'Matinee' movie review: Horror drama replete with stereotypes

A haunted house, a group stranded inside, shrill sounds, jump scares, exaggerated ghost scenes and the all-too-predictable, moralistic storyline. Directed by Manohar Kaampalli, ‘Matinee’ repackages stereotypes typical of horror films.

It starts with three friends — Naveen (Shivaraj K R Pete), Anand (Poornachandra Mysore) and Jayadev (Diganth Diwakar) — visiting their collegemate Arun (Sathish) after a long time. They are soon joined by another friend Flash (Nagabhushana N S).

Arun is affluent and his friends convince him to sell one of his properties. The latter have an ulterior motive behind it. However, when the group visits the said house, they are spooked by the sound of anklets and other unexplained noises in there. As they try to make sense of these ghostly signs, they unearth dark secrets about the house.

A common flaw in horror films, especially in Kannada, is the overemphasis on the BGM and special effects. While these are useful to dial up the effect in intense scenes, the film lacks a strong storyline to build on them.

The story tries to preach about the value of friendship but it doesn’t ever set context for the close bond in the group. This weakens the narrative.

As a seasoned actor with a background in theatre, Sathish delivers a strong performance. Rachita’s role is short but she leaves an impact. Aditi’s performance could have been more nuanced. Nagabhushana, who is slowly building a name for himself, impresses with his trademark humour.

Despite being stretched out, ‘Matinee’ succeeds in entertaining the audience with timely twists and turns. However, under-developed characters and lack of an intriguing plot line derails the film from standing out in the genre.