Demonte Colony Movie Review
Review Overview
Performances
Screenplay & Direction
Technical Aspects & BGM
A good example of intelligent genre film-making!
Debutant film-maker Ajay Gnanamuthu shows some splendid directorial flair in Demonte Colony, which is a good example of intelligent genre film-making.
Cast: Arulnithi, Ramesh Thilak and others
Cinematography: Aravinnd Singh
Music: Keba Jeremiah
Editing: Bhuvan Srinivasan
Art Direction: Santhanam
Written & Directed by: Ajay Gnanamuthu
Production Company: Mogana Movies and Sri Thenandal Films
Release Date: 22-05-2015
Run Time: 01:56:00
Horror has become the staple genre of Kollywood in recent past. Even some mediocre, badly executed films in the genre mint splendid money for distributors and keep the tills ringing at the box office for theater owners. Despite the over-kill of the genre, we have had some genre-bending films over the past few years like Karthik Subbaraj’s Pizza and Mysskin’s Pisaasu to name a few. While the genre is mostly confined to slapstick humor with a bunch of comedians or lead heroines clad in terrifying makeovers to up the ante or substandard effects-laden histrionics, here comes a debutant film-maker, Ajay Gnanamuthu – a former associate of AR Murugadoss, who shows some splendid directorial flair in Demonte Colony, which is a good example of intelligent genre film-making.
After getting blind drunk in the bar, a bunch of friends – Raghava, Vimal (RJ Ramesh), Sajith and Srini (Arulnidhi) – decide to do something interesting and eventually break into a terrifying bungalow in Demonte Colony which is believed to be possessed by spirits. The next morning when they return home, a chilling turn of events takes them hostage and puts everyone’s life at jeopardy. Will they come out of these unanticipated circumstances alive? This forms the rest of the story.
The beginning of the film takes some time to gather momentum but the once the stage is set, we are invested in the story. The interesting flashback sequence and a terrific interval twist are the highlights of the first half. The sole, drilling bar song could have been easily avoided considering how rooted the film is into the genre. The second half is quite an engaging treat with some solid, effectively creepy moments.
The technical work is brilliant with Aravind Singh creating the eerie set-up perfectly with his lens and Keba Jeremiah delivering some fantastic background scores, especially for the flashback in the first half. Bhuvan Srinivasan has ratcheted up the pace of the film in the second half with his seamless editing and most importantly keeping the run-time at less than two hours; ideal for the story. Arulnidhi’s choice of projects keeps getting better. Demonte Colony is a testament to his penchant for good, content-driven films.
Churning out an atmospheric horror thriller without a lead heroine – in fact, the film has only one female character – is itself a commanding achievement of Ajay Gnanamuthu and makes Demonte Colony a cut above the rest. The film splatters the clichés of the horror genre and makes us realize that we don’t need high-profile heroines flaunting their assets or popular comedians who spell out double-entendres. Despite the lackluster third-act, the film manages to achieve what it really sets out to do, to scare us; with partly conventional and partly genuine scare tactics.
Demonte Colony Movie Review Rating: 3/5
Written by Surendhar MK