Vichithram, Malayalam film Review

Horror films are of many layers. From psychological thrillers to revenge stories to an all out supernatural stuffs, Horror genre is highly expandable in multiple ways. One of such variant is the film Vichithram.

It tells about a story of a family a struggling mother with her irresponsible children in a humorous way. The film uses its first half predominantly to inculcate the economic mayhem with the film. As they shifts to a bungalow, their inherited property, the haunting starts.

Second half is more insisting with different attempts to make them feel the presence of a spirit inside the bungalow, and gradually deciphers the strikes that connects past dot with that of the present. Though this film goes on a familiar Ghost house narrative, it discloses some grey areas of relationships, mystery, revenge and reason.

Positives.

Shine tom chacko excelled the role with his natural way of imbibing into the clamour of a jobless, confidence trickster. Kani kusruthy, with her gloomy, hopeless expressions performed smartly by hiding the agony of her character named Martha deep inside her eyelashes. DOP and BGM, could offer some jump-scares as demanded by the films of this genre. Story feels genuine by quashing tje gender stereotypes with some compromising scenes within the moral boundaries of a malayali audience. Situational comedies were effortlessly cracked by the crew and was enjoyable too.

Neagatives.

First half took alot of time to convey the way of life the family have. It could have narrowed precisely to avoid the drag. There are few illogical stuffs added to this logical thriller as well. For example, in all the scary sequences, nobody cares to switch on the lights. Another, criticism is that the film didnt show any statutory warning when it shows a rabbit hanged to death. As the story have enormous potency to include more twists and turns, but the script failed to exploit the same more cinematically.

Rating.

For its technical superiority, performances and a storyline, this can be considered as promising film from the debute director. Am giving 6/10..