Saturday 13 September 2014

Film Review - Creature





Pest Control
Film: Creature
Cast: Bipasha Basu, Imran Abbas, Mukul Dev
Directed by: Vikram Bhatt
Duration: 2 hrs 15 mins
Rating: * 1 / 2

If your vehicle breaks down in the jungle in the middle of night and you hear scary sounds emanating from the forest will you, (a) Go inside the forest to see who is making those sounds or (b) Stay put in the vehicle and be alert.

In most horror flicks, the answer is (a) and that is just one of the minor oddities in Creature that comes from the factory of director Vikram Bhatt’s scary films. The premise is so silly that very often you find yourself chuckling over the inane scenes that are meant to be scary. The only worrying factor was how long will grate on your nerves before the creature is killed and they live happily ever after - quite long as it turned out to be.

Literally set in a forest, Bipasha Basu plays Ahana the owner of a new boutique hotel. She has left her troubled past behind in Mumbai and is looking forward to this new venture.

But there is a creature lurking around who goes around killing people for no rhyme or reason. We are told that this Davy Jones looking cross between a dinosaur and lizard is called a Brahma rakshas and his soul is in limbo. Only lord Brahma could have helped them but that didn’t apply to the hapless audience.

The guests at the hotel are not particularly pleased with the fact that their fellow residents limbs are being chopped off by this rakshas. Very soon the bank officers comes knocking on her door to recover the loan. With the help of a builder cum musician turned lover (Imran Abbas), a zoologist (Mukul Dev) and a rakshas specialist who gives them precious advice (the bullet has to be dipped in holy water), they overcome the hurdle after a rather long drawn climax and also manages to keep her word with the bank guys. 

Having made several films of this genre, Vikram Bhatt is very much on auto-pilot mode with all the standard tropes. It all gets very exhausting by the end. To recover completely from it, this is the advice I got “Poornima ki raat, bottled water ke saath, char bottle vodka peeni padege” Teetotalers like me have no hope in that case.

Published in The Navhind Times on 14th Sept 2014

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