Pari (2018)
How I watched: Amazon Prime Video
For the short of it: After a woman is killed, the driver seeks out to help the surviving daughter who has some very demonic cult connections.
You know, I wasn't kidding when I said that I REALLY delved deep into indian horror movies. Even tv shows too! Most of these I originally watched on Amazon Prime Video. I noticed they recently removed Tumbbad. Mega sad face. Not available anywhere else from what I can tell. Hopefully it will make a comeback eventually. For shows, I really dug Adhura despite it being a tad try hard in being scary but overall I'd totally recommend you guys to check that one out. I also started watching The Village but that has pretty dismal ratings. It's like...not terrible at all but I suspect it's because it's a ripoff of The Hills Have Eyes.
I am aware the pictures are off center. Not exactly sure how to fix that but I am trying a few fixes for it. Plz hold.
Speaking of rip offs, Pari is the movie I decided to watch today! Half joking but I'll explain later.
So this movie is about a man named Arnab who is all nervous nelly because he is at that phase of his life where he is to have an arranged marriage. So from the context given, the woman has dates with prospective suitors and she picks who she wants to marry. I honestly thought it was never anyone's decision but the parents but idk I'm a silly mexican so what do I know? Likely different rules for different families or something. So yeah that's his arc.
While on a drive with his parents on this dark and rainy night (sorta) they get into a car accident when an unknown figure lunges in front of them.
And dedz.
Upon further investigation, they find where this woman lived and see a young woman chained up in a hut or something. In a state of guilt Arnab eventually takes this woman in and hoooolllllllyyyyy sheeeeeeeit brother over here has no idea what all sorts of WTFuckery is he about to go through!!!!
Oh gosh you guys, they do such an impressive job on fulfilling a scary atmosphere. I also like this Arnab fellow, he really does seem like such a likable protagonist. He has a good head on his shoulders but he would likely say he is a little too nice to a fault. The actress who plays the dead lady's daughter, Rukhsana is such a beautiful woman! She has these piercing blue eyes and striking beauty. I had a Ron Burgundy moment for a hot second.
Anyways, my favorite part of the movie is when she first appears in Arnab's apartment his first instinct is to give her a glass of milk like a stray cat! LOLz. Wasn't meant to be funny though but that's just my immaturity speaking.
I won't explain the entire movie but to get to the nitty gritty Arnab eventually falls for Rukhsana and shit, I almost did too! He shows such compassion for her and the trauma she has went through. Her mother literally kept her sheltered from the world and everything and now that she's passed she is like a fish out of water. Despite the frustration, Arnab shows an overwhelming amount of support for her which inevitably led to the love triangle.
WAIT WUT?!
Yes, love triangle my dudes! Piyali, the woman that interviewed for a prospective husband dialed him up and goes WUT UP B'OTCH! I choo choo CHOOOOSE you!
Yeah, so that really complicates things.
But holy hell just wait I haven't even gotten into the real plot of this movie. Buckle up, fuckers because this is going to be rough ass ride.
So there's this doomsday cult that kidnaps woman and summon demons to rape them so that they can have demon babies stemmed from Ifrit which is an extremely demonic icon in Islamic culture.
Then there is this other group that dedicates to find these impregnated woman and holds them captive until they give birth and they....decapitate the demon babies. That was the most disturbing scene of this film, obviously. They are supposed to be good but this is totally if "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" had a face.
Hot take: I actually like the lovey dovey indian songs that accompanies scenes when characters are falling for each other. Yup, Pari is no exception albeit brief. I noticed this pattern when watching a lot of indian scary movies like Bhoot and Kumari for example. I don't recall it for Tumbbad unless you want to count that stripper scene montage lol.
Lordy all mighty I don't usually blab so much in a blog post but yeah I guess I ought to round this up right about now. Earlier when I said it was a ripoff like right when I was typing the TL:DR of this movie, it reminded so soooo much of Spellbinder which is an American movie extremely similar to this one. This movie is more supernatural and all around spook inducing but yeah I can totally see the simularities. Not meant as an insult because I actually like different movies with the same theme as some definitely do it better than others. Like demon possession movies. Some really feel cheap in quality while others have a more fine tuned and much better executed finish. Pari is one of them.
Oh and to clear things up, Pari means fairy in Hindi. All this time I thought it was named after a character that I had to actually look it up to fix my confuzzlement. That explains the movie poster's additional wordings.
Overall despite this movie being OVER 2 HOURS LONG, it paced itself quite well. Definitely did not give me the impression of any plot holes or anything. Special effects a little bit goofy and not as well executed but I'll forgive them for that. The plot itself got hard so I can ignore that. Oh man that ending though. Call me crazy but I don't always like happy endings to a horror movie sometimes I need to feel that realistic doom and gloom to make it a real horror.
So with that being said, what is my verdict?
Superb take on satanic cults
If you are interested in watching Pari then please CLICK HERE to see which streaming services you can watch it on via the free streaming guide app JUSTWATCH!
🎵So that was your Indian horror movie of the day now head on over to my sister blog for your Indian Metal Band of the Day🎵 Check it.
