Kapala Movie Review: An almost there edge-of-the-seat thriller

Do spirits exist? Well, that’s a difficult question to answer. And when a movie tries to explore the complex nature of the unnatural, it is hard for the makers to make it the horror elements grounded and believable. Debutant director Vinay Yadunandan’s Kapala manages to achieve this to a certain extent.

The intriguing storyline revolves around a Kapala (skull) and two siblings living with a friend in an apartment. The younger brother, Sanju (Aryan Chaudhary) unexpectedly gets trapped in a fatal problem. After digging deep into the root cause of the problem, the elder brother, Prashanth (Abhimanyu Prajwal,) and his friendrealizee the reason behind the chaos is a camera picked up by his brother. Prashanth traces down the person who handed the camera to his brother and the people in the photo, keeping the curiosity meter ticking through the second half. There are also ample doses of horror, love, and revenge.

Cast: Abhimanyu Prajwal, Pratheeksha Gowda, Aryan Chaudhary, Sushma Gowda, Giriraj BM, Ashok Hegde, Yamuna Srinidhi
Director: Vinay Yadunandan

The director has focussed only on the horror-thriller angle and there are no distractions in the form of comedy or songs. The intelligent story structured around a skull justifies the title. Though the initial parts of the film have less to offer, the back story makes for an interesting watch. The success of thrillers relies on the logic they stick to. But here the film fumbles.

The director had a good story to tell but the execution is patchy and the overlong run time adds to the misery. Except for Giriraj BM, Yamuna Srinidhi, and Ashok Hegde, the rest of the performances are amateurish.

Music director Sachin Basrur, cinematographer Praveen M Prabhu, and editor Shanthakumar have complimented this film in their respective departments.

Vinay Yadunandan deserves a thumbs up for making something out of the regular commercial masala potboilers. If you are patient enough to sit through, Kapala will keep you at the edge of your seats, especially in the second half.