Movie Review: Demonte Colony (Tamil)

Good horror is about mining our fears of the unknown. What's unknown is also unpredictable and makes us anxious. And tapping into our anxieties and drawing upon our fears is exactly what R. Ajay Gnanamuthu does in his effective directorial debut Demonte Colony. As an intense horror thriller about a group of four youngsters haunted by the spirit of a Portuguese businessman Lord John De Monte and the ensuing paranormal phenomena, Gnanamuthu steers clear of all unwanted 'commercial' trappings (except for a needless intro song), offering a riveting ride that keeps you glued to your seat from start to finish.

The deliberate pacing adds to its authentic vibe, and the claustrophobic atmosphere (a small flat) in which most of the film unfolds makes sure that the scares keep relentlessly coming even if they tick all the boxes off a typical Hollywood horror film template. On the contrary, so insistent is Chinna Abraham's background score that you begin to think how better it would have been had the makers experimented with a little more silence. With such craft and technical finesse on display, you also wish Gnanamuthu went beyond the usual confines of the genre. But for its flaws, Demonte Colony works well, sucking you into its intriguing tale from the get-go. And props to the man for sticking to his guns and not reducing the horror premise to a comedy!