Vadakkan

Boring story. Nothing new.

Could have avoided unwanted vulgarity and bad language.

Should Learn from neat movies like romancham.

Disappointed. Expected better standards from Malayalam movies.

Sound effects were good.

Location was beautiful.

If you update 1 star here, it automatically gets updated as 9 ?

Now I can understand why this movie is having 8 stars from so many😀 Overrated beyond acceptance.

Failed attempt to copy some English movie.

Ending is predictable.

If the story is strong and relatable to common man, people will like it.

This is not a family movie.

This is not worth the time spend.

Theyyam is a vibrant and ancient ritual, and this movie had a great opportunity to showcase it respectfully. While the cast performed well and the acting was impressive, the overall execution of the film fell short of expectations. Given the strong concept and the presence of a talented actor like Kishor, I was hoping for a more impactful and thoughtful portrayal. Unfortunately, the movie didn't quite live up to its potential. The narrative felt disconnected at times, and the depth of the cultural elements could have been explored more meaningfully. With better storytelling and direction, this could have been a truly memorable film.

I had heard some positive buzz about this movie when it first came out and I finally got around to watching it on Prime. I honestly regret it. It is a horrible movie.

The first half tries to pass itself off as a scientific exploration of paranormal activity using the overdone "found footage" technique borrowed from Hollywood horror. But this part feels rushed and poorly executed.

Then comes the second half filled with clichés. Instead of the usual Christian symbolism found in many horror films this one attempts to use local folklore and Theyyam. Now this could have been refreshing if it were done well. But the so-called supernatural entity here does not follow any coherent logic. It is not a wronged soul or a ghost with purpose. It just does random disconnected things. They mention "lust" and "revenge" as motives but the connection is weak at best. The "lust" angle feels completely forced like the filmmakers were trying to be provocative for the sake of controversy.

Add to that the use of obscene and vulgar scenes random English and Malayalam swear words and supposedly "possessed" characters spewing sexual phrases in printed Malayalam. It all just feels immature and unnecessary. Instead of being scary or socially thought-provoking it ends up being unintentionally funny. We were laughing through most of it not because it was funny but because of how badly it was done.

They may try to present this film as some kind of societal commentary but do not be fooled. It is not. It is just cheap horror disguised as something smarter than it is.

Frankly Romancham was a far better movie. It was much more culturally rooted genuinely entertaining and respectful to its genre. And it is rated 7.5. Meanwhile this movie is sitting at an 8.3. That is exactly why I am taking the effort to write this review. Just like the film the reviews seem misleading too.

I enjoy bad horror movies. Especially ones that try. Here is a movie that pretends to try, but really does nothing.

This movie fails at every step. It fails to make it's characters interesting, it fails the make the plot engaging, it fails to create the atmosphere it intends to, and most importantly it is hard to make sense of.

Was the investigation thrilling? No.

Was there any sign of decent acting? No.

Is the screenplay good? No.

Is there good camera work? Yes.

Is there good music? Although even the music failed to create any real excitement, it did have some good aspects and could have been more impactful if the scenes made sense.

Would not recommend.

The first sign of trouble is the audio editing and dubbing. There's no depth and the entire audio is distractingly distanced from what's on the screen. You can just imagine the actors dubbing in the studio with the mics entirely in their mouths. Even basics like the voice of someone behind another being lower is just missed.

The screenplay is disjointed.. and not in a well scripted horror movie edge-of-seat disjointed kind of way but in a incompetent kind of way. There are so many plot holes from scene to scene and the direction is lacking. The background of the plot and story is inconsistent and there's no resolution for the audience at the end when it could easily have been good with just basic homework.

The actors are competent, the cinematography is great and the background score, except for the first entirely out-of-place song, is decent.

It looks like a basic good concept of story was established, decent actors were cast and then everything else just crashed into a school play run by the 5th standard history teacher. Rewatching any one episode of the 20 year old series Supernatural, would've been entirely so much more satisfying.