Census Bloodbath: What Dreams May Come

Year:
1984
Director:
Manivannan
Cast:
Vijayakanth, Mohan, Nalini
Run Time:
2 hours 14 minutes

Plot: Schoolgirl Devi (Nalini of December Pookkal) has a dream prophesying the death of her sister, which unfortunately comes true. Years later, Devi gets married to her rich neighbor, Ram Kumar (Mohan of Nalaya Manithan and Moodu Pani), but the first 100 days of her married life are less full of conjugal bliss than they could be when. She has another prophetic dream witnessing a man she doesn't know killing a woman she doesn't know. Much to the dismay of Ram Kumar, she teams up with her cousin Raju (Vijayakanth) to get to the bottom of things.

Analysis: The Indian Tamil-language slasher Nooravathu Naal is a loose remake of Lucio Fulci's The Psychic that was itself loosely remade in Malayalam two years later as Aayiram Kannukal. That's a whole lot of pedigree for an Indian slasher, especially considering the fact that India has thus far never really nailed the slasher format. Thankfully, Nooravathu Naal has enough going for it that it almost earns that remake that I'm inevitably going to have to review.

Indeed, it's a much more than half-decent horror movie. It's no great shakes as a slasher (there are too few kills, presented too bloodlessly, to the point that I have no idea how one of the victims died). But visually, there's quite a bit going on here. I'm particularly partial to a shot of a lit-up phone booth glowing against a dark, rainy sky, as well as a scene where a mirror is being unwrapped piece by piece, so when the first bit of wrapping is removed, it looks like an eye is staring through the hole.

I was even pretty engrossed in the amateur gumshoes' investigation and the various methods they used to try and track down the killer's next victim.

Unfortunately, like many Indian movies, they had more than two hours to fill, so they decided to slop a bunch of other nonsense in on top of the horror-mystery stuff. The movie is at its worst when it's trying to be a comedy, putting a spotlight on Ram Kumar's bumbling assistant Mr. John (Janakaraj), whose flop-sweaty schtick is shriekingly unfunny.

I'm partial to horror movies having musical numbers, so I was slightly less bothered by those, even though they're for the most part indifferently executed. The best I can say for the film's three numbers is that they improved as they went along. The first love song - which is staged like you're tripping balls while watching an ABBA music video through a kaleidoscope - is a meandering slog that really rubs our noses in the fact that Mohan can't sing as well as Nalini can. But their second love song at least has the good sense to take place in an abstract cocoon of glitter, so that was fun to look at. And the third song, which is sung by the ghost of Devi's sister (who never does get a name, poor thing), is genuinely eerie and fun.

I also can't get mad at the scenes that feel like they're pulled straight from an Indian TV melodrama. The over-the-top editing of Devi discovering a body is delectably campy, as are the action scenes that keep spontaneously erupting in the third act. Raju goes from mental health professional to action hero in 60 seconds, suddenly leaping all around the joint like Super Mario. It's pretty fun!

However, I don't think either the good or the bad outweighs the other, here. There's simply too much material about Ram Kumar whining that he's not getting enough sex, or that he isn't respected enough for being rich. It's too tedious for me to recommend the film as a whole, but I do think that this is the Indian slasher from the first half of the 1980s that gets the most right.

Killer: Ram Kumar (Mohan)

Final Girl: Devi (Nalini)

Best Kill: Even though it's a little silly that he accidentally does it to himself, a man who attacks Raju ends up getting chased away, climbs over an iron gate, slips, and impales himself. I love a good gate kill, what can I say?

Sign of the Times: Mr. John's bow tie is about the size of an adult bat.

Scariest Moment: Devi starts unpacking newly delivered furniture and unveils various objects that were in her premonition.

Weirdest Moment: Ram Kumar and Devi open their wedding presents, and every single person got them a telephone.

Champion Dialogue: “Why are you looking so fuzz, sir?"

Body Count: 4

1. Devi's Sister is stabbed in the gut.
2. Assailant is impaled on an iron gate.
3. Parvathi is killed.
4. Jagannathan is choked by Raju with a wooden pole.

TL;DR: Nooravathu Naal is almost definitely the best Indian slasher of the 1980s, but that's not a particularly lively bunch.

Rating: 6/10