Trip Ubusan: The Lolas vs. Zombies

Trip Ubusan: The Lolas vs. Zombies is a 2017 Filipino zombie comedy film directed by Mark A. Reyes, starring Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola, and Paolo Ballesteros. It is a spin-off film of the Kalyeserye segment of Eat Bulaga!, a Philippine variety show. The film's name is a play on the title of the 2016 South Korean film Train to Busan and the 2009 tower defense game Plants vs. Zombies. It is under the production of M-Zet Productions, to be part of APT Entertainment, and was released in Philippine cinemas on November 22, 2017. The movie was distributed by GMA Network.

Plot
At a restaurant, a man consumes crispy pata made from organic pork and begins exhibiting zombie-like symptoms before reanimating and infecting other patrons, starting an outbreak.

The Lolas arrange a home camping session for their grandchild Charmaine’s ninth birthday. Charmaine invites their neighbor Ivy to the event, only to be chased back home by the zombified latter, who is killed by the Lolas unaware of the unfolding outbreak. Fleeing to their private air field, the Lolas and Charmaine stop at a gas station to buy supplies, only to be caught up in another zombie outbreak. In the confusion, Charmaine is separated and ends up in the company of teenage couples Aladin and Irish and Cath and Will, as well as Aladin's sister Marcy, who is an expert on zombies, their friend Melo, an arrogant woman named Eva, and Loid, an escaped prisoner who poses as a jail guard. The group manages to escape aboard a tour bus driven by Jordan and his assistant Abe. The Lolas are inadvertently left behind, but manage to escape after finding a motorcycle.

As the tour bus passengers learn more about the zombie outbreak over the news, they make a stopover at an abandoned mechanic shop to "zombie-proof" their vehicle. That night, Melo, who had consumed infected pork, reanimates inside the bus and attacks Irish before being killed by Loid with a gunshot to the heart, while Will and Aladin alert the group to a hoard of approaching zombies. In the chaos, Cathy tries to rescue Will, but is pushed off the bus by Eva. The Lolas arrive and finish off the zombies before they can overwhelm the bus. They celebrate as they are reunited with Charmaine, but are saddened and forced to leave after Will and Cathy reappear as zombies.

The Lolas tell Jordan to go to their private airport and search for their aircraft, but find the place overrun by zombies. As they try to find another way in, the zombies are alerted to their presence by Eva's ringing phone and attack the group. Loid and Aladin rescue them, but Lola Nidora is bitten, which she initially tries to conceal until Eva, who sees Charmaine tending to her wound, forces her to admit the truth. Despite Eva's demands to remove Nidora from the bus, the rest of the group votes against it, noting that the extent of her injuries is not immediate.

The group instead decides to go to a safe zone controlled by the military. At a checkpoint, the Lolas feign Nidora's infection to be a stroke to avoid an inspection, but Loid's true identity is discovered, leading to his arrest. The group expresses its appreciation to Loid for their help, while Loid reciprocates before being led away. The soldiers tell them to go to an extraction point where they would be taken by boat to a safe location, but as Jordan parks the bus, a horde of zombies attack, leading to the group splitting apart. Jordan is bitten and retreats with Abe inside the bus before confessing his feelings for her and stabbing himself in the heart to avoid reanimating. Aladin and Irish end up trapped in an abandoned building, with Irish consoling Aladin as he nurses a bite, which he later realizes was an injury from broken glass. Eva and Marcy reach the extraction point, but Eva, seeing her reanimated husband, leaves and lets herself be bitten by him. The Lolas and Charmaine subsequently arrive after narrowly escaping the zombie horde and landmine explosions before setting off on the rescue boat. Realizing that her injuries are now too severe, Nidora jumps off into the sea, to Charmaine and the other Lolas' grief.

At the safe zone, Charmaine and the surviving Lolas are reunited with Marcy, Irish, Aladin and Abe. To their surprise, Nidora shows up, her infection having been cured after falling into seawater. Charmaine then receives a call from her mother, who reassures her of their condition.

Main cast

 * Jose Manalo as Lola Tinidora Zobeyala
 * Wally Bayola as Lola Nidora Esperanza Zobeyala vda. de Explorer
 * Paolo Ballesteros as Lola Tidora Zobeyala

Supporting cast

 * Ryzza Mae Dizon as Marcelina "Marcy" Dimacuycoy - A young girl who is Aladin’s sister and an expert on zombies
 * Caprice Cayetano as Charmaine Nidora Richards - The granddaughter of the Lolas and Alden and Yaya Dub's daughter.
 * Angelika de la Cruz as Evangeline "Eva" Flores - A selfish, wealthy aristocrat
 * Lovely Abella as Abegail "Abe" Salazar - A tour bus employee and Jordan’s love interest
 * Taki Saito as Irish "Rish" del Rosario - Aladin's girlfriend
 * Kenneth Medrano as Aladin Galvez - Irish's boyfriend and Marcy’s older brother
 * Miggy Tolentino as William "Will" Robles
 * Shaira Diaz as Catherine "Cath" Lacerna

Extended cast

 * Arthur Solinap as Jordan - A tour bus driver
 * Rochelle Pangilinan-Solinap as Ivy
 * Archie Adamos as Loid - an escaped prisoner who helps the lolas and other survivors.
 * Jhayvot Galang as Melo - a friend of Cath and Will.
 * Bernardo's - Tidora's henchmen
 * Rogelio's - Nidora's henchmen
 * Quando's - Tinidora's henchmen

Special participation

 * Al Tantay as a general
 * Joshua Zamora as Greg - husband of Eva
 * Niño Muhlach as Patient X
 * Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza as Charmaine's Father and Mother (voice only)

Production
The principal photography of Trip Ubusan took 30 days and the production studio behind the film, APT Entertainment had to adjust the filming schedule to accommodate actors Paolo Ballesteros, Wally Bayola, and Jose Manalo's busy schedule. The film was reportedly inspired from the Korean horror film Train to Busan and described as a horror comedy film but it was advertised as featuring aspects of soap opera or drama.

Release
Trip Ubusan opened on November 22, 2017 in almost 200 cinemas nationwide. The film had box office gross of more than ₱70 million.

Reception
Trip Ubusan received an A rating from the Cinema Evaluation Board. It received rather positive reviews. A review for Rappler, however, found that "The film itself is as muddled as its title, with Reyes switching from comedy to romance to action to horror in the crudest of ways."