Demonte Colony

A group of frustrated youngsters, struggling in their careers, playfully decide to explore a ‘haunted’ house and thereby set in motion a series of horrific events…

On one hand you have to give it to debutante director Ajay Gnanamuthu, once assistant to AR Murugadoss. He sticks to his story, bypassing obvious commercial elements in the effort to genuinely try and make an engaging horror-thriller. On the other hand, however, the final film, while being watchable, is just about passable enough, unable to go beyond typical horror movie cliches and boasts of just the odd innovative moment here and there. While its story – and back story regarding wealthy Portuguese businessman Demonte – is serviceable and even hold ups somewhat considering much of the film is in a  small lower middle class flat, the horror elements themselves are mostly been-there-done-that – a dark stormy night, creaking doors, lights going off, eyes that turn white before death etc etc. What the film lacks is innovation and cleverness, like say a Pizza.

The film begins interestingly enough as the four protagonists are introduced, each looking for that big break in his career. The characters are well-fleshed out and each has his own definitive characteristics. The visit to Demonte Colony is brought in quickly enough without wasting time for the film’s key plot to take off. It’s after this, however, that the film falters. While it does give us some genuine moments in the thriller aspect of the story, it fails to scare us on the horror side. This takes away from being engaged with the going ons and somewhere, the film then gets too dependent on standard sudden loud sounds and dramatic background music to try and give the viewer its chills. The final entanglement of the plot too is not quite as satisfactory as it should have been.

The four actors are well cast. It is an interesting role for Arulnithi, who being a limited actor, is at least trying to choose scripts with some substance to them. Still, he is just about so-so in the film and needs to expand his acting range. His expressions of looking shocked/horrified stick to a wide opening of the eyes and little else. The others do their parts adequately with RJ Ramesh truly having some good moments. MS Baskar is fine in a small cameo.

The camerawork complements the story and the crisp editing ensures the pace never flags. The production design too deserves a mention. If only the film had something more to offer…

Tamil, Horror, Thriller, Color

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_gB8RXr_8w