Demonte Colony 2 Review

Ashwin Ram

Demonte Colony 2 is the sequel to the 2015 superhit horror thriller. The film stars Arulnithi and Priya Bhavani Shankar in the lead roles. Directed by Ajay Gnanamuthu and the music is scored by Sam C.S.

Premise:

Arulnithi, who is dead after being possessed by the ghost named Demonte, is brought back to life when Priya Bhavani Shankar attempts to find the reason behind her boyfriend’s strange death. Their struggle to save themselves from Demonte this time forms the remaining story.

Writing/ Direction:

Has a promising start, felt like a live display of strange deaths on-screen with a powerful usage of sound effects. Arulnithi as Sreeni in the first part is sidelined by his twin brother Raghu who is introduced here. The purpose is strong and has a fantasy element attached to it, the cinematic logic is justified well by adding some valuable plot-points. Priya Bhavani Shankar’s character is organically brought into the Demonte world with a worthy backstory, despite being partially cringe. Connecting both the parts and knitting the main characters together is smartly done by commendable writing.

On Downside: The second half is comparatively less interesting with no scary moments. The priests are different here, in the form of Chinese monks and they follow their own way of fighting the evil forces, but the lack of tension in the drama doesn’t uplift these small ideas. [ In the first part, the characters were stuck inside a small room and the suffocation was felt, but here they are stuck inside a broad restaurant which obviously deteriorates the fear factor.] The film is VFX heavy, believability is lost by attempting to make things lavish, even a simple courtroom scene is overblown due to green-mat technology. Three lengthy sequences involving mirrors, a fish tank and bats occupy the majority of the final hour, unfortunately they were poorly executed in terms of activity and graphics.

Performances:

Variation only in terms of costumes for Arulnithi in his dual roles, yet a decent job and good efforts for the stunt portions, has a lot of shots involving ropes. Priya Bhavani Shankar shines big time, gets a character which has more importance than the hero and she has played it neatly, the stylish appearance suited her so well. Arun Pandian’s performance is a big mess, he overacts in every single frame by widening his eyebrows.

Technicalities:

Having experienced the previous works of Sam.C.S, his background score is a disappointment as it never elevated the movie’s mood. The cameraman has secured director’s vision to an extent by implementing something different in the initial portions. But for the amount of VFX shots the film has, the budget had to be a lot higher for at least a minimally satisfying output. Editor has neatly presented the setting of the story that brings together several plots to one point, no scope for creativity in the payoff portions. Neat artwork, the Chinese restaurant where the majority of the film takes place, set looked authentic.

Bottomline

Multiple stories are carefully linked with impressive writing for the setup, a little more authenticity via VFX department and dramatic tensions would have enhanced this film even more.

Demonte Colony 2 - A Decent Horror Sequel

Rating - 2.75/ 5