Connect movie review: Nayanthara-starrer is an empty horror trope with great packaging

Cast: Nayanthara, Sathyaraj, Anupam Kher, Vinay Rai, Haniya Nafiz

Director: Ashwin Saravanan

Language: Tamil

Exorcism, possession, satanic cults, and witches out to undermine everybody. These are some of the usual ingredients that make up the filmy potion called a horror film. Some films rise above these tropes creatively. They have you biting your nails, at the edge of your seat, and just about ready to rattle any moment as the horror unfolds. Connect , starring Nayanthara , is not one such film. Instead, it is probably one of the most technically sound horror films made in recent times. It is set during the onset of the pandemic when human interactions were limited through video calls, and loneliness was felt as if it was a living breathing entity.

It is unfortunate, however, that the plot of the film doesn’t support the interesting setting though. The film majorly depends on jumpscares to keep the audience entertained and takes the easy route by focusing mainly on exorcism. Is exorcism through video call enough of a hook? Not really! In fact, I had the added benefit of watching the film with a crowd that was mainly youngsters who did not think twice before making fun of the film in the theater. The jump scares were so juvenile that there were collective laugh-out-loud moments. The setup leading to the reveal of the possession of a teenager – Anna – is unconvincing. The concept that darkness must instill fear is overused in the film. The saving grace is the background score, as the chilling music does its best to instill an environment of fear filled with anxiety. It doesn’t take a stronghold in our minds, however, because we are used to the monsters hiding under our beds. Literally and figuratively. We are very familiar with the rattling cupboards, mysterious sounds from different parts of the house, and the swing moving by itself. It is all cliched by now, and so instead of serving the purpose of creating terror, it gave root to humor.

In fact, a moment that was supposed to be chilling, turned out to be hilarious because a very funny person in the theater ended up playing “Chellatha Chella Maariyatha” song. That is how seriously the film could be taken with the way it handled its subject. I could relate to this humor because it was close to how I felt about that moment in the film. It was not possible to take Susan’s (Nayanthara) worry for her daughter seriously when she is running around comically in the name of exorcism.

The film shines the most in its initial moments. Vinay Rai as Joseph, a doctor and Susan’s husband along with their daughter Anna introduce an interesting family dynamic. It is his death that starts the dice rolling, for his daughter is unable to move on. She wants one chance to talk to him again, and her desperation opens her up to predators. Ones that are practitioners of black magic and belong to satanic cults.

However, there is no motive for these predators, and they remain a shallow sketch, just floating around in the vicinity with no explanation. This, in combination with the uninspired exorcism, was disappointing. It is unfortunate because in the crowd of horror comedies and adult horror comedies that the Tamil film industry keeps churning out, Connect could have stood out blazingly. If only it experimented outside of the lines…

Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)

Priyanka Sundar is a film journalist who covers films and series of different languages with a special focus on identity and gender politics.

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