo and director-producer Joyce Bernal revealed that they are already looking for a location in South Korea for the set of the The Temple of Kiyeme. The script of the film was submitted as an official entry for the 2011 Metro Manila Film Festival but did not make it to the official list.

On January 25, the Korean National Tourism Organization reported that they’ve enticed the Philippine film Kimmy Dora and the Temple of Kiyeme to film in Korea. The filming will take place at major landmarks of Seoul, such as Gwanghwamun Plaza, Cheonggyecheon, Myeongdong, Namsan Tower, and Doseonsa from January 29 until February 8. The Koreans fawned over the Filipino celebrities during the taping, while the film director Joyce Bernal was interviewed by the Korean Broadcasting System or KBS. Bernal noted in the interview, “The scenery is interesting. There is the traditional and there’s the modern. There is like two worlds in Seoul...”.

In a separate interview, Bernal and lead cast, Eugene Domingo,expressed their satisfaction over the outcome of the Korean sojourn, and emphasized how the winter season afforded them to shoot several scenes in a blanket of snow. The scenes set in Seoul will take up around 40% of the film. On February 6, 2012 the casts Eugene Domingo and Alodia Gosiengfiao, and director Joyce Bernal posted a picture together with one of the Super Junior, Kim Heechul. Alodia, a new addition to the cast, will play as a Korean lady. The film was supposed to air in April but was moved back to June to give way for Every Breath U Take and Born To Love You.

Critical reception

Most of the reviews for the film were generally mixed to negative. Mark Angelo Ching of Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP) stated, "...what's remarkable about Kimmy Dora 2 is that even though it features a hybrid of two movie genres, each half of these genres are done so well. The humor parts are truly hilarious, and the horror parts will creep you out...". He also added, "...the best component of Kimmy Dora 2 is still the performance of its actors." However, he also stated, "the first installment is still the better one[...]what does not quite work are the parts in between, when there are efforts to mix the two genres together. These parts somehow feel dull." Ria Limjap of SPOT Philippines stated that the sequel is a fun ride. She also stated, "...Eugene Domingo is very consistent in everything she does[...]KD uses some of the old tricks (celebrity cameos and hilarious costumes) along with new ones that come with a larger budget like clever special effects and shooting in foreign locations." Gelo Gonzales of FHM Philippines also reviewed the film stating, "Kimmy Dora 2 attempts some genre-bending of its own. It attempts to bring a new flavor to the table with its horror elements. That Sang Kang Kang is freaky. Freaky scary. Mad props to the prosthetics and special effects team for the wild Sadako-ish impersonation...". He also added that Eugene Domingo is a comedic gem as she plays both roles with conviction. However, she is not quite impress on how the two genres are mixed stating, "... slightly jarring, and by the end, you find yourself fatigued from the constant tone shift."

Oggs Cruz of Twitch Film expressed extreme disappointment to the film. He stated, "Joyce Bernal's Kimmy Dora and the Temple of Kiyeme misses the entire point. It is just one humongous mistake that sadly betrays whatever hope the success of Kimmy Dora: Kambal sa Kiyeme (2009) created for the Philippine film industry." He also stated that the film peddled nothing more but nonsense and described the film as plain treachery. Philbert Ortiz Dy of Click The City gave the film 1.5 out of 5 stars. He stated, "[film] is bafflingly bad, the charms of the first movie all sapped away as it makes a even bigger bid for the mainstream[...] But as the film does the horror, it forgets about its comedic core. None of this stuff is remotely funny, and the film losing all of its comedic momentum whenever the plot gives its attention to all this overly familiar genre nonsense." He also stated that the film looks sloppily done, and the horror feel is a waste of time.

Box-Office Performance

The film is a box-office hit starting on the first day. Reports say that the sequel earned 10 Million pesos on its first day, tripling the gross of the Part 1 on the same duration. According to Box Office Mojo, the film grossed a total of 96 Million in two weeks, being the 2nd highest-grossing Filipino film of 2012. In its 6th week, the film grosses a total of PHP 133,479,766 and currently holds the 13th place in the highest-grossing Filipino film of all time

Sequel

The cast and the director of the film revealed that the third installment is already on the works. There are no detailed information about the sequel yet.

Prequel instead

As of late 2013, It was confirmed that there will be a prequel for the first two movies of Kimmy Dora: Kambal sa Kiyeme series entitled Kimmy Dora: Ang Kiyemeng Prequel which will be officially included in 2013 Metro Manila Film Festival.