Sai and Shujath talk Cinema

If I were to choose one movie which definitively exemplifies Horror cinema…this would be it. When this movie was released some 15 years back…it was probably the first time that a mainstream filmmaker attempted a bonafide horror film…quite unlike the B-grade stuff which was usually associated with such type of movies.

Another striking point of this movie is that it contains both psychological scares as well as the usual gross out gore in right amounts….though I still think the last few reels were a letdown which is generally the case for any scary film. Some of the most memorable scenes are the ones involving the kid….whenever he enters the attic and the creaking door closes behind his back – amazing use of sound there (if you observe…Ramgopal Varma in both Raatri and Deyyam uses the premise that a kid is oblivious of what a ghost is and is never scared whatsoever) or the scene where the grandmother finds the kid playing with the cat who was killed a few moments ago. Of course, Revathi is unforgettable whenever she wears that spooky smile on her face (I used to try this look successfully later to scare my little cousins)….especially the first time she does it in the scene near the lake. Another unforgettable character is that of Nirmalamma….watch out for her introduction scene. I remember as a kid I watched this at Devi theatre in Hyderabad which at that time had a deadly 24 track stereophonic sound system….which was more than enough to scare the shit out of me….no horror film did that to me before or after. If you love horror then this is a must watch and if you don’t you’ll start liking this genre after watching this.