Trailer Review - Raaz: Reboot

After his last outing in the romantic thriller Love Games (2016), Vikram Bhatt is back with the next instalment in the Raaz (2002) series, now titled Raaz Reboot. The fourth one in succession, this movie is expected to send us into cold sweats. Releasing on 16th September 2016, the movie stars the Bhatts' favourite nephew Emraan Hashmi, with Tollywood actress Kriti Kharbanda and Gaurav Arora in pivotal roles. With a lineage that has been giving us goosebumps for fourteen years now, a lot of us are surely waiting for the latest spiritual successor.

The plot is cliched, revolving around a love triangle and a haunted house in Romania. The first few seconds feature flashbacks where Rehan (Arora) proposes to Shaina (Kharbanda) and what follows is a tiny bliss. Not much to our surprise, these romantic moments are weaved into the present where Shaina seems to be possessed. What looks like a vengeful spirit is doing its utmost to turn the woman's life upside down. The buried secret in their new Romanian accommodation tends to build cracks in their relationship because the husband refuses to believe in the plausibility of a supernatural entity. So this is when Hashmi, the strange man who has a supposed past with Shaina, decides to complicate an already strained marriage. The trailer concludes with a series of transient events highlighting Shaina's possession and a desperate effort to be haunting.

The trailer of this purported horror flick unfortunately fails to incite the slightest bit of fear in the viewer's mind, and this is because of how ridiculously hackneyed everything appears to be. Bhatt appears to take a lot of inspiration from the 1920 (2008) franchise, also by Vishesh Films, and that doesn't seem to be helping the case. The movie appears to have followed every trick in the book, from the mysterious force dragging the blanket to no one believing the affected and hapless protagonist.

Horror movies are able to terrify the viewers because of the VFX and background music, but Raaz: Reboot seems to have failed in these departments as well. Jeet Gannguli and the Haldipur brothers' music seems a tad bit mellow and at times romantic for a horror movie, and fails to give the necessary scare. As for the VFX, the less said, the better, since one could barely make out anything from this trailer.

Hashmi is an actor with great acting chops, but his presence in movies like these make us question him in despair. Sure, one must support and love their family, but there is a limit to doing so. Kharbanda may have wowed the audiences with her appearances down South, but unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have impressed in this trailer. The less said about Arora, the better.

Author: Lekha V

Editors: Anushka J. and Ritchelle C.

Graphics: Aiswarya M. and Ayesha S.