Immortal Movie Review:

There is always something refreshing about a horror film that knows how to entertain while keeping things simple. Immortal does not burden itself with elaborate mythology or an overload of twists. Instead, it places an ordinary man in an increasingly unsettling situation and lets the discomfort grow. The film's pleasures lie less in what its monster is than in how long it can keep you wondering what exactly is going on behind its unnervingly hospitable facade. It is only when Immortal attempts to explain its monster that the film begins to reveal the limitations of its own imagination.

Immortal begins 1,000 years ago in a nondescript tribal village. A husband takes care of his expectant wife and is shattered when she gives birth to a demonic creature, and its birth is a harbinger. Centuries later, in the present day, Magi (GV Prakash Kumar), who works at his uncle's printing press, struggles to find a new home as his landlord is breathing down his neck to vacate his current place. As luck would have it, he comes into contact with a suspiciously cordial Sindhu (Kayadu Lohar), who offers him a spacious place for peanuts. It doesn't take him too long to realise that Sindhu has other plans for him.

Lack of fake sophistication and straightforward storytelling make Immortal likeable. The film also doesn't get its hands too dirty with too many plot points. Immortal, while hinting at the role Kayadu would be playing in all its promotional materials, still mostly amuses with its easter eggs about Sindhu's reality in the first half. The easter eggs also serve as a face-saver when the story confines itself to a single setting, like Jiiva's Black. These spaces give the film a much-needed push when it seems the story has reached a head amid the sexual tensions between Magi and Sindhu. 

Despite a runtime of just over two hours, the film could have been exhausting had it dwelt too long on any of the protagonist's recurring predicaments. For instance, the scenes featuring GV Prakash, Lollu Sabha Maaran and Adithya Kadhir are frustratingly unfunny. But thankfully, director Mariyappan Chinna knows where to draw a line. Another good choice was avoiding the done-to-death scare tropes. Instead, the horror of Immortal grows on you through a mundane routine like ordering food. These things too aren't overdone. The performances were adequate and passable, if not extraordinary. Recalling the scare tropes, such eerily filled moments are shouldered by Kayadu with an enticing but unsettling smile. Prakash, for his part, looks neat as a thoroughly petrified person.

Director: Mariyappan Chinna

Cast: GV Prakash Kumar, Kayadu Lohar, Adithya Kadhir, Maaran

The origin and purpose of this monster is hit-and-miss. Hollywood has had several vampire films, seductive or otherwise. Immortal's vampire is of the first category, someone who is a Western cousin of our very own Mohini. The makers had the opportunity to localise by ascribing one of the many interesting lore about Mohini instead of settling for an abstract story. The film also seems clueless about how to handle the exposition, given that Magi's access to the outside world is restricted. The writers do smartly plant a third person into the proceedings. Instead of generating drama, spooks, and challenges for the protagonist through these interactions, they conveniently assign a blind spot to the hitherto all-seeing and all-knowing monster. This convenient writing choice makes you wonder if the raunchy scenes in the first half are one too many. It could have and should have made way for the monster's weakness and the protagonist's discovery.  

The purpose of this plotting vampiress is also sloppy. In films like this one, the entity chooses someone with a gift or some genetic inheritance to acquire that from them. When Sindhu reveals her plans for Magi, in yet another convenient exposition, you'll go like, 'Good for you, what stopped you in the first place with all the powers you boast about possessing?' Also, there aren't any hints or suggestions about her waiting for some auspicious, or inauspicious, day, for that matter. Although Sindhu's CGI work exposing her real self looks almost convincing in the final act, it makes you wonder... to what end? This could have also just been a story about a man's escape from an obsessed plutocratic woman who wants to enslave him forever. How exactly did the vampire part contribute anything substantial to the film other than the scares, albeit well-made scares, is the question that the film leaves you with.

For all its flaws, Immortal is coherent and sticks to a singular plot point. The film, with its share of dips, highs, or the lack of both, is fairly engaging. GV Prakash can carry some momentum from the film, which impressively avoids the regular peekaboo scare tactics of Tamil cinema. Immortal ultimately works better as a contained tale of seduction, entrapment and escape than as a vampire origin story.