Asvins

Some of the cinematography is quite good. The filming locations are impressive, especially the mansion, even though some of the interiors seem out of place (like the basement). However. The acting is horrid (especially Vasanth Ravi as Arjun); just when you think someone is doing a passable job, they make a face (I assume they are "possessed") or they fake-cry. There is SO. MUCH. CRYING. And none of it is realistic. Utterly ridiculous. I saw the film began as a short. It makes sense, as much of the film feels like padding. The 1 hour, 51 minute running time feels like much, much longer and the majority of it feels wasted.

Horror films stand out, create impression, leave impact in the audience when they are either intellectually stimulating (Insidieux (2010)) or absolutely mistifying (Le cercle (2002)).

Asvins is neither of the above but tries hard to be at least one of the above. Sure we can see influences of famous horror films (Activité paranormale (2007)) but nothing can save the lethargic attempt at writing. I heard that the original script is developed from a short film. When you hear it, you think that the movie would have a lot to offer than the short film but it is merely a prolonged (dragged out) explanatory video of the same.

Somewhere in a foreign land, five Indians venture out in a country side to explore a haunted mansion where an archaelogist of Indian origin had seemingly killed all her servants and herself sometime before. They go here in the pursuit of capturing footages to use for the promotion of a black tour but unfortunately, as mentioned above, it is a haunted mansion and they go at night, what could possibly go right?

Only the first 15 minutes is entertaining. Tarun Teja, the director, must have taken his audience for fools, so he makes sure that we understand certain things by repeating what was told before at the start of the film during the entire course of the film through dialogues, characters and mark boards, which was annoying.

The back story should have been enjoyable like in Arundhati (2014) but is bland and often told through drawings. Apart from this, all the main characters are highly 2D like we don't even care about them whether they are dead or alive and it is a horror film, even if all of them are dead, I would not have mind. There was nothing at stake for the main lead to jump into actions.

Through out the whole film, I, along with all the audience who watched it in the theatre was like, meh, whatever.

As this Indian chiller starts we are told of the ancient legend of a farmer whose twin sons drown. After praying to the gods one is returned along with a pair of idols which he must keep together. A demon tricks him and his village is cursed until they are reunited. Centuries pass and they have come into the possession of an Indian archaeologist who has a large mansion in England. Something strange has happened there and a group of young Indians are exploring the house. The opening chapter shows them exploring, found footage style, and bad things happen to them. We then flash back to just before they arrive at the house, which is on an island which is accessible at low tide. We learn why they are there and more about what is happening to them.

I thought this started well; the introduction was effective and the found footage scenes provided some early scares. Later on as they arrive and start exploring it is suitably creepy with a terrifically spooky atmosphere and disturbing sound effects. Unfortunately as we get to know more it starts to drag somewhat; it could have done with being about twenty minutes shorter. The acting is solid with the characters appearing genuinely terrified at times. If you enjoy a good scare but don't want swearing, sex/nudity and gore then you needn't worry as this features none of that. Overall a decent enough chiller.

These comments are based on watching the film in Tamil with English subtitles.

I've certainly seen far worse than "Asvins" in my time. The movie starts out promising, but doesn't really maintain the pace of the opening chapter. Not to say this is bad, I don't mind a slow burn horror that's more story and less jump scares, if it's done correctly, that is. I would say that "Asvins" is a semi-failed project, but succeeds in some places quite well.

For one, the cinematography in some areas is beautiful, in others, it's cheesy. The lighting can be a bit... retro... at times, looking more like a 1970s disco scene than a Hellish nightmare. The acting is solid in some places, but then terribly overdramatic in others. This may be a part of Indian cinema in general, much as Chinese cinema often incorporates theatrical stage play-type work into their movies.

The stand out of this movie for me was the musical score. It was fantastic. It's not often movie scores catch my attention more than the movie proper, but this one certainly did. Ominous and foreboding and well implemented, probably better than what the movie deserved, frankly. I bumped it up to a six on this merit alone.

All in all, of you like slow burners that are more story than horror, you may enjoy this, but don't bring any of your buddies that are expecting "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".

Sound effect and background music is good. Cinematography is not bad, except the usage of green, pink, violate lights. Acting is at the most average.

Location and venue selection wasn't good, how can you expect a haunted house with a well maintained garden and lawn? Weak and illogical storyline, one statue lost in India, but they need to find both the statues in the UK. Worst possible script writing, in many places incoherent, possibly due to editing. A forced inclusion of the mythological characters of Aswini Kumar duo which could be another Jay and Viru.

It is difficult to sustain the movie beyond the 3rd chapter. The movie has its potential but somehow the film crewmembers succeeded to finish it.