Phoonk 2 Movie Review By Mayank Shekhar

Mayank Shekhar, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, April 16, 2010

Film: Phoonk 2
Director: Milind Gadagkar
Actors: Sudeep, Ahsaas Channa
Rating: *

The motifs are straight out of the Bible, of horror filmmaking: there’s the flat doll; a gardener; a spirit that invades a haunted home (in this case, a beach-house), and enters a human body with a hoarse voice. There’s the bunch of doubters, who don’t believe in ghosts for the same reason atheists don’t believe in God: never seen ‘em.

The hero of course is the last to convert from his faith (or the lack thereof). He moves in to the new house with his family of four (wife, two kids). His sister and her partner visit them as well. The stage is set. There is, as the filmmaker realises, little on the screenplay, to direct them anywhere with.

Too much raw-stock remains. Bouts of nothingness follow. Even visual jolts aren’t attempted. At one point, the filmmaker senses he’s had enough. He gets a party with the gang going at the beach. A full-on happy song (an instrumental track) is scored for fun.

The doll makes its presence felt every few minutes. So does the lurking spirit. For you to give a flying fig, you’d have to empathise with what the characters could go through. These unknowns could all die for all you care. There’s no beat, rhythm or effective pause to the scare – in fact, it’s not even there.

I don’t know if you can even recall the last film you watched. It’s unlikely you’ll remember Phoonk (a relatively superior flick) to go armed with its back-stories for the sparse, stunted, sissy sequel this one is supposed to be.

Source: hindustantimes.com