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Saturday, May 4, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD HORROR STORY
EDITOR'S PICK
`Horror
Story` a scare-fest
Rating:***
And then there were numb. Horror of horrors! Imagine a Hindi horror film, which
takes no song breaks, no respite for comedy or romance ... no room for anything
except the terror.
"Horror Story" is one of the bluntest most direct tales of terror to
be unleashed in recent times. The feeling of being trapped with a group of
youngsters, who would want to be anywhere except the place that the spooky
script selects for them, stays with us till the end.
Uppermost in the script is a sense of impending catastrophe. Producer-writer
Vikram Bhatt has always been attracted to terror and the occult. But when an A-lister
actress runs around in skimpy clothes trying to look terrified, one does get
distracted.
It is a monster-stroke to cast completely new faces in "Horror Story".
The young cast is competent and capable of carrying the chills forward to its
fatal finale.
Debutant director Ayush Raina shoots the grisly goings-on with the minimum
stress on conventional sounds and visuals associated with the horror genre.
Belatedly the horror genre has chanced upon the relevance of austerity in
putting forward the panic and terror of youngsters trapped in a situation where
they cannot escape from a satanic annihilation.
Familiar fear is here transmitted into a slickly spun yarn that keeps you glued
to the gore.
The narrative is clustered together into a collage of scenes evoking a sense of
growing foreboding.
Gargey Trivedi's cinematography at once creates a sense of urgency and doom.
The characters are captured in postures of desperate resignation to a situation
over which they have no control. Luckily for these unlucky youngsters, the
director is in full control of their destiny.
Amar Mohile's background score comes and goes insistently reminding us of the
monster that manoeuvres mortality into the fast lane.
A scare-fest that makes your blood freeze and flesh crawl, "Horror
Story" is your worst nightmare come true. Shot in colours that contour the
flavour of dread and doom, the feel-fear flick has moment that make your heart
skip a beat.
For those who like their terror served piping-hot, this one is on top of the
menu.
Paranormal
phenomenon has a mix of the believers and the non-believers, as were these seven
youngsters. They were friends from their school / college days and were meeting
after many years to celebrate. One of them was leaving to pursue his goal and
career abroad. The night of their reunion was supposed to be a farewell party,
however it turned out to be just something else. A chance news announcement
on the telly that was playing at the pub caught their attention and soon
resulted in a drunken debate and before they knew it they were gate crashing
into a hotel, that was popularly believed to be haunted. Their objective was
just to have some fun; little did they know that this will turn out to be the
most horrendous night of their life, rather, the last night of their life!
THE LOCATION
The hotel is in the heart of the city and yet is secluded. The place has a
history of some unbelievable incidents. Before it was turned into a hotel, the
place was in ruins of a building. The building housed a government mental
asylum. The asylum was also a place where criminals with conditions of mind were
kept. So they were guarded not just as a mental case but also as a criminal. It
was not easy to be employed in such a hospital. But there were doctors, nurses,
ward boys and care takers in that hospital until the whole place was burned down
by a fire. No one could know the truth and the truth was there to remain in the
dusty files of the Manager of the hotel that was built there much later, but
this too was lost in time. But the rumors that the place was haunted had started
floating around. It took many years for the government to take a decision on
leasing the place out to a builder. The builder went on to complete a very
ambitious project of his life by building a five star hotel. But the hotel had
numerous incidents and soon it was a disaster for the investors as operations
had to be shut down to curtail the losses. The hotelier was financially ruined
and then one day he climbed up to the terrace of the very hotel and jumped to
commit suicide. Again people started talking that he did not jump but was pushed
down by the spirit of one of inmates of the asylum. The truth was never to be
known as the case was closed as a suicide. But the rumors remained and in fact
grew more that a ghost haunted the place.
THE NIGHT
The night is where they confront their belief, their life and death. Once in
there, weird things start happening. At first they ignored thinking that it was
the reputation and the eerie environment that was getting to them …. Till
things started really going wrong … and they reluctantly realized that the
unreal was for real. After one of the guys is found dead by others, they decide
to leave the place and run away. But by then it was too late.
Promotion of film Horror Story