D Block - Arulnithi tries hard to salvage this sloppy psycho thriller
College campus thrillers are a genre that has many takes and if done right can connect with most moviegoers. Eruma Saani Vijay who has his own fan following on YouTube has come up with D' Block that has a pretty good premise. Whether that alone is enough to satisfy the OTT fed movie goers is a big question mark.
Arulnithi and Eruma Saani Vijay join as first year students and hostel roommates at a remotely located college surrounded by thick forests. The boys and the girls in the college are warned by the management never to venture from the premises after dusk as wild animals will be on the prowl. One of their female classmates who is in the girls hostel (D Block) sights a seemingly supernatural presence in the bathroom and in the building and is attacked by it. The next day the girl is found dead with marks of a cheetah's paws on her head. The management hushes up the incident and the hero suspects that its not an animal but some other force after a senior alerts him of more deaths in the past in a similar manner. What is the connection between the dead girls? Who is behind the killings and is it a supernatural force? The half baked answers to these questions is what D' Block is all about.
Arulnithi as always puts in an earnest effort and among all the cast members including the extras he easily passes off as a college student. He tries to ignite interest through the love portions and finally when he goes after the killer. It is also commendable that he has underplayed in the climax giving place for the girls to score. Eruma Saani Vijay and Kathir attempt to tickle the funny bones and fail miserably. Avantika is okayish as a heroine but its difficult to see her as a college girl. Anandi plays an emotional role but the way her character is written and executed makes it a wasted effort. The actor who plays the antagonist has done a good job in looking menacing and also in the fight scenes.
What works in 'D Block' is the interval block that reveals the antagonist and a few sequences in the second half like who the psycho targets and his back story invoke some interest. The college hostel setup and its surroundings are truly scary. The fight scene in the climax is well choreographed and the end for the tormentor is satisfactory.
On the downside the entire film looks like it was made based only on the core idea which as mentioned earlier is quite interesting. The writing is sloppy throughout like for example during the day no one bothers about the killings or the horror and seem to enjoy themselves and become serious when night falls. The other big letdown is the lack of humour even in the basic sense which the audience will expect considering the director's reputation.
The technical aspects of the film are all generic and nothing stands out. Eruma Saani Vijay has no doubt come up with a good idea but has not put in enough to make it an interesting screenplay though he delivers the thrills.
Verdict : Go for this one if you fancy psycho thrillers and if your expectations are minimal
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