Dybbuk Review: An unconventional horror film that fails to scare and impress
Dybbuk Movie Rating: 1.5 Stars
Just watched Dybbuk movie on Amazon Prime Video. So let’s focus on the cast, release date story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Nikita Dutta and Manav Kaul
Director: Jay K
Release Date: 29th October 2021 on Amazon Prime Video
Story: It is is the remake of the Malayalam horror film Ezra revolves around couple who face threats from a revengeful spirit. The last Jew on the island of Mauritius, Moshe Ben Asher, passes away. He was a philanthropist and his house had several antique items. Bilal (Tareeq Ahmed Khan) goes to Moshe’s house to see if he can take any such item to display in his antique shop called Rustic Elegance. He sees what looks like a wine cabinet box and places it in his shop. The night watchman of the shop, Masood (Resh Lamba) while on his duty tries to open the box. As he attempts to do so, strange things start happening around him and he is killed.
Meanwhile, in Mumbai, Sam Isaac (Emraan Hashmi) is married to Mahi Sood (Nikita Dutta). At this point Sam’s company Zayke asks him to relocate to Mauritius for two years as the new head of operations. Zayke is trying to safely dispose of nuclear waste underwater. Sam takes up the project and he and Mahi shift to Mauritius. Strange things start happening to Mahi who has bought an antique box from Bilal antique shop.
Mahi gets possessed after opening the antique box. At first, Sam is unwilling to believe in the presence of a ghost but when his priest-guardian (Denzil Smith) arrives in Mauritius and he educates him about Dybbuk, a box which was used by the Jews to capture a spirit that was believed to be the dissatisfied soul of a dead person. The priest contacts a Rabbi (Anil George) but before he can help Sam and Mahi he dies.
Rabbi’s son Markus (Manav Kaul) now takes it upon himself to free Mahi of the spirit. To make matters more complicated, Mahi gets pregnant during this period. According to Jew mythology the spirit either attacks a person who has a mental problem (like fear psychosis) or an unborn child. It is feared that Mahi’s unborn child is possessed by the spirit. But for any corrective action to be taken, it is necessary for Markus to know whose spirit it is.
It turns out that the spirit is that of Abraham Ezra (Imaad Shah) which was locked in the box by his own father Yakub Ezra (Yuri Suri) after his son was completely paralysed due to an unfortunate incident. What does the spirit of Abraham Ezra want? Is Mahi possessed or is it her unborn child? Or is it someone else? Does Markus succeed in freeing the spirit of Abraham Ezra from the body in which it has entered? How?
Positives
1. Performances
2. Story
3. Few Scary Moments
Negatives
1. Length
2. No Song
3. Direction
4. Screenplay
5. Climax
Durgesh Tiwary’s View : When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie in my free time as trailer looks average but Emraan and horror films always impressed so finally watched it today.
Dybbuk is the remake of the Malayalam horror film Ezra which is written and directed by Jay K who has also written and directed the remake. screenplay is great in the first half but in the second half, it suffers as there are hardly any horrifying scenes in the narrative. Director has handled the beginning portions very well. Even the scene where Mahi is possessed is done subtly but 2nd half is very lengthy horror factor is overall missing in the post-interval hour. Even the climax is not effective as well.
Movie starts very well. The murder of Masood is chilling and the way the build-up happens sets the mood. The opening credits are intriguing. The initial scenes of Sam and Mahi moving to Mauritius and Sam joining the office are interesting. Mahi getting possessed is a great scene. Sadly the second half gets lengthy and the horror quotient goes out of the window, except in the scene of the dog. The finale is intended to be horrifying but it’s not. My view on this movie Not Recommended
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