A Sneak Peek into the Malayalam Horror Movie Universe

Malayalam Horror Movies, well the title should have been-

Malayalam Movies & Horror Genre: An Odd Pair?

Well, I've seen much better chemistry between Neo and Agent Smith! It's subtle, but fuels the main course now and then.!

But before I start, I must confess, I lied, it's not a sneak peek, it's quite a long read!

Old school films such as Bhargavi Nilayam (1964), starring the evergreen Prem Nazir that effortlessly blended romance and horror as well as the 80's gems such as Lisa and Mortuary had made a lasting impression in the audience's hearts.

This is evident because the Sathyan starrer Yakshi was remade in the 2010s with Fahaad Fazil and Anumol as Akam, showing that we are still fascinated by the fantasies crafted by our predecessors!

The Malayalam film culture, compared to its contemporaries, relied more upon the realistic realm. This may be because of the influx of socialism profound in the dramas before movies were popular, the films just followed it suits.

The movies were more of socio-cultural subjects where romance, action and history played their parts into the pattern rather than owning up the entire genre.

This indeed toppled the game!

Because of this particular genre, the filmmakers understood that they needed mind-blowing feats and spectacles beyond comparison to enthral the audience. This led them to rise to the occasion and innovate the technical side of cinema.

Well, it was the same in the western hemisphere too. Sci-fi and fantasy movies like Star Wars saga, Space Odyssey, Jurassic Park led to extreme innovations, we who hung on realism failed to do so.

Fantasy Flicks, whether it be mythic, supernatural or sci-fi (even now a big turn off for the industry) doesn't boast of much in quantity. But as I said before, it relied on the quality that brought us these masterpieces.

Warlocks and "Vadayakshis"

Black Magic is a prevalent theme in Indian and Malayalam Horror Movies. Eccentric Tantrics and the pages of Atharva Veda resonates deeply with the childhood fairy tales told by every Malayalee grandmother!

Movies like Kamal Hassan starrer "Vayanadan Thampan", Mohanlal starrer "Sree Krishna Parunth" both helmed by A.Vincent had blended erotic and the supernatural together and made masterpieces.

Then came "Adharvam" starring Mammooty which showcased not the spirits, but a man's quest to tear apart the ordinary and reach godhood in a 90's twist to Dr Faustus!

Then in the 2000s came one of my absolute favourites "Anandhabhadram".

I mean who can forget Digambaran, the mad warlock immortalized by Manoj K Jayan. Then came "Tantra" which was not up to the mark compared to the other movies!

But on another note, the directors of both Sree Krishna Parunth and Anandhabhadram, ie A. Vincent and Santhosh Sivan are both renowned cinematographers!

The Horror of Human Psyche: Manichitrathazhu, Yakshi and Mortuary

Manichitrathazhu is perhaps the most adapted Malayalam horror movie in Indian cinematic history. But the fun fact here is that it is a Psychological Thriller rather than a horror flick. Yet the chase for Nagavalli made many of us lose our sleep!

The movie till the end showcases a mixture of traditional and folk rituals combined with the proud feudal remains of a distant era, that transports us to nostalgic land both familiar and haunting.

Yakshi and Mortuary to dwell on the same. The delusions of the protagonists turning into reality. Mortuary being the less complicated, ends up in a "whodunnit?" mode, whereas Yakshi reaches far into the psyche of an ordinary man and his immense doubt of himself which in turn throws his life down the rabbit hole!

Playing Around with the Basics

The 2000s brought about many Malayalam Horror movies such as Summer Palace, Indriyam, Ee Bharghavi Nilayam( named after it's predecessor but none the wiser) etc., which combined horror and erotica together to boost the theatre collection and profit. However, this was nothing like A. Vincent's masterpieces. These were a bit over the top!

Why?

Because Sex sells, and what better way to enforce or dehumanize female sexuality other than demonizing it or in this context "Yakshifying" it …

Pakal Pooram starring Mukesh and Geethu Mohandas too fell in the same category!

But most of them never have made a lasting impact on the audience. A few indeed worked but some because of the ingenuity of the filmmaker's exploitation of Zeitgeist or merely the Spirit of the times.

Vinayan’s Movie Oeuvre

Though there might be different arguments on this one, no one could undermine Vinayan's presence.

As I said before, many Malayalam horror movies worked due to the Spirit of the times, one such movie is Vinayan's Aakasha Ganga. It is one of the director's most well-known works, which even had a sequel in 2020. This is also one of the movies that made Vinayan stand out and earn the moniker "Rebel Hit Maker".

The director in his career focused on extraordinary subjects, which were often on par with it's Hollywood counterparts. But unfortunately, his craft could never match up to the vision he sold to the audience as a one liner! There was always something missing in his movies, the unnecessary deviants of the main plotline to the infamous graphics!

Vinayan's movies however resonated with a broad audience who sought cinema purely as a relief from the typical course of life. His out-of-the-box subjects either fell on human helplessness or the fantasy (horror, mythic, fairy tales, and superheroes!). Still, as I said before, the movies often came up short of what was expected. Films such as "Vellinakshatram", was a big hit among the Malayalam Horror Movies.

As time flew by, the Malayalam film audience, especially the vast diaspora segment came in contact with many more movies from across the world and found Vinayan's films far below par.

At the time had clashes with AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists) and slipped into oblivion for a couple of years. He, however, could not betray his passion and came up with half a dozen movies in which the majority had the same fantastical themes-

• Horror- Yakshiyum Njaanum, Dracula 2012 | Superhero- Little Superman

But we are not here to talk about superhero movies, perhaps in another post.

Yakshiyum Njaanum(2010) dealt with the classic Yakshi or the female ghost familiar to Malayalees. The original yakshini is a spirit or a supernatural being of a separate class rather than ordinary ghosts. Still, the industry corrupted it to mere ghosts of the deceased.

However, in contrast to Aakasha Ganga, his 1999 flick that made him a household name, he did not resort to the classic yakshi archetypes,

1. White sarees - A symbolic representation of the white shroud we cover the dead with or the purity of Spirit .

2. Paalapoovu- The mythical flower and the tree that has an alluring fragrance that often is said to be the abode of Yakshis .

3. Chunnambu or Slacked lime which was used as an intoxicant in "Murukk" (betel chewing) .

but maintained the seductive nature of the yakshis in his flick, a bit over the top too, in Yakshiyum Njanum.

He tried to make a comeback in 2020 with Aakasha Ganga 2, with his son in the lead and the plot which follows the prequel. But younger audience who had already become the fans of the Marvel Universe and Game of Thrones were not that impressed by the CGI or "Graphics" used!

However, Vinayan's courage & grit to go after fantastic themes and make most of them hits, in an industry that preferred social themes is highly commendable. This would indeed be his legacy , after all he gave people hope!

Kerala Café's Mrityunjayam & Rise of a New sensibility

Now, this was a revelation!

Just as critics call Passenger and Traffic, the proponent of New Generation Wave in Malayalam Cinema, Mrityunjayam propelled Malayalam Horror Movies to a whole new level.

Kerala Cafe was the first of its kind anthology film made up of ten short films by ten directors, something the Malayali Audience was not familiar within their domain.

The second was Mrityunjayam - A film by Udhay Anandan and penned by Ahmed Siddique. He went on to become an actor and third being one of the platforms where Fahaad Fasil rose from his ashes to the glowing phoenix of acting.

Mrityunjayam brought the mystery element back to the industry and it's scope as a supernatural thriller was much grander than expected. It perfectly blends age-old folk tales and sacred rituals of Kerala with the scepticism of the modern well educated and the highly literate younger generation. Malayalam Horror Movies will never be the same again.

After Mrityunjayam came Akam, which too starred Fahaad, as mentioned earlier was a modern take on Yakshi.

Prithviraj and Hollywood Stylistics!

Prithviraj has already established himself as an inevitable part of Mollywood or the Malayalam Film Industry and has never shied away from undertaking "mass", "class" or "experimental" movies as per the new movie goer lingo.

Through Ezra (2017) and 9(2019), he brought about a new twist to the picture. Malayalam Horror Movies did not tread down its usual path and walked over unknown realms.

Ezra's theme was of a Jewish Dybbuk box, and 9 took us all on a ride into a maze where sci-fi and mythology lost their boundaries and bled into one another.

Though 9 did not receive the same applause as Ezra did, it indeed brought about many technical advancements into Malayalam cinema.

The trope of a friendly neighbourhood ghost has been around for a while, the latest of which being Jenny from Koode by Anjali Menon. But we'll get to that in yet another post, as horror and supernatural are not exactly the same right?

Right now, we have exceptional masters of hyper-realism like Dileesh Pothan and Lijo Jose Pellisherry. They honed their crafts and broke boundaries venturing into International Cinema. All these have led to doubt in many of the audience's minds whether the genre would be wiped off?

But before ending this piece on Malayalam Horror Movies, let me state that I still have faith in our industry and I'm waiting for more movies to give me the chills.

So, what do you think?

~ Dan E Kuriakose