chief
Prime VIP
No Thank You
No!!!!Not another horror flick about spirit possession and a mysterious link to the leading lady’s past. Mugdha Godse tries her best to look scary when possessed by the ghost of her long dead twin sister, but frankly, those rolled-up eyes, frizzy hair and wriggly convulsions hardly send a tingle down your spine.
Help, directed by Rajeev Virani, is as predictable and clichéd as a horror flick gets. Granted, there’s also a twist in the tale, but not everyone’s gonna buy it.
Vic (Bobby Deol), a film maker, is going through a rough patch with his wife Pia (Mugdha Godse). The duo’s marriage is on the rocks as Pia suspects Vic of having a clandestine affair with his film’s heroine. Things are set in motion after Pia’s dad suffers a heart attack in Mauritius.
Once in Mauritius, Vic and Pia begin to fill the cracks in their marriage. The revelation that Pia is pregnant with his baby only brings them closer. But something terribly nasty is going to happen soon. There’s a spirit lurking around in the house that’s out to possess Pia and kill people close to her one by one.
Shreyas Talpade plays a parapsychic who tries to unravel the possessed Pia’s mysterious past so that Vic could exorcise her of the evil spirit.
Enough scares? Not really, though ‘Help’ does have its share of chills and thrills. The special effects in the film are commendable but the means used to scare the audience are formulaic. The background music is loud and doesn’t contribute much to spook you.
On top of it a dispirited performance by Bobby Deol doesn’t help either. Mugdha tries her best to bring an eerie edge to her Pia but succeeds only partly. Her bikini act on a beach isn’t hot either. Shreyas Talpade is okay but his role is surprisingly chucked in the closing reels.
The film’s finale might appeal to a select few, particularly after it’s discovered that the spirit which is supposed to scare everyone is herself scared of mirrors.
Seriously, don’t try to make a head or tail of ‘Help’. Give it a try only if you are really itching for some scares. Or watch the reruns of ‘The Grudge’ or ‘Ring’ instead.
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
