Bokshi (2025) - Horror Film Review

I know not why, but I had in my head that the Bhargav Saikia directed and Harsh Vaibhav written Indian folk-horror Bokshi (that word being a Nepalese one meaning witch, sorceress, or someone believing in witchcraft) was a short film. Imagine my surprise then when I sat down to watch it and saw it had a daunting two hour forty five minute run time! So much so that I did a real life double take. A long run time of course doesn't mean a bad film, but I have seen more than my fair share of overly long arthouse horrors where the time is filled with style over substance, and with this one starting in that manner I feared I may overdose on tedium. Thankfully, while this certainly felt as long as its runtime, it was an effective horror, with a setting relatively unique for me in terms of horror. I have seen horror films set in India, but aside from comedy horror Goa Goa Gone, the ones I have seen all featured white protagonists.

Anahita (Prasanna Bisht) is a seventeen year old girl who has frequent terrifying nightmares relating to an incident she was caught up in involving her shaman mother as a young child, which led to her mother disappearing. After a violent encounter with a bully at her school, her grandma decides to send Anahita away to a boarding school, thinking the change in scenery could help her get over her past trauma. It is at this new school that she encounters captivating history club teacher Shalini (Mansi Multani), and takes an instant shine to the woman due to her lessons talking about folklore related to the type of beliefs her mother's side of the family practised. Learning that Shalini is going to take a select group of students on a fieldtrip to a mysterious prehistoric site deep in a remote forest, Anahita convinces the teacher to let her come along as well, as again, it relates to the type of thing her mother had believed in. Things begin well, but after Shalini decides to ignore the advice of the guides and head into a part of the forest that the locals believe to be cursed by an ancient witch known as the Bokshi, the carefully planned field trip begins to fall apart.

I always make notes when watching a film for review, and this time around those notes are many! After an arthouse style prologue that sees the screen bathed in a red tint as discordant images are edited together, things settle down. Being so long, the film is split into seven distinct chapters with intelligently placed beginnings and ends. For instance, chapter one ends with Anahita heading off to boarding school, while later on, chapter five sees the hapless group entering the forbidden part of the forest. This does feel like a long and lengthy movie, but thinking of it all, I was hard placed to be able to identify anything added just to extend the run time. There was always something going on, whether the trippy sequence that saw two shamans separated by distance battling each other via magic (really gave me vibes of the wizard battle between Gandalf and Saruman in The Lord of the Rings!), or the frequent nightmare flashback sequences Anahita suffers with. The pure length of the film helped to really make the group's trek deep, deep into the forest feel like a real journey, adding the impression of it feeling like they really are far away from any type of help. While traditionally shot rather than found footage, I did get a real The Blair Witch Project vibe to this, though the supernatural elements here are shown to be genuine with many characters experiencing the effects of that part of the film. A lot of this was atmosphere and build-up, again with the references to other films, I got more than an echo of The Ritual in the way the characters keep stumbling across unsettling offerings. This ramping up of tension leads to a decent payoff with a quite insane final act that with forty five minutes to go, saw the bubbling madness finally boil over, before simmering down to another red tinted arthouse sequence for the film's ending. One that added elements that felt similar to Midsommar, and used elements of the Bokshi as an analogy for female empowerment.

Characters were a varied bunch, and settled down to a key set once the story really gets going. There are seven students, five girls and two boys, some of which have been on previous field trips with their history club teacher. Then there are three local guides, Shalini and another teacher, Avinash (Sandeep Shridhar Dhabale). Of course, being the protagonist, Anahita had a lot of development to her character, the main draw being exactly what happened to her when she was a child that could have possibly opened her up to being possessed by a Bokshi. Shalini was a much more mysterious character, her behaviour became more of a type of cult leader, constantly convincing the group to press forward, and acting very strangely the deeper the group got. I personally thought Avinash was the best character here, a man with an impressive moustache and a voice of reason who is forced to accept his world view isn't correct when the myths and legends he sees as being silly begin to come to life around him. Right up until the end this stern teacher was trying to do the best by his pupils, Avinash - I salute you! Outside of a core four or five, the other key characters didn't have as much to them, the two male students mainly kept outside the story, while two of the girls only defining characteristics were that they were identical twins.

Special mention has to go to Advait Nemlekar who created both the songs and background score, an unnerving rustic tribal sound that was a perfect fit.

Bokshi is a horror that feels long, but it also was something that really drew me in. The unique Indian setting set itself apart in terms of looks, while the story was something that I found a little confusing, but there was enough provided to give you at least a vague idea of what was going on. The film looked quality, just a couple of effects that looked a little CG, and it was a bit distracting having the myths and legends play out as a series of animated hand drawings, but that saved on cost, and fitted that these would have been stories passed down before the advent of technology. I was impressed with the atmospheric folk-horror that was on display here, and regardless of the big ask in terms of time, this was something I was very happy I got to see. Bokshi had its world premiere on 31st January at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.

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Barun Rai and the House on the Cliff (2021) - Horror Film Review

Barun Rai and the House on the Cliff was quite a bizarre movie. Directed by Sam Bhattacharjee, this supernatural horror outstayed its welcome, yet never became boring, instead there was a feeling of endlessness to the relatively simple story being told.

Set in the late 1970's, this takes place in a small coastal town in England which has become known for the oddly high number of suicides that have all occurred on the same cliff. With Inspector Jenny Jones (Emma Galliano) baffled as to the reasons why this keep happening, she calls in the mysterious paranormal detective Barun (Priyanshu Chatterjee). He soon learns that this phenomenon may be supernatural in nature, and that it could well be linked to an old house on a cliff nearby. Meanwhile, Soumili (Nyra Banerjee) and her husband Harmesh (Sid Makkar), newly arrived in the country have moved into this house, with Soumili in particular beginning to experience apparently supernatural occurrences.

I'm pretty sure the version of the movie I watched was dubbed, either that or many of the actors were not able to say their lines in a believable way. At first this was distracting, but to be honest, corny dialogue aside, I had mostly zoned out the weird delivery of lines by the film's conclusion. There is a lot packed into the two hour run time, yet paradoxically not really much happens. There is a slight body count, and moments of attempted horror, but this maintains a chilled relaxed atmosphere to it. The story on the surface is very simple, I'm not quite sure how it fills the run time.
The characters are mainly strange in their behaviours, I did kind of like Barun, his introductory scene in which he walks around a house that a series of murders has taken place, and is able to see snapshots of the murderer and victims frozen in time was actually neat, it made me want to keep watching. I'm not sure who Barun's assistant was played by, but the actor had a genuinely impressive mane of hair that I was quite jealous of. Tony Richardson had a fun role as Father Paul, though his subplot appeared early on, only to fizzle out until it re-emerged right towards the end of the movie in an entertaining exorcism segment. Then there was Brian (George Dawson), the mentally challenged man-child with the knack for taking photos that proved to be very much needed for Barun to crack the supernatural case.

It seemed that the reliance on CG effects was all consuming here, even when it felt like it would have been far easier to use a practical effect, a CG effect was used in its place. Outside of a few moments (such as a roof ripping off a house, swarms of bugs, and people dissolving into pixelated fragments), these effects were nearly passable. My problem with them was they looked too clean, they didn't look 'raw' enough, more with a clinical feel that took away from the atmosphere the film was going for. Doors and windows opening on their own, objects moving around, and even characters who appeared to have been possessed by demons all looked acceptable, but the moments that try and elicit fear often fell flat due to the obviously fake effects.

Barun Rai and the House on the Cliff wasn't a great film, it didn't really even feel like it had the makings of such a movie, instead it was middling in nearly all aspects, but weirdly addictive to watch Barun Rai and the House on the Cliff was due for release from High Fliers Films on 27th February.

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Tony (2019) - Thriller Film Review

Much like Turnabout I had a feeling that Vipul K. Rawal's Indian thriller Tony might not actually be a horror film. Due to the subject matter I took a chance on it, as the synopsis did have some horror elements. In terms of the quality of the film making, and the general idea behind it this was decent enough, but the key part that drew me to this actually became background to the core story being told, and I think that was to the movies detriment.

Psychology student Ashish (Mahesh Jilowa) is discovered to be in possession of an unlicensed gun after he is stopped at a police roadblock. The frightened man is hesitant to reveal just why he had a firearm, but eventually he decides to tell his story. He, along with three other students had been given an assignment in which they had to analysis a person of their choosing. Martin (Dhruv Souran) decides to do something a little different, he secretly filmed a confession booth at a Catholic church in the hopes of being able to interview someone who had a dark secret. He thinks they have struck gold when they hear the confession of a man named Tony (Yashodhan Rana) who talks about having murdered many people. They manage to get in contact with this serial killer and the man tells the group that if they go along and witness his crimes then he will give them all the information they need for their project. Thinking this will make their careers the friends all agree to his terms.

It seemed to begin with that the majority of the film would be Ashish's account of what led up to him getting found with a gun. In actuality it is around half the film that takes place in the past, huge chunks are dedicated to the present day, with a police officer investigating Ashish's claims. I figured the serial killer part would be where most the film takes place, but this is sadly left to fade into the background. There are a fair few murders on screen, but these are brief, and a chunk of them even take the form of a montage. To begin with the character of Tony felt suitably cold and calculating, but then there is a strange shift in which the students begin to idolise him, especially Martin. There didn't seem to be a realistic reason for the change in these students attitudes. There is no sense of remorse or guilt at witnessing the killers crimes from the group, except for Ashish. The characters were also not that well developed, Kartik (Kabir Chilwal) as an example had barely any lines until towards the films climax. The character of Tony also took more of a back seat, with him hardly figuring in the present day sections. There was no real sense of threat from this guy.

Let's Talk About 'It' (2017) - Horror Film Review

The award winning Let's Talk About 'It' is a low budget Indian horror film that was directed, co-written and co-produced by Kshitij Sharma, who also plays a supporting character here. With limited sets and a mostly uneventful story this is pretty no thrills, however the actual idea behind it really wasn't that bad.

Kavita (Deeya Dey, who co-wrote the screenplay as well as did the costumes and makeup) is a psychiatrist who one day gets a new patient, a scared man named Virat (Sharma). The man says he has been unable to sleep recently due to the appearance of a figure in his home who watches him. She arranges to see Virat in a few days time to see how the medication she has prescribed him is going, but the man turns up in even more of a state. Soon Kavita starts to experience strange events in her own home, and it begins to seem to her that what is plaguing her patient may be something that medical knowledge cannot fix.

This is a no thrills horror that looks to create a feeling of tension and fear through psychological means, rather than having a lot of visual events happening. The eighty minutes is split almost evenly between Kavita's sparse and small clinic, and her larger home. Her conversations with Virat are the most rich moments of the movie, as outside of this, other than speaking to her receptionist, a Skype call, and talking to her mum over the phone she has no other interaction with anyone. It was interesting how Kavita seems to get infected by the ideas her patient has. The thought that everything happening could all be in the characters minds rather than real was mostly set out well, but a later plot twist seemed to come out of nowhere. The last eight minutes take a far different turn that I didn't see coming, but which I also felt side stepped the point of the main story.

Rise of the Zombie (2013) - Horror Film Review

I gave myself a week off from reviewing things sent my way to instead choose films myself to watch. Getting back to basics I figured I should watch a zombie film, so chose Indian horror Rise of the Zombie. It looked like it wasn't going to be much good, and boy was my instinct right!

Neil Parker (Luke Kenny, who co-directed this with writer Devaki Singh) is a wildlife photographer in India whose passion for his job often causes problems with his friends and family. He has a habit of disappearing on assignments for days at a time without letting anyone know where he is going, and after returning from one such trip his exasperated girlfriend Vinny (Kirti Kulhari) finally dumps him. Neil responds by doing what he does best, heading off to the forest to take photos. While there however he is bitten by a strange insect, the bite gets infected and Neil starts to find himself slowly transforming...

Rise of the Zombie is a horror that really doesn't know how to set its priorities. It is frustrating in this respect as it isn't a terrible film, there are at least a few good things going for it. Despite being just under an hour and a half this was very dull with not much at all going on. The horror doesn't really even begin until just under halfway through and due to the weird style of directing and editing the horror is often unsatisfactory. There is a bizarre amount of filler here, one very obvious example is an extended dance montage in a club that focuses on a girl dressed as a 'sexy' nurse. Not only did this scene have nothing to do with anything but Neil himself barely even features in it. This whole sequence features no dialogue and just felt like it was there for the sake of being there. There is so much senseless filler here that there isn't really a story until there is only about fifteen minutes left. I was concerned that this wasn't enough time and it turns out I was right. As the minutes counted down time was really running out, which had the weird outcome that the story literally doesn't end. It fades to credits as various plot threads are still occurring, meaning there is zero resolution for both the plight of Neil, and his girlfriends journey to discover where he has gone to! With so much not happening for most the run time to then try and stuff an entire films worth of story into the finale is plain weird.

Conan the Barbarian (2011) - Fantasy Film Review

I heard the new Conan the Barbarian film was bad, both professional and social sources told me it was trash.  Seeing the trailer for the film I was totally convinced it would be awful and so went to see it expecting utter dross. What you need to remember is that this isn't a remake of the 1980's Arnie films but is in fact a totally new take on the classic Conan series of books.

The film takes place in the fantasy world of Robert E Howard's 'Hyborian Age'; after the fall of Atlantis but before the rise of the known ancient civilisations. It is a world of swords, sorcery and violence where might is right and the weak are crushed. The film starts with Conan as a Cimmerian child. His village is attacked by the forces of Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang) who are seeking the remains of a magical mask that has the power to turn its wearer into a God. The village Chieftain; Conan's father (Ron Perlman who coincidentally provided the voice of Conan in the video game a few years back) is murdered and the village razed to the ground. As the only survivor Conan swears revenge on the mysterious attackers. Years later and Conan now a fully grown man (Jason Momoa - Aquaman) is seeking out the group responsible for his clans destruction with the aid of a group of pirates.

In many ways Conan the Barbarian is very faithful to the tone of the books, Conan himself is perhaps a little too nice, and does not appear as dim and afraid of sorcery as he is in literature. The world of Conan is a sexist place with strong men dominating over the female half of the population. So here we get plenty of half naked women, lots of harlots and wenches but also some who are shown to be strong such as Zym's sorcerer daughter Marique (Rose McGowan) and main heroine Tamara (the beautiful Rachel Nichols). An odd plot choice does lead to Tamara needing to be rescued where she reverts to type being a screaming damsel in distress. Conan's world is a harsh violent place, this is reflected in the film which has plenty of violence and gore. Heads are decapitated, limbs chopped off, blood is spilt and one bad guy even gets his nose lopped off! Only a 15 rating but there is definitely plenty of violence and darkness (also it is slightly implied that Zym and his daughter share an incestuous relationship).

The plot of the film is highly predictable, nothing surprising happens but this tows in line with the books which are some of the most brain dead fantasy tales on offer. I am not knocking the books as they are highly entertaining but still both them and the film feature nothing but action from start to end. Momoa as Conan is an ok choice, sometimes he seems a little too clever to be the hulking barbarian required of him, while Lang as antagonist Zym is evil enough but he just never really feels as much of a threat as he is made out to be. From start to end though there is plenty of exciting fights include a few monster battles (such as clay men and sea monsters). The film looks gorgeous, the 3D is under stated and really doesn't bring much to proceedings though, but there are plenty of location shots.  At times this felt like a more violent Prince of Persia.

For a slice of fantasy action, Conan the Barbarian certainly ticks all the boxes; nudity, violence and a dramatic soundtrack.  Leave your brain at home and there is plenty to enjoy, just don't expect Shakespeare.

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