Ghoul Review - The Ghost Of Religion
The latest Netflix original from India takes its inspiration from an Arab folklore monster known as the ghoul. This three-part miniseries starring Radhika Apte is stylish, fun and scary.
Cast - Radhika Apte, Manav Kaul, Ratnabali Bhattacharjee, Mahesh Balraj
Directed By - Patrick Graham
Genre - Horror, Thriller
Nida Rahim (Radhika Apte) is a loyal military officer who without any hesitation even reports her father for misconduct; perhaps you can say she is too loyal. When she is appointed to a military detention centre to interrogate the notorious Ali Saeed (Mahesh Balraj), things start to get twisty, scary and a bloody fest for all the officers in the centre.
Horror nowadays is taking a turn for good. This year (till now) we have got some good pieces of horror like Pari, Hereditary and now Ghoul. The change may be small but significant as these films set an example of showing this genre in a new perspective by getting rid of cliches and general tropes. Patrick Graham's Ghoul takes us into a dystopian future where politics regarding religion takes over the world which does feel authentic and not very far away. We are never shown the year in which this three-part miniseries (originally planned as a 2 hour feature film) takes us and frankly, it does not bother us because going by the current trend with respect to the religion in our country, this dystopian future does not seem far away and may prove to be true someday.
The world is divided not by borders but by the religion. The prisoners here are Muslims who are guarded by twelve officers. The horror acts as a tool here which brings up important questions regarding the politics, the religion and also asks if sacrificing your family for the nation alone makes you a good human being. Both Colonel Sunil (Manav Kaul), who is hinted to be an alcoholic and a wife beater and Nida who considers Sunil as her role model, have sacrificed their families for there country.
Any other day in the hands of an incapable director, Ghoul could have easily gone in a wrong direction. The film could have lost its social commentary and would have become just a horror film with jump scares. Even its female lead could have been heavily sexualised with the camera being constantly focused on her assets instead of her skills. But writer-director Patrick Graham makes sure that Ghoul does not end up being just another horror film filled with cardboard characters and a disposable plot. It is indeed a surprise package that kept me hooked and engaged throughout.
The choice of taking ghoul as a monster was indeed a clever part from the filmmaker's side. A ghoul is a monster who takes the form of its last victim, and this leads to some fun identity games here. Perhaps the most entertaining parts easily involved those scenes where the viewer had to guess whether which form the ghoul had now taken. The director executes these scenes with a style which makes them more enjoyable and scary to watch. By scary, it doesn't mean that it is nerve-racking, it has some hair-raising moments that stop your breath. But that too is not executed in a typical jump scare way with a loud noise, and hence, it was something refreshing to watch.
Radhika Apte is on a winning spree. This is her third involvement in a Netflix series after Lust Stories and Sacred Games. She is a very talented actress whom I have greatly admired since I first saw her in Badlapur and started loving her when I saw Phobia. Time and again she has proved to be a fantastic actress who easily slips into any of her characters comfortably. Manav Kaul balances the film with his equally stunning performance and proves to be a more than capable actor ready to take on any role that comes in his path. The other characters too were serviceable in their parts with Ratnabali Bhattacharjee being the other major highlight here.
Some scenes involving the prisoners and Nida came out to be unintentionally funny, and I think it should have been handled more carefully. Like many other horror films, Ghoul also follows the same cliches to suit its development like the wandering of the characters in the dark in spite of the lurking danger surrounding them. These two are my main issues with this series. The horror is a slow-burn here, so it takes time for things to take a paranormal turn. But this is not so much of an issue as after all - "Good things come to those who wait" - and Ghoul does have an exciting payoff which can go in many directions if they decide to go for a second season or film, which I don't want because, for me, it ended well.
Rating - 3.5/5
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Cast - Radhika Apte, Manav Kaul, Ratnabali Bhattacharjee, Mahesh Balraj
Directed By - Patrick Graham
Genre - Horror, Thriller
Nida Rahim (Radhika Apte) is a loyal military officer who without any hesitation even reports her father for misconduct; perhaps you can say she is too loyal. When she is appointed to a military detention centre to interrogate the notorious Ali Saeed (Mahesh Balraj), things start to get twisty, scary and a bloody fest for all the officers in the centre.
Horror nowadays is taking a turn for good. This year (till now) we have got some good pieces of horror like Pari, Hereditary and now Ghoul. The change may be small but significant as these films set an example of showing this genre in a new perspective by getting rid of cliches and general tropes. Patrick Graham's Ghoul takes us into a dystopian future where politics regarding religion takes over the world which does feel authentic and not very far away. We are never shown the year in which this three-part miniseries (originally planned as a 2 hour feature film) takes us and frankly, it does not bother us because going by the current trend with respect to the religion in our country, this dystopian future does not seem far away and may prove to be true someday.
The world is divided not by borders but by the religion. The prisoners here are Muslims who are guarded by twelve officers. The horror acts as a tool here which brings up important questions regarding the politics, the religion and also asks if sacrificing your family for the nation alone makes you a good human being. Both Colonel Sunil (Manav Kaul), who is hinted to be an alcoholic and a wife beater and Nida who considers Sunil as her role model, have sacrificed their families for there country.
Any other day in the hands of an incapable director, Ghoul could have easily gone in a wrong direction. The film could have lost its social commentary and would have become just a horror film with jump scares. Even its female lead could have been heavily sexualised with the camera being constantly focused on her assets instead of her skills. But writer-director Patrick Graham makes sure that Ghoul does not end up being just another horror film filled with cardboard characters and a disposable plot. It is indeed a surprise package that kept me hooked and engaged throughout.
The choice of taking ghoul as a monster was indeed a clever part from the filmmaker's side. A ghoul is a monster who takes the form of its last victim, and this leads to some fun identity games here. Perhaps the most entertaining parts easily involved those scenes where the viewer had to guess whether which form the ghoul had now taken. The director executes these scenes with a style which makes them more enjoyable and scary to watch. By scary, it doesn't mean that it is nerve-racking, it has some hair-raising moments that stop your breath. But that too is not executed in a typical jump scare way with a loud noise, and hence, it was something refreshing to watch.
Radhika Apte is on a winning spree. This is her third involvement in a Netflix series after Lust Stories and Sacred Games. She is a very talented actress whom I have greatly admired since I first saw her in Badlapur and started loving her when I saw Phobia. Time and again she has proved to be a fantastic actress who easily slips into any of her characters comfortably. Manav Kaul balances the film with his equally stunning performance and proves to be a more than capable actor ready to take on any role that comes in his path. The other characters too were serviceable in their parts with Ratnabali Bhattacharjee being the other major highlight here.
Some scenes involving the prisoners and Nida came out to be unintentionally funny, and I think it should have been handled more carefully. Like many other horror films, Ghoul also follows the same cliches to suit its development like the wandering of the characters in the dark in spite of the lurking danger surrounding them. These two are my main issues with this series. The horror is a slow-burn here, so it takes time for things to take a paranormal turn. But this is not so much of an issue as after all - "Good things come to those who wait" - and Ghoul does have an exciting payoff which can go in many directions if they decide to go for a second season or film, which I don't want because, for me, it ended well.
Rating - 3.5/5
Follow Me On:
Twitter - https://twitter.com/vikas_yadav98
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/vikasy199/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/vimovies123/
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