There are two types of horror films that are embraced by the audiences, the horror comedy ('Darling', 'Aranmanai' 'Dhillikku Dhuddu' etc)  and the pure horror ('Demonte Colony' and 'Maya').  Anything that falls in between usually is a risky proposition like director Manisharma’s partly scary ‘Bayam Oru Payanam’.

The film opens promisingly as the child of a photo journalist Ram (Bharath Reddy)  has a nightmare of her father’s car meeting with a terrible accident and the very next day he has to go alone to a forest to shoot some pictures.  A broker Kavariman (Singampuli) guides Ram to a deserted bungalow (Groan! We’ve seen it a million times) whose watchman Yogi Babu lets them in for a bribe and some liquor.  Well past midnight inside the house Ram finds a memory card and in it there are pictures of a girl in a compromising position whom he recognizes and calls one of his friends in Chennai and tries to email them but fails.  Thereafter he undergoes a scary time as a hideous woman appears in the bathroom, the fridge and his bedroom causing him to panic and leave the house. Driving his car all through the way he gets into one scary situation after the other and finally finds out why the ghost is after him but only after a great personal tragedy.

Bharath Reddy, whose earlier films include ‘Unnaipol Oruvan’  and ‘Payanam’ plays the protagonist Ram and though he has the look and the physique he has one expression for all emotions.  Vishaka Singh, the only popular face in the cast has done a neat job as the innocent girl who gets caught in a horrific situation and as the disfigured ghost who relentlessly hunts down the hero. Meenakshi Dixit as the wife has only a couple of scenes while the girl who plays her daughter is made to play the usual filmi child.  Singampuli, Yogi Babu and King Kong’s comedy portions prove to be a major irritant.  Muniskanth, Jangiri Madhumitha and Oorvashi are wasted in inconsequential roles.  John Vijay as the leader of a culture police gang who brutalizes Vishaka Singh also fails to make an impact due to the sudden introduction of the character and the illogical behavior.

The first twenty minutes of the film work well with a few really scary moments and lasts till the  twists come that some of the characters the hero meets are ghosts.  The writer- director shows the cleverness in  visually connecting all the seemingly loose ends  that he throws throughout the film and that is one of the highlights of the film barring a few of the horror scenes.

On the downside the story never really moves forward and gets stuck in a circle for example the director keeps on establishing that the hero is seeing ghosts in scene after scene, thereby diluting the fear factor.  Vishaka Singh’s ghost character seems to have so much power to influence the hero, making him see ghosts and is with him all the time and it defies logic why she waits till the very end to kill him.  As mentioned earlier the comedy falls flat and pulls down the film.  The reason why the revenge seeking ghost takes it on the hero is also far fetched and does not make any impact.  The John Vijay episode is appalling to say the least.

Cameraman I. Andrew and editor L.V.K Dass have done a good job in tandem and the scary moments work well because of their handiwork.  Y.R. Prasad, the music director too has done a fairly good job with the background score as well as a couple of songs.  Director Manisharma succeeds in the horror scenes and shows promise the way he connects the loose ends in the screenplay.

Verdict: Go for it if you like a few spine chilling sequences