L7 Review

'L7', a suspenseful horror, stars Adith Arun and Pooja Jhaveri in lead roles.  Here is our analytical review:

Story:

Arun (Adith Arun) and Sandhya (Pooja Jhaveri) are a newly-married couple who end up, no prizes for guessing, renting a haunted house.  The bad omens prompt Sandhya to want to get out of the house at the earliest, but Arun shrugs off until one day when a candle gets lit on its own.

It's time to test the presence of dark forces in the building through gadgets.  It's positive.  He runs out of the accursed house with his wife in the middle of the night, only to realize that she is not with him kilometers away.

What is she up to?  Why is she possessed?  If so, to what end?  Can Arun bail himself and Sandhya out of the life-threatening situation?  Answers to these questions are found in the second half.

Analysis:

In horror flicks, when it's not an RGV or a Vikram Kumar wielding the mega phone, the audience have to resign themselves to watching stock scenes.  'L7' is no exception.  But the audience understandably expect a gripping flashback, and new kind of motivations of the spirit.  And 'L7' offers one.

Since the story doesn't involve more than two characters in the first half, a skimpily-clad friend's character is leveraged to smuggle in oomph factor.  A pointless naughty song apart, there is some cleavage show on display.

The idea of employing curious gadgets to detect dark energy inside the house is good.  It's a pleasure to see the hero tremble with fear upon encountering the spirit.  Usually, the heroes put up a devil-may-care-attitude even when they face the ghost and so, showing Arun as a vulnerable husband is healthy.

After a point, the proceedings throw up the element of a comedian (it's Vennela Kishore) getting hilariously terrified by the spirit.  As the possessed wife behaves like a child woman, she tortures her way through the film, leaving the unsuspecting guest at home in the lurch.

The flashback episodes deliver the back story in a reasonably gripping way.  They go a long way in building up the right tempo for the climax portions.

Where the director (Mukund Pandey) falters is in handling the heroine's characterization.  The back story presented a very good opportunity to bring out the emotion of anguish.  The idea of using technology to converse with the spirit is stretched a bit too much.  The character also allowed enough room to make the murders look novel.

Pooja Jhaveri's performance in the second half, especially in the climax, is engaging.  She fits the bill, overall.  Adith Arun looks good and with proper editing, he would have convinced even better.  The actor who played Somnath Baba fits the bill.  Vennela Kishore's talent is not complemented by the greenhorn actor who played Deepak.  Ajay and others are so-so.

Arvind-Shankar belt out the right BGM.  The songs don't make the cut, though.  The visuals are mediocre.

Verdict:

A horror that presents a good back story.  Good performances by the lead pair aside, there are enough comic situations.  Emotions touch to an extent.  Better visual quality would have helped.