An almost full theater for 1920 EVIL RETURNS in a multiplex on the first day itself (also a holiday) clearly proved that there are still enough fans of horror genre, desperately waiting for a good Hindi horror film from long. But unfortunately once again they all are served the same mediocre stuff from the house of Vikram Bhatt, which has got nothing exceptional as associated with the brand of 1920. May be the result is such since this time the unrelated sequel is not directed by Vikram but by the debutant Bhushan Patel, who mainly falters in the opportunity given due to a poor and unconvincing writing.
So even when the film gives you some well executed scenes depicting the possessing spirit, it overall fails to impress because of an all predictable, soul-less storyline penned by Vikram Bhatt himself along with Amin Hajee. As a result, 1920 Evil Returns just remains a quick sequel, purely made to en-cash the brand value of both Vikram Bhatt's Horror Cinema and 1920 in this festive season and nothing else. It begins on a confusing note and then continues its uninteresting run till the interval without moving any further as far as the plot is concerned. And then in the second half too it rarely manages to scare you off in its prolonged climax shot well. At times, the scary sequences even turn out to be funny instead of frightening when the ghost starts singing songs and keeps laughing weirdly.
With the actual twist in the script unfolding only in its last 40 minutes, the film relies mostly on repetition and unwanted songs which ideally should be strictly avoided in this particular genre. But as per the routine, the director keeps throwing one love song after another at regular intervals into the film and ruins an otherwise decent soundtrack by Chirantan Bhatt including few fine tracks such as "Uska Hi Banana", "Apna Mujhe Tu Laga" & more. Apart from the soundtrack the film also has a fine Cinematography which again gets overshadowed by a loud and annoying background score which sounds the same as Vikram's earlier movies.
Moreover 1920 EVIL RETURNS remains a hushed-up project in its performance department too as no particular actor is able to contribute in the film through his acting skill other than Tia playing the lead role of a possessed girl. Both Aftab and Sharad Kelkar fail to impress mainly due to the lackluster roles given to them and Vidya Malvade simply stands wasted. Further the viewer is not able to find any emotional connect with the sufferers on the screen because of a feeble screenplay which neither establishes Love or Fear in its 2 hours of duration.
To put it together, after watching 1920 EVIL RETURNS you can easily add the name of Vikram Bhatt in the list of those famous film-makers who have now found a new style of making films on a fixed Template or Pattern. In clear words, after Madhur Bhandarkarand Parkash Jha, here is Vikram Bhatt with his new horror film made on a preset template to win over the audience. Now whether you want to be fooled again or not, the choice is all yours.
