Demon review: This ‘demon’ doesn’t really scare you!

Director Ramesh Pazhaniivel comes up with a horror film that has a plot that is relatively new but one that does not impress.

The director takes quite a while to set things in motion. It is not until the second half begins that you actually see the plot picking up pace. 

Although the second half moves at a much faster pace than the first and has your undivided attention, it fails to end with a flourish.

Before we go into the pluses and minuses, here is the synopsis:

Synopsis

Vignesh Shivan (Sachin) is an assistant director who is looking to direct his first film. 

As luck would have it, he finds a producer who is interested in producing his directorial venture — a horror flick. The youngster is thrilled and shares the good news with his set of close friends. 

Before he begins work on his first film, the young filmmaker feels he needs to move into a new home where he can work more comfortably.  So, he sets out and finds an apartment.

The man who rents out the apartment agrees to let him modify the apartment to his taste and Vignesh Shivan is thrilled. 

He moves into the new home and modifies it with the help of his friends. When everything is done and he looks to settle down, problems begin.

Soon after moving in, Vignesh Shivan starts getting nightmares which invariably make him wake up in a startled state. 

Each day, he has a new nightmare. Initially, Vignesh Shivan dismisses these nightmares lightly. But soon, there comes a day when he is scared to sleep for fear of getting nightmares. 

With each passing day, problems start to increase, and the nightmares begin to take a toll on him. Eventually, he realises that the previous occupants of the flat have all died unnatural deaths.

What is causing the inmates of the flat to die? Does Vignesh Shivan too die? Demon gives us the answers.

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A slow start

Demon starts on a slow note. There is no sign of the story picking up the pace. To make matters worse, there is a romantic track that has no connection whatsoever to the horror portions.

The romantic portions, which come across as an unwanted distraction in the film, are quite long. In fact, a considerable portion of the first half is taken up by the romantic portions. 

The second half begins on a more promising note with the different pieces of the jigsaw puzzle beginning to fall into place. 

However, the developments showcased in the film aren’t entirely convincing and that again dents the credibility of the Demon. 

For instance, one wonders why a person who strongly suspects the presence of evil powers in a place wishes to go back again and again to stay there.

One also wonders why he does not share these details or concerns with his friends or his father, with whom he is shown to be close. 

The number of such questions only continues to increase as the movie reaches its climax.

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Decent performances

Demon has some decent performances coming in from almost all its artistes.

Sachin, who plays Vignesh Shivan, isn’t convincing in the romantic portions. But he does a mighty fine job in the second half when he portrays a man under immense stress because of supernatural interference. 

Abarnathi delivers a neat performance. However, sadly, the chemistry between the lead pair doesn’t work. Therefore, the romantic portions of the film deliver more strain than offer relief to audiences.

“Kumki” Ashvin, who plays the hero’s closest friend, does a neat job as well. 

Ronnie Raphael’s intense background score and RS Anandakumar’s eerie visuals play a significant part in enhancing the element of fear.

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Final take

To cut a long story short, this Demon fails to scare you!

(Views expressed here are personal.)