Film: Raaz Reboot
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Kriti Kharbanda, Gaurav Arora
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Vikram Bhatt’s fourth attempt to spook you with secrets, mystery, horror and romance comes a cropper yet again even though it’s set in picturesque Transylvania, Romania – the home country of Dracula. Bhatt’s tricks are the same tried, tested and ineffective ones he has employed frequently in film after film from the production line of his horror factory. So don’t get misled by the censor board controversy over the overuse of the ‘F’ word- it makes no difference other than to show us that Bhatt needs these silly infantile gimmicks to fool the audience because there’s really no story to tell.
The same old storyline, remember ‘1920 London Returns?’ – Rehaan (Gaurav Arora) and Shaina (Kriti Kharbanda) are a married couple who move to Romania for better prospects. The house they live in there has some strange energies floating around and Rehaan appears to be hiding something from his wife. What’s the secret?
In comes Shaina’s ex, Aditya (Emraan Hashmi), who propitiously appears on the scene and is also convinced that there’s something wrong in the house. But Rehaan is not convinced and refuses to move to a new dwelling.
There’s not much mystery or tension here and as an audience it’s difficult to get involved in what’s going down on screen. The mangal sutra is used as a talisman to ward off evil and the post interval twist just about reveals everything there is to reveal.
The climax is atrocious to say the least. The music plays an important role here too – but it’s not as good as the original’s sound track. The background score makes eerie original sounds but it fails to rouse either fear or fervour. The cinematography manages to capture the cold, dark and depressing atmosphere quite well, the furniture looks antiquated and the actors give shrill a whole new meaning.
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