Phoonk 2 Movie Review: Phoonk 2: Doll's Night Out!

Well, Ram Gopal Verma is back with his sequel to 'Phoonk'. Of course, this one has not been directed by him, but by Milind Gadagkar. If 'Phoonk' had the crow then 'Phoonk 2' has a doll, which is supposed to spook you. The movie starts promisingly enough but after a point, it gets a little monotonous. Therefore any bit of interest that the director was able to build up, fizzles out and the film ends rather tamely.

Unlike 'Phoonk', the sequel does not have a fight to the finish. In this movie, the spirit is just too powerful and goes about destroying whosoever it chooses. It disappears just as suddenly and leaves the victims traumatised for life. Of course, by leaving it open ended, the director has left room for a sequel, but one wonders if anyone is really interested.

On the thrills and chills factor, the film would rate rather low as it does not manage to pack any of the required ingredients for a supernatural horror film. The director tries all tricks in his bag, which include a secluded bungalow, a jungle, smart camera angles and an overactive soundtrack. But besides the initial few moments, which seek to startle one, the rest of the movie, is quite straightforward as one knows what to expect.

The story of the sequel takes off from the original where Madhu (Ashwini Kalsekar)'s character is killed with the help of a 'tantrik'. 'Phoonk 2' begins with the family moving into their new bungalow, away from Mumbai, one which is secluded and has a dense forest at one end and the open sea at the other.

Madhu's ghost comes back to take revenge on Rajeev's (Sudeep) family. In the first movie, she had cast a black magic spell on his daughter (Ahsaas Channa). This time, she is out to destroy his family. It all begins when the kids, Raksha and Rohan, find a doll in the forest and bring it home with them. It unleashes horror on the entire family and Madhu's ghost takes possession of Rajeev's wife Aarti (Amruta Khanwilkar). It also kills Manja (Zakir Hussain), the 'tantrik', the one man who could have helped Rajeev. The ghost also kills Rajeev's sister (Neeru Bajwa) who had come for a holiday.

Debutant director Gadagkar is unable to hook his audience in as he introduces the horror element only at the interval point when Rajeev discovers that Madhu has taken possession of his wife. The entire first half is only used in creating the ambience. Some of the effects are really trivial, like a black crow, or a lizard on the wall. The action builds up, to the extent that it does, only in the second half. But even that hardly has any surprises.

After the initial assault by the ghost, one knows what to expect. There is only blood and gore galore and little thrills and scares. What really goes against the movie is that the end is so tame as the spirit suddenly leaves Aarti's body and she falls to her death. But where does the spirit go, one is not sure.

Among the actors, Sudeep and Amruta essay their roles well. The two kids also rise to the occasion well. As for Neeru and Amit Sadh, they hardly have much to do in the movie. Ashwini is there only in bits and so are Zakir and Ganesh Yadav.

On the whole, 'Phoonk 2' turns out to be quite a dampener. It does nothing for you. As a horror film, it ranks lower than the original. Actually it's quite ordinary, except for the camerawork and the sound design, which is great. Tepid scare, low chills.