143 Hyderabad Review
Film Name:143 Hyderabad
Cast: Lakshmi Nair, Jagan,Anand Chakravarthy, Dhansika, Ramssy
Direction: Anand Chakravarthy
Genre: Thriller
Story: Five friends who visit an ancient temple in a remote village while heading for a vacation. The detour takes a dangerous twist, when an unidentified killer starts killing the friends one after another.
Movie Review: It is a Telugu dubbed version of the hit 2010 Tamil film, Nil Gavani Sellathey, which was heavily inspired by the iconic 1974 slasher flick, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The original Hollywood film was about five friends who fall prey to a family of cannibals on their way to an old homestead. This one traces the fate of five friends on a road trip to Goa.
Priya (Lakshmi) - an archeologist - suggests they check out an ancient ruin located in a remote village, en-route and the friends agree. Things start going wrong even before they enter the village. When pull over to ask a woman for directions, she warns them to leave the village or risk getting murdered. Paying little heed to her advice, the friends go to the village nevertheless. As night falls a masked killer begins to hack them to death one by one, much to their horror.
It's an inspired script but the filmmaker manages to pack some chills. A couple of chase sequences are well choreographed. However there is very little else that really makes one jump out of their seats. A lot of the first half is wasted establishing characters and cracking some light hearted innuendos. The film gathers some momentum as soon as they reach the village but the mundane climax comes as a dampener.
More often than not the success of such serial killer movies hinges on the execution, but that's where the filmmaker goofed up big time. The plot is laced too many twists and turns that hinder the narrative flow. The performances are decent over all, but Jagan, Lakshmi and Dhansika stand out despite the poor lip synch.
The cinematographer and music director deserve a pat on the back for their work. The film looks and sounds the part if only the filmmaker could have got the screenplay right. The characters are never really more than stereotypes and the writing isn't great either and a lot of things in the movie are left unexplained. It is weak on performances, thrills and it isn't even unintentionally funny.
Note: It's like a cheap throwback to the slasher movies of the eighties, so fans of blood and gore might just find some nostalgia value.
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