Demonte Colony Review

An eerie street, haunted mansion, Lightening showers, four daredevil friends, and of course a flashback; all these ingredients make up for a juicy Horror movie. The movie is an inspiration from a tale that has been in rounds around Chennai for a while now, a wealthy Portuguese business man from the 19^th century who led a troubled life with his ill wife and a son who died mysteriously. Ajay has taken perks from this movie to draft a full-fledged horror movie with Arulnidhi in the lead, so let’s find out what Demonte colony is all about.

The Movie:

A Group of friends who greave over their sick routine life after getting drunk what do you think they would be upto, at least in a horror movie? Well, no prizes for the guess, they end up visiting a deserted colony believed to be haunted by spirits and predictably sets tone for yet another haunted mansion story, well the director had other plans. The first half of the movie is rather sluggish, makes the viewer wait for the thrills by showing the lives of the four friends who crib about their pathetic work life and then there is this drunken dance and finally an unplanned tour of a bungalow shifts the movie’s gears.

What’s a horror movie without a stereotyped mansion in the middle of nowhere with a rich history of trouble?The four amigos take a stroll to a haunted bungalow at Demonte colony, a spooky place in the middle of Chennai and the trip changes their lives forever. A creepy BGM sets note for Demonte colony to unleash the ghost, and right at the interval director Ajay brings in the hotstar moment of the movie, after that its fear all the way.

The movie’s soul is rightly placed in the second half, without much fuss the screenplay revolves just around the lead cast and their gut wrenching fear. The visit to the eerie house brings back evil social elements into their lives and the question of survival is the biggest fear they have to face, do they get past the tricky and spooky situation? Well, no spoilers just watch the movie to know more.

Things to look out for:

After a series of Horror-comic flicks, Demonte colony would definitely be a relief to horror lovers, for this movie is tad serious about the genre. The initial lead up to the flashback, house and the deserted colony would give an impression that the movie is a stereotyped “Haunted Mansion” ghost movie, but it moves past it and just takes the theme of the title and serves a different meal altogether.

The scene just before interval is enough to make us glued to our seats and thanks to some thundering BGM and interesting sound designs from Keba, the intention of a ghost movie is driven home comfortably. The casting is rather made simple, with the movie majorly trotting around the friends and Arulnidhi spearheads with a decent performance. The first half does have some lighter moments with Ramesh Thilak the RJ turned actor chipping in his timely one liners. The switch is turned off and the fan slowly ceases with an eerie sound but the camera keeps tilting to add shivers, thanks to Arvind’s DOP scenes like these sums up Demonte Colony’s good work behind the lens. The film is also custom made without too many gory scenes making it a good family entertainer too.

Things that could have been better:

Whilst the movie as a wholesome product is good, there are enough things that would need fingers pointed at. The climax doesn’t give a fulfilling finish and leaves us out scratching heads to wonder if the end was a convincing one. The film is touted as a horror flick, however those “Thrills” and “scary moments” are not many to boast about, its more of a fear that lingers through the screenplay and doesn’t give those shocking moments which are very much essential for a horror movie. Yet, the screenplay is what makes the movie more interesting and grips through the end.

Verdict : Gets you addicted…. to the end

2.75/5