It wold not be an exaggeration to say that I have seen every English B Horror Movie Ever made. I have only the Ramsay's Veerana to blame for my childhood initiation. I love horror movies. I love movies with blood and gore. I love creepy faces, possessed souls, satanic rituals, ghost ships, haunted houses and demonic dolls. You get it - I LOVE horror movies. So naturally, I pre-booked my 1920 tickets and sauntered into the movie theater, stealing a smirk from my poor goosebumps. They had no idea, what was in store.Being a film-student and an avid cinephile I can tell, more or less if a film is working for me with the opening shot. And I can almost always predict a successful screenplay 7 and a half minutes into the film. Recently, I only went wrong with Jaane Tu... that didn't appeal to me at all in the beginning. So the lights dimmed and a horse carriage trotted across a British looking road (perfectly colour corrected) and the dull autumm leaves whoosed against the camera. When ambient horror works, it is almost always, obvious from the first frame - so far, so spooked.
As the film progressed, I cringed at the awful disbelief of suspension it asked for. I know its a supernatural soiree but even Satan himself cannot pull of Yorkshire as Palanpur. After the film, it was painfully obvious that the "period" was gimmicky and would have avoided insulting an intelligent audienece if they had stuck to facts. It could have been contemporary, and the castle could still have been in Yorkshire keeping the back story the same. Rebirth can always occur thousands of years later and spirits don't have an expiry date. Also, to each their own, but serious-minded Sunday preaching (Raj Zutshi) mixed in with the occult, is just not my cup of witch's brew. Sure, Father knows best; the Church knows best, and never mind all those lurid stories about child-molesting doctors (Vallabh Vyas) but sorry Vikram, the power of Christ didn't compel me on this one.
But despite the loopholes and obviously inserted songs, 1920 did appeal to me on a certain spook level. It avoided the gratuitous gore and the shocks that provide the backbone of most horror films abroad and seemed more interested in the spiritual questions at hand. Unlike Ram Gopal Varma, this one did not crank up the decibels in the name of lame scares. The atmosphere worked wonders, the subtle ambience sucked me in and the long still shots re-iterated the fact that Vikram Bhatt knows his stuff.
The style of the film is intentionally oppressive. A very limited color palette is used with colors keyed to themes. Greenish hues are used in scenes of confinement, red for danger. The convinently cliched blue is avoided. Background sound in very low registers contributes to the viewers' unease as does a score that has little or no melody. A scratched record scene (while remniscent of 8mm) works really well. The visual movement relies heavily on handheld camera and other flexible camera effects. There seem to be many echoes of THE EXORCIST, though it is hard to imagine a film about exorcism that does not echo that film.
But surprise, surprise - what I enjoyed the most in the film, was the Demonic Humour. Yup! While some horror films are unintentionally funny, this one turned it around and mocked the protagonost. The humour was creepy, witty, sexy and highly entertaining. It was matched with a visual treat combning great camera angles, super-clean, well-done special effects and a superb performance by debutante Adah Sharma with her seizures, demonic visions, speaking in different voices and personalities and crooked sense of glee as a posessed soul. I canot remember a recent horror movie where I enjoyed a cynical laughter this much. The 'test test test test' and 'Tick Tock' were brilliant srokes of terror.
I only wish, the spirit was introduced as a Mad Hatter, instead of a dull, limping, lifeless figure. It would have been spinechillingly funny (in a good way) to see a character like 'The Joker' die and return with his twisted sense of humor intact.
Come on Mr. Bhatt, take your chances - do away with the unnecessary rounding up of characters, excrutiating long back-stories and distributor enforced songs. Give us a slick, twisted horror movie, screw resoulution and give us a tingler that challenges our imagination. I know you can do it - Am rooting (or Bhooting) for you and I'm counting down...
Tick Tock Tick Tock!!!
