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Horror flicks fail to make a kill: The Times Of India
New Delhi,Oct 29: This year will probably go down in Bollywood as the year of the thriller. Among a surfeit of spooky ( Bhoot ), horror ( Darna Mana Hai ) action ( Qayamat, Zameen ), drama ( Boom ) and mystery thrillers ( Inteha, Samay ) was also the slasher.
New Delhi,Oct 29: This year will probably go down in Bollywood as the year of the thriller. Among a surfeit of spooky ( Bhoot ), horror ( Darna Mana Hai ) action ( Qayamat, Zameen ), drama ( Boom ) and mystery thrillers ( Inteha, Samay ) was also the slasher.
The sub-genre of horror, which emerged first in the seventies with classics like Halloween , Friday the 13th , Nightmare on Elm Street is witnessing resurgence this year in Hollywood with Freddy Vs Jason and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , both box office frontrunners.
"Over all, audiences show the same preferences," says director Pavan S Kaul, whose Sssshhh ", with shades of Scream , hit the theatres this Friday.
The director says another reason for the slasher’s popularity is that its target audience, the teens, comprise a big chunk of the market. "The audience is getting younger by the day."
Ask him about the likeness of the two and he replies candidly. "It’s the same genre, so there is bound to be similarity." Another slasher, Kucch to Hai , produced by Ekta Kapoor earlier this year, also had shades of I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). But none of the Indian derivatives seems to have worked the same magic as the original.
While Kucch To Hai , at best, did average business, it’s too early to predict the box office fate of Sssshhhh . The film has come out tops among the four releases this week, but trade analysts are not impressed. Industry pundit Indu Mirani says the thriller is likely to end up a turkey.
Experts believe the Indian version still cannot do without the song and the romance, which takes away from the chill factor. Filmmakers realise too much gruesomeness, like in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , would not go down well either.
"It only had three songs, and 10 murders without romance would have been a bit much," Kaul protests. Looks like Bollywood needs to invent another formula.
The director says another reason for the slasher’s popularity is that its target audience, the teens, comprise a big chunk of the market. "The audience is getting younger by the day."
Ask him about the likeness of the two and he replies candidly. "It’s the same genre, so there is bound to be similarity." Another slasher, Kucch to Hai , produced by Ekta Kapoor earlier this year, also had shades of I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). But none of the Indian derivatives seems to have worked the same magic as the original.
While Kucch To Hai , at best, did average business, it’s too early to predict the box office fate of Sssshhhh . The film has come out tops among the four releases this week, but trade analysts are not impressed. Industry pundit Indu Mirani says the thriller is likely to end up a turkey.
Experts believe the Indian version still cannot do without the song and the romance, which takes away from the chill factor. Filmmakers realise too much gruesomeness, like in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , would not go down well either.
"It only had three songs, and 10 murders without romance would have been a bit much," Kaul protests. Looks like Bollywood needs to invent another formula.