July 11, 2026 – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: Looking for recent horror movies, we have to go into another industry.

Vampire Bat: Well, not all industries have all movies exactly as they project for outside world.

Vampire Owl: I think that the best movies are those which are not known to many people.

Vampire Bat: True. They do not release the best movies in the theatres.

Vampire Owl: Yes, the theatres are for heroes who fly and beat up thousands of people.

Vampire Bat: They do even worse things, and it is strange for our world, not for theirs.

Vampire Owl: Can’t one of these movies become highest grossers instead of that mass masala?

Vampire Bat: Well, mass has the advantage because theatres are for the masses.

Vampire Owl: Yes, strange humans and their love for the mass thing.

Vampire Bat: This is the exact reason why humans are not allowed inside the Dracula Castle. Even the worst of the witches or fully drained zombies would not let them in.

[Gets a Chicken curry puffs and three cups of Wayanad tea].

What is the movie about? :: Kalyan (Thrigun), Naina (Hebah Patel), Vinay (Akhil Raj Uddemari) and Aparna (Siri Hanmanth) are four youngsters who try to find the truth behind supernatural situations and expose fraudulent spiritual leaders who try to extort money out of unsuspecting believers – they find out that the easy targets for spiritual practitioners are those who feel that evil has possessed their own people or homes or maybe even believes that some curse has been unleashed, and death or hell awaits them. As they were childhood best friends, and Vinay and Aparna had managed to get married some time ago, and is expecting a child. But this has not stopped their plans to expose more people who are involved in spiritual practices and they become well-known for the same in the city. But they extend their plans to go for something much bigger, far away from their city, but Aparna is hesitant about it. But with the support of the rest, who are firm believers in rationalism, they set out to investigate the case of Aadidev (Babloo Prithiveeraj), a former neurosurgeon who has turned into a spiritual healer.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Aadidev has been treating individuals who claims to be afflicted by supernatural forces at an ashram which he found in a remote village in the border between Andhra Pradesh and Odissa. He had left his job as a reputed neurosurgeon who conducted so many surgeries which saved many lives after the death of his wife. The friends find a video of the woman before his death and feels that she was just mentally disturbed and the attempt at exorcism killed her. As they travel to the remote area on the border of two states through a twisted road on the hills, they almost meet with an accident when coming against a motor-bike carrying a family, but the woman who was sitting on the back of the vehicle dies as she falls down the cliff. But the friends remain unaware of the same as they reach their destination. When they reach the ashram, they are attacked by a strange man, but Aadidev saves them. But the friends call all of these to be staged with paid actors and Aadidev faces such strong lack of belief for the first time.

And what more can happen in this world of faith against another one which lacks the same? :: This makes him take the friends to an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. He tells them that the place is haunted with spirits and after three days of living there, the friends will start believing in life after death. The friends accept it as a challenge, but he tells them that it is no usual place, as there have been so many deaths including murders and suicides right in the building. He also has his disciples write some incantations for protection along with leaving a few religious and spiritual items there. He also asks them not to cross a certain area which would take them out of his protection and the same would be extremely dangerous. They do not really care about the same as they find the spiritual man to be a fraud who uses the faith and belief of the locals to his best advantage – they feel that he had chosen this particular way of life as it seemed as the easier and influential job through which he could earn the most with the least efforts while taking no real risk. Can the friends stay there for three days and come back alive or will they lose all their rationalism and might even be killed by the evil spirits who roam in the area?

The defence of Eesha :: The movie has some very impressive visuals which serves the purpose or horror very well. The darkness, shadows, and the shades give the film an eerie, high-quality visual beauty of horror. The atmosphere is nicely created and some fine settings serve like a special boon here. The background score nicely supports the same. The beginning itself had nicely set the mood here. Babloo Prithviraj’s work is a big bonus here, and we see that even though not on the side of the protagonists, he scores so well that we like him from the beginning even when the heroes talk about him. Hebah Patel as Naina plays the biggest sceptic of the movie really well, and she reminds us of the actions and talks of Gayathrie Shankar playing Meena in the Tamil horror movie called Pechi, but there is no similar twist for this one. Siri Hanmanth as Aparna has her moments, while the male cast seems to be more in support with the two women seemingly deviating into their thoughts well. The dramatic twist which comes in the end remains a strong one, and it is something which make on think, and is not limited to one world.

The claws of flaw :: The movie leaves too many gaps in the tale as it seems to have some trouble about understanding what it really wishes to achieve. There is a certain amount of confusion about the dead person’s spirit coming back as revenge instead of anything else, but then the situation of the four friends explained in the end does not seem to match with the same leading to multiple confusions in the thread that binds all of them. Then the rationalist friends also act a little too strange even when they see things that could make even the most sceptic people believe in all of these, and after exploring so many fraud cases, they cannot seem to feel a difference here, as the act of being brain dead makes it appearance at times, but we knew that this was coming, but they surely manage to solve some of those problems in between, not aggravating the whole situation in any manner. Adding more cases and their comparison with this, as well as revealing the modus operandi of the friends to such situations, would have made the whole thing more interesting; yet we just have them just going through the whole thing with no real plan.

How it finishes :: The movie manages its horror with a difference, and the deviation from the usual can also be seen around. It can be considered a visually striking, technically superior horror film that feels like being pulled down by its own ambitions to make it more twisted than it should have been, especially considering the overall mood going on another path. When the standard paranormal terror strikes with that divergent twist, the narrative struggles to get them together. The concept of a rationalist group facing the consequences of their arrogance is still interesting, but the overlapping of reality, hallucinations and spiritual possession often asks for more, but we are happy with what we get here. One can thank the mood, background scores, and high-quality visuals which brings that creepy experience, as we horror fans get the horror we have always wanted. After all, for a horror movie, it is more about what is one the screen, and what experience we are going to have, with hope for fear more than anything else.

Release date: 25th December 2025
Running time: 127 minutes
Directed by: Srinivas Manne
Starring: Thrigun, Hebah Patel, Akhil Raj Uddemari, Siri Hanmanth, Mime Madhu, Babloo Prithveeraj