Dybbuk: The Curse Is Real

Remake of 2017 Malayalam Film Ezra, Dybbuk tells the story of the spirit in the box that tries to destroy the village for the sake of revenge.

Emraan Hashmi playing the lead character matches the vibe of Prithviraj, who played the lead in the original. Being a remake, there was nothing additional new to offer but it did well to maintain itself from being an another weak remake of a South Indian movie.

At moments, the movie felt it was bit rushed to reach to the climax since this one was almost 40 minutes shorter in duration than the original. Dybbuk lacked the exploration of the story in depth, the way Ezra did.

In my opinion Dybbuk is a good attempt and manages at most parts to stand with the original, but short runtime and few moments that felt quick and unexplained was a downer for Dybbuk.

My Rating : 6/10.

If youve seen the Malayalam film Ezra, youll get nothing new here. Just some better stills in few frames. Story is identical. Even if not be a frame by frame copy, the differences are negligible.

If not, you could go for it as an above average horror / possession movie. Some good visuals, worth a single watch for horror genre fans.

But if i wanted to see it, there was already one to watch, Producers, if you are investing why not try something with its own identity or at least give the audience something new or different? Here only the cast is unique.

Nice story, good action solid 7, good horror package.

Cast and story did the justice with the movie.

Theme of the movie as dark as required.

Go for it.

I saw this on Amazon Prime without watching the trailer or reading anything bah it. Was surprised to see a billboard poster of it few nights back. In fact i was angry that this movie wasn't promoted well. There were no trailers popping on YouTube or any thing related to this movie running on tv channels.

The Possession (2012) dealt with the similar topic but i found the movie boring n very mild.

This movie doesn't waste any time with the unnecessary Bollywood cliches n thankfully there aint any songs.

The first kill is an offscreen one but very brutal.

There is one very atmosphere scene ala dreamlike n surrealistic where Emraan Hashmi follows his wife.

There is a scary n brutal scene inside Moshe's house when the Rabbi enters for the book.

Few flaws : A pregnant female is allowed to witness exorcism dealing with scary faces.

When the Rabbi breaks open the door of Moshe's house to enter, it was crystal clear that nobody was outside or inside but later suddenly a man pops outta nowhere and that too inside the house and tells the Rabbi that he shouldn't be here.

In one scene the Rabbi ask the wife to step out during exorcism n she obliges n moves out but in the next scene she is standing once again in the same room where exorcism is happening and that too next to a guy who is involved in exorcism.

Generous with a 8 cos of Hashmi n the dreamlike sequence n the twist.

Sam (Emraan Hashmi) and Mahi (Nikita Dutta) have been married for a couple of years against the wishes of the latter's parents, an issue that neither is happy about, and remains as a jagged edge. So when Sam gets an opportunity to develop the nuclear energy plant in Mauritius, he is excited that they may be able to rekindle the romance, whilst Mahi is somewhat uncertain about leaving all her friends and family behind Mumbai. When they arrive in Mauritius, they get a massive bungalow to live in, and Mahi's problems start as soon as she unwittingly buys a Dybbuk, a box that contains a secret, perhaps a curse from the past, that will be released as soon as the box is opened.

There's no point buying a box and not opening it, hence Mahi does the needful unknowingly and a malevolent spirit possesses the family. Mahi starts doing strange things and Sam is forced to seek advice from the Church first, and then from a Rabbi played by Manav Kaul to help them return to normalcy.

The rest of Dybbuk is rather formulaic, as the good must triumph over evil, but not without our learning why the alleged evil is what it is, and why it is tormenting Sam and Mahi, who seem to have accidentally crossed its path to vengeance against the entire island. The spirit is intelligent and educated enough to know that Sam is in charge of the operations of the nuclear reactor, which, with the use of recently acquired Plutonium can devastate the whole island. Dybbuk is occasionally startling, but cannot sustain the horror it is meant to, and the SFX of the evil spirit is quite similar to Vikram Bhatt movies. Emraan Hashmi is the natural choice for the lead as he is a sleepwalker through the role he has done umpteen times before this. Nikita Dutta is likeable in her plight but her troubles don't evoke enough sympathy. Dybbuk is an average fare and will be lost in the crowd of another not so scary "horror" movie.