3:17 AM. August 12, 2022.
Okay. What did I just watch? My room is dark except for the glow of my laptop and the credits for Penguin are rolling on Disney+ Hotstar, but I can't move. I feel like I'm still in that movie, in that constant, miserable, pouring rain. My back is stiff from leaning forward on my couch for the last two hours, and I think I permanently have a crick in my neck from trying to see around the dark corners of the screen.
That rain sound. It's not just in the movie, it's in my head now. A relentless, drumming, miserable sound. And that... thing. That waddling figure in the yellow raincoat with the Charlie Chaplin mask. Who on earth thought of that? It's so ridiculous on paper, right? A silent movie star mask? But on screen, waddling towards you through the mist... I literally recoiled. I was so close to the screen, trying to figure out what was happening, and when it just *appeared* in the background of that one shot, I jumped so hard my laptop almost slid off my lap. My heart is still doing this weird, fluttery thing. It’s such a specific, bizarre image that’s now permanently burned into my brain. The way it moves, not like a person, but like a puppet with its strings tangled. Ugh. It's going to visit me in my dreams, I know it.
Honestly, the whole vibe of this movie is top-tier. The gloom, the constant sense of dread, the way the camera lingers on empty swing sets and foggy pathways. It’s pure atmosphere. I was completely sucked in. But now that I'm sitting here, with the end credits providing the only light... did the story actually make any sense? Like, *any* sense at all? I thought I was following it, the pregnant woman looking for her first son, the trauma, the flashbacks. But the final reveal... I don't know. Was it clever? Or was it just a mess of twists for the sake of twists? I feel like I need to watch it again to understand, but I also never want to see that stupid mask ever again. I'm too tired to untangle it all. Maybe I'm just not smart enough for this. Or maybe the movie is just not as smart as it thinks it is. I can't decide.
All this rain, though... it reminds me of that one time when I was like, ten, and we were on a family trip to Munnar. The monsoon just hit out of nowhere. We were in this little tea shack and the sky just opened up. The smell of the wet earth was incredible, and my dad and I just stood there, watching the sheets of rain, feeling completely small. It was kind of beautiful, not terrifying like this movie. Anyway, not the point. God, my brain is all over the place.
Watching this at home on Hotstar was definitely the right call, I think. The cinema would have been too loud, too much. But here, in my own dark room, with the volume up just enough to hear every raindrop and every squelch in the mud... it felt personal. Too personal, maybe. I kept wanting to pause it just to take a breath, to check my phone, to remind myself that the weird waddling man wasn't outside my window. But I couldn't. I was trapped. My couch, which is usually my comfort zone, felt like it was sinking into that same muddy ground from the film. The screen on my laptop made the dark scenes even darker, so sometimes I was just staring at a black square, imagining the horror, which was almost worse. I had to squint so many times my eyes hurt.
And the main character, Rhythm... Keerthy Suresh was incredible. You could feel the panic, the desperation, the sheer exhaustion radiating off her. She carried the whole movie. But I also found myself yelling at the screen. "WHY would you go in there ALONE?!" "CALL THE POLICE!" "STOP RUNNING TOWARDS THE CREEPY NOISE!" It's one of those horror movie logic things, I guess. I thought I loved her performance, but now that I'm typing this... was she just making consistently terrible decisions? I don't know. Maybe that's what trauma and maternal panic does to you. What do I know about it.
So yeah. I'm a wreck. I feel unsettled, creeped out, and a little confused. I loved the feeling of being scared, the way it built tension so masterfully. But I'm not sure the story it was telling was worth all that incredible atmosphere. It's like a beautiful, terrifying house with no furniture inside. Looks great, but there's not much substance when you really walk through it. I think I liked it. I think. I need to go watch some stupid cat videos now to cleanse my palate.
6.5/10 - meh
- ishaan