Bhayam

Story: Vinu wins an apartment as a prize from a television music reality show. But soon he realises that the apartment is just not a boon as he thought it was.

Review: Come end of October, it's the season of scares. And Malayali audience has a penchant for well made horror-thrillers. But does Bhayam make the cut? What makes a good horror movie?

Directed by Ajith, Bhayam, like the title suggests, the film wants you to be afraid, but does very little in that direction.
Vinu (Adil Ibrahim), is a singer looking to further his career in movies after winning a music reality show. From his little village in Kattappana he moves to Kochi in his newly acquired apartment. But the apartment hides far more secrets than he can take.

A paranormal movie needs a very conscious suspension of disbelief to be enjoyed. And a well made movie can be quite an entertainment. Alas, Bhayam doesn't quite succeed in convince you to willingly suspend the disbelief. The story doesn't really move ahead past the first 20-30 minutes. Essentially they've said everything they had to in that time and then proceed to stretch the movie for another hour more. There are neither more reveals or nor any suspense and the movie accepts defeat in an abrupt ending without back stories or reasons for the paranormal to manifest. It is because it is! In 2019 wouldn't we like our ghosts to be rebels with a cause? Or maybe, atleast tell us what do they want of you when they show up donned in CG at odd hours in the day and night! Maybe one is expecting too much of them. Talking about expectation, much isn't expected of Adil Ibrahim playing the protagonist even. He exists as he would, except for when he is expected to scream and turn paranoid. His character is reduced to a stylish, yet feeble push-over who doesn't exactly have the courage of intent to come out of the situation he finds himself in. Hima Shankar is credited in the movie without so much as a single proper straight frame of hers. It is just her face with no identity. So, honestly it's difficult to judge her CG laden performance. Akshara Kishore is wasted in the entire movie, as much of the other cast is. Random bits and pieces of music in the background score sticks out like a sore thumb.

Cinematography is the only saving grace for Bhayam. The cinemagrapher cranks his lens to aide the thrill, and that is the only factor that prompts the emotion the title boasts of.

Bhayam is a horror-flick that prompts anything but that. It's a short film stretched to feature length, that too with abysmal commitment to the theme. Watch it at your own risk of falling asleep.