Demonte Colony – Scarcely scary but well made!!!

Bharath Vijayakumar 

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The Tamil box office recently swears by the horror genre. Hollywood was the go to for horror film buffs probably a decade ago, when the genre was hardly explored by Tamil filmmakers and when done it was mostly loud and crass. Yaavaralum Nalam was a whiff of fresh air. But nothing great followed immediately. The last two to three years has been a revival of sorts with horror and horror comedy proving to be money spinners at the box office.

 

Plot:

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A bunch of youngsters playfully venture into a house rumored to be haunted only to find themselves trapped into a position of no return

 

Cast:

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Playing well within limitations can sometimes pay rich dividends. While his performances have been nothing to rave about, it should also be mentioned that Arulnidhi’s choice of characters and scripts has been extremely impressive and he has been able to hold himself reasonably well in each of them. Demonte Colony is another noteworthy addition in his short career so far. The casting of the three friends is also spot-on. The four together put up a performance that is nothing filmy about it.

 

Technical Crew:

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This is the biggest strength of the film. In spite of being a small scale film shot within few locations, there is a tinge of richness on screen. The seamless editing and excellent background score are huge assets.

 

Direction:

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Ajay Gnanamuthu has to be credited for being true to the genre. A little warm up to introduce the characters and we are into the main plot and no room has been given to accommodate anything that might be believed to cater to a wider audience. There is no heroine in the film. In fact apart from a couple of scenes there is no female character!!! And all this lack of indulgences results in a compact film with a runtime that is short of 2 hours. The backstory of Demonte despite being predictable is nicely narrated. If something has to be held against the film then it is the lack of any genuine unsettling moment. The film does not really scare you as such. Rather it works like a thriller with ‘What happens next?’ being on top of your mind.

 

Bottomline:

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Modelled on horror flicks from the West, ‘Demonte Colony’ stays true to it’s genre and is a well-made film. A little more scare is what we wanted.

Rating: 3/5

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