Asvins (2023) User Reviews

Except first 10 Mins, rest of the movie is boring

[Sarvan_watches · 4/10 · 27 June 2023]

It Started of with engaging experience for first 10 mins. Then rest of the movie screen play is too boring to watch. Plot twist of the movie isnt great. Phasmophobia computer game play style at times you get confused what has happened betwen the story. Ghost wearing typical black dress with lenghty hair. Looks like sound download from random sites and attached between the movie. After long time tamil cinemas had a thriller and horror story but they messed up, just went to watch the movie with imdb rating which was 9 after 3 days of release and thats why posting a review so that you can be aware of what you are watching.overall 4.5/10. I would say wait for OTT release to watch this film.

Creepy Indian chiller that loses its way somewhat in later chapters

[Tweekums · 6/10 · 24 July 2023]

As this Indian chiller starts we are told of the ancient legend of a farmer whose twin sons drown. After praying to the gods one is returned along with a pair of idols which he must keep together. A demon tricks him and his village is cursed until they are reunited. Centuries pass and they have come into the possession of an Indian archaeologist who has a large mansion in England. Something strange has happened there and a group of young Indians are exploring the house. The opening chapter shows them exploring, found footage style, and bad things happen to them. We then flash back to just before they arrive at the house, which is on an island which is accessible at low tide. We learn why they are there and more about what is happening to them.

I thought this started well; the introduction was effective and the found footage scenes provided some early scares. Later on as they arrive and start exploring it is suitably creepy with a terrifically spooky atmosphere and disturbing sound effects. Unfortunately as we get to know more it starts to drag somewhat; it could have done with being about twenty minutes shorter. The acting is solid with the characters appearing genuinely terrified at times. If you enjoy a good scare but don't want swearing, sex/nudity and gore then you needn't worry as this features none of that. Overall a decent enough chiller.

These comments are based on watching the film in Tamil with English subtitles.

A movie which forgot what it wanted to be as it went on...

[bhupeshdrawing · 5/10 · 21 July 2023]

Chapter 1: The lore told at the beginning was good. And the entire chapter 1 was in found footage format which was really good and entertaining. 7/10

Chapter 2: This chapter had really beautiful cinematography, but was just people talking. 6/10

Chapter 3: This where the movie starts to get mediocre. Cheap jump scares and the interval twist is very mid. But the sound design and bgm was good. 5/10

Chapter 4 and 5: These chapters made me regret watching this film. It starts to get very bad. The budget takes a real hit and it is clearly visible. The climax sequence was very childish and was like a serial. 2/10

Conclusion: This movie had a lot of scope at the beginning, but mediocre acting, amature dialogues, very bad second half made it forget what it was meant to be. You will be disappointed not because it was a bad movie but because it had a lot of potential and lost it on the way.

Horribly made horror movie

[sadhanatuku · 1/10 · 19 July 2023]

Sound effect and background music is good. Cinematography is not bad, except the usage of green, pink, violate lights. Acting is at the most average.

Location and venue selection wasn't good, how can you expect a haunted house with a well maintained garden and lawn? Weak and illogical storyline, one statue lost in India, but they need to find both the statues in the UK. Worst possible script writing, in many places incoherent, possibly due to editing. A forced inclusion of the mythological characters of Aswini Kumar duo which could be another Jay and Viru.

It is difficult to sustain the movie beyond the 3rd chapter. The movie has its potential but somehow the film crewmembers succeeded to finish it.

The worst horror movie I have ever seen

[ajayalam · 1/10 · 27 July 2023]

The worst horror movie I have ever seen. There is nothing in the movie except 'ra shas ha'. No relation between scenes. Story started well 5 but rest movie is the boring. No sense used by the director. How could he think anyone can watch this film. Simply they made this film and does not carry any logic. I was getting irritated while watching this as the scenes jumping from to another without rationale. I finally somehow finished watching and wasted almost 2 hours. If director don't know how to narrate why make this kind of film. The horribly made horror movie it is. Please don't watch and waste your time.

A poor attempt

[nickakre · 1/10 · 20 July 2023]

1. Story has nothing scary, dumb story.

2. Doesn't explain the sub chapters of the story properly.

3. Probably a low budget movie, screenplay is very boring.

4. Only sound effects are added, not interesting enough.

5. The starting of the story looks as if you are about to watch good content. First chapter is stupidly shot with random cameras, nothing is clearly shown.

6. The whole purpose of story is lost, very confusing expression, the acting is good but too much drama makes it even more stereo type story.

7. The starting sequence where the whole crew is dropped at the start point, the hero gets some signs through a very funny laughing of the driver lady, alas! But it is not even funny.

Not a bad movie, not a great movie.

[gand7 · 6/10 · 25 July 2023]

I've certainly seen far worse than "Asvins" in my time. The movie starts out promising, but doesn't really maintain the pace of the opening chapter. Not to say this is bad, I don't mind a slow burn horror that's more story and less jump scares, if it's done correctly, that is. I would say that "Asvins" is a semi-failed project, but succeeds in some places quite well.

For one, the cinematography in some areas is beautiful, in others, it's cheesy. The lighting can be a bit... retro... at times, looking more like a 1970s disco scene than a Hellish nightmare. The acting is solid in some places, but then terribly overdramatic in others. This may be a part of Indian cinema in general, much as Chinese cinema often incorporates theatrical stage play-type work into their movies.

The stand out of this movie for me was the musical score. It was fantastic. It's not often movie scores catch my attention more than the movie proper, but this one certainly did. Ominous and foreboding and well implemented, probably better than what the movie deserved, frankly. I bumped it up to a six on this merit alone.

All in all, of you like slow burners that are more story than horror, you may enjoy this, but don't bring any of your buddies that are expecting "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".

oh, my

[tkactor4 · 2/10 · 13 August 2023]

Some of the cinematography is quite good. The filming locations are impressive, especially the mansion, even though some of the interiors seem out of place (like the basement). However. The acting is horrid (especially Vasanth Ravi as Arjun); just when you think someone is doing a passable job, they make a face (I assume they are "possessed") or they fake-cry. There is SO. MUCH. CRYING. And none of it is realistic. Utterly ridiculous. I saw the film began as a short. It makes sense, as much of the film feels like padding. The 1 hour, 51 minute running time feels like much, much longer and the majority of it feels wasted.

Surprisingly entertaining 'Found Footage' entry

[thatcaptjim · 6/10 · 28 July 2023]

This is a haunted house mystery, pure and simple. In a way, the house itself is the main character, and the settings are gorgeous and beautifully filmed. I find that most of the negative reviews of this movie seem to be based on 'this movie wasn't made for ME, an English speaker used to bloodbaths and the hollow tropes of modern horror movies'.

I personally see a lot of potential in these filmmakers. The choice of locations, settings, and drone shots are evocative, and some of them should be familiar to horor afficinados. It's got a erratic mix of both Indian and Anglo tropes, sure, but it's also as much about the characters' roles as Indian social media celebrities trying to break into the wider world as it is about the horror/mystery. I found the use of sound to be rather subtle and atmospheric.

I think what might cause some Western viewers to dismiss the film is the 'Hinglish' and the constant Bollywood tropes, along with the consistent use of first person exposition, which is an unfamiliar vehicle to most English speaking audiences. A viewer needs to set that aside and realise this is a film seen through the lens of a culture that was both heavily influenced by English colonization, but still sees the supernatural world in a different light. So put all that aside, get yourself a big bowl of popcorn or some other salty snack, and settle back. The movie's very watchable, if slowly paced, it has a decent storyline, the actors are enjoyable, and the setting itself is beautiful.

Worst ever 😒

[magesh9031 · 2/10 · 29 June 2023]

One of the Worst movie I've watched this year so far. The plot seems good but screenplay & acting is so dull. When you watch the movie you don't even feel connected, first few minutes was okay then I started to feel sleepy. I remember watching a movie called "Ra" it was good, it was also similar to paranormal & demon.

The real YouTube short film was just 20 mins but it was really well made.

1. Casting was not good 2. Jump scares didn't work 3. Short story dragged to almost 2 hrs 4. There's no twist & turns 5. Predictable 6. Poor Screenplay It didn't give any feel like watching a horror movie since it was so plain & dull. Director needs to focus on casting & screenplay.

Great scare

[lytsleeper · 8/10 · 23 July 2023]

Very creepy! Don't try to multitask during this movie (and honestly that would be hard with subtitles anyway) and don't hide your eyes. A LOT of sneaky details you don't want to miss. Not if you're really wanting to be scared. The acting was very well done. I don't want to give spoilers so I'll just says it was amazing how quickly emotions could change even in the middle of sentences and then pick right back up again. Some of the reviews say it is boring but I certainly wasn't bored. They must just like the blood and guts movies which this is not. It's a haunted house thriller.

There is quite a bit of first-person camera action which could disturb some with vertigo or other issues so be aware of that.

Tarun Teja what a disaster movie you have made!!

[jxwjkdcnt · 2/10 · 22 July 2023]

This is a classic example how to spoil good horror story like with over dose of creative ideas. Overall the movies is based on a very good Mythological story. It's the director who executed the idea with no head and tail. 1) No story line - 2) Confused directions 3) worst screenplay 4) Worst Editing

Only good part about the movie is the first 10 minutes , Art, background Music abs cinematography. There are some very good drone shots.

Great team and Great story with worst director = BIG DISASTER!

Don't waste time on this movie by sitting 1 hour 55 minutes. Just watch the first 15-20 minutes of the movie to escape from the mental torture.

Hilariously terrible

[chsan-99606 · 1/10 · 23 July 2023]

This movie is so bad that it's almost funny. All the actors with no exception have overacted to their hearts' content. So cringey to watch. Youtube amateur ghosthunting videos are better than this movie. I mean.. they had a great premise and concept but half way through the movie I couldn't see any execution at all. Also, it has recycled literally ALL horror movie tropes with the least amount of skill possible. The noises and apparitions and all are so bad it makes you wonder how did the actors not feel awkward acting this out. The only way I can see this movie getting more than 1 star rating is by an army of new accounts created just to boost its rating, something that a lot of producers are now indulging in. Give it a miss.

I fell asleep

[sharmisthamona · 1/10 · 21 July 2023]

That's the most boring horror movie I have watched even. Indonesia has better movies to watch.

What is the story why they made it. No clue what's happening. And over the top acting. The ghost looks funny and the background has no story.

Why did you even make this as horror to give people headache. I tried to watch it but I couldn't

I am tired of writing this essay I am tired of writing this essay

I am tired of writing this essay I am tired of writing this essay.. I am tired of writing this essay I am tired of writing this essay I am tired of writing this essay I am tired of writing this essay.

Only sound effects and scary visuals. Worst movie i had watched in recent times

[saisushma-91689 · 1/10 · 21 July 2023]

The movie started with a good story which caught my interest. After "Asvins" title is shown there's nothing good. All i can see is scary sound effects and scary scenes of ghosts coming and scaring for no reason. Coming to the acting- in few scenes i was not able to make out if the lead actor is laughing or crying. In few scenes he acts as if he got fits. There are actors who can act better without making it look creepy.

Movie makers might think by putting too many scary noises and visual the movie becomes horror movie "NO!" You have educated audiences with good taste. Don't ruin it.

After seeing the reviews i feel all the 10 star ratings are fake for sure. There's no chance so many people like this pathetic movie. I wanted to watch this movie in theater but couldn't go. I'm glad. I was waiting for the movie to get over. Director wanted to take revenge on audience

Basically there's no logic. If it is fantasy movie then the story is not taken forward properly. Terrible.

Between Two Evils

[Pairic · 7/10 · 27 August 2023]

Asvins: Indian Tamil-language horror film. Starts with an animated section about how a Demon came to Earth. In the present day an Indian team of youtubers brought to England to spend a night in and film a haunted house where a massacre took place. The house os on an island only reachable by a causeway during low tide. Some poignant scenes as the the team cross over (in more ways than one) and the incoming tide gradually covers the path and a cross on it. Some disconcerting scenes in the dark, with only flashlights as demonic forces attack. Gets even more horrifying as murders apparently occur. A film about possession, wins, a pair of idols, the duality of good and evil,not just in humans but between our plane of existence and the shadow world where Demons may be defeated. Written by Aadhithya Bahudhanam Prakash and directed by Tarun Teja in his directorial debut. On Netflix. 7/10.

Storytelling in a boring way.

[sathyaaero · 3/10 · 23 June 2023]

By watching this film I had experienced that "Think TWICE before going to watch a film by believing in the promotional talks".

Went to watch this in theatre to experience a horror movie stuffs as I had none of the experience watching horror genre films in theatres. But I didn't expected that my first experience would end up awful .

YES, it's an usual horror genre film with cliche scenes. The film follows the stereotype of typical horror film sound effects such as doors opening and closing, ghostly voices, dark shadow of a ghost roaming around and so on.

In terms of story, it's too the same in that case. 5 friends who explore the haunted places and post its documentary on their YouTube channel, grabs a big opportunity to explore the haunted mansion in terms of dark tourism which was given by a britain millionaire. How different the story, isn't? Crap!!

At least the screenplay could have been structured well and non boring, that too failed. Oh god!!, Do the director thought of audience's 130 bucks and their time which they set for entertainment?. Only 10% of the theater was occupied, none of the audience liked the film and their frustrated murmurs hit my ears.

Although the fantasy anime story is shown at first to draw the audience in and clarify what the film is to be, it relates with the film only at the beginning of climax, and that's where the need for our protagonist unveils. Usually the need of the protagonist is set at some point in the beginning of the film and then the story start moves interestingly as the obstacles and challenges he faces to fulfill his need. But here the need arises only at a few minutes before the end of the film.

Appreciable thing is the work of cinematographer at first. There were two found footage narrative sequences in this film, while watching we can understand how hard the cinematographer worked to bring it up to the screen so perfect. And also establishing shots in the beginning sequence were so astonishing. Although there were too much of establishing shots that felt unwanted, but the visuals were stunning.

Then, the music director. As well as he has given a good background scores for what the scene needs and especially what a horror film needs, he could have avoided overloading it as some dialogues were hard to get it.

Editor done his work better as for the mood of the film.

Though wonderful establishing shots in opening sequence, it gives horrific feel while with the background score and crisp editing. If this could continued throughout the film with non boring well narrative and unique treatment of horror screenplay, this film would have definitely been a good product.

Finally, the performances. Out of five cast Vasanth Ravi stands first with his performance. I think the makers deliberately added more scope for him than others performance. In many scenes, it was observed that he wasn't performed for the scene's mood rather he shows his acting ability to prove how good he's good at it.

Overall, this film reminds me of a Korean movie Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum which was released on 2018 got good response from the audience and critic. This film too more relevant to that film. The makers tried to bring Asvins like gonjiam but failed.

The writer also used chapter wise narrative technique, the theme of ritual cureses stuffs and philosophical dialogues by protoganist's voice over but nothing works. And also the metaphor of TWO throughout the film which doesn't felt attractive.

You can give it a try to see, If you doesn't worry about your time and money.

Basically Iam a movie buff. The worst thing was, I went with my friend whom I insisted to come with me. He was really disappointed. He's working hard for living, I too wasted his time and 130 bucks.

I laud the attempt!

[SoumikBanerjee1996 · 7/10 · 29 September 2023]

"Asvins" is a fascinating amalgam of a foreign notion and 'desi' sensibilities. A unification of Westernised horror and Indian mythology/folklore, and I have to admit this experimentation begot quite an impressive outcome, something that not only will intrigue horror fanatics but would also open doorways for creativity and invention in this specific genre, which has been struggling for quite a while now.

The Indian audience, in particular, will be delighted since they have always longed for something fresh amid a cesspool of archetypes. And the execution here provides that and some more.

P. S. The film boasts a Phenomenal sound design and a brilliant score, and these two collectively lifted the intensity tenfold.

Cringe to the max!! Dilapidated bungalow, door creaking, husky voices

[tc-venu · 2/10 · 22 July 2023]

Initially started with some good story plot, but once they entered into the bungalow.. cringe starts..

No story and nothing is moving after 20 mins till interval.

Everyone go to the room, take photos and someone behind will speak husky voice.. appuram pakkathula room paaththiratha uruttuvanga.. lol.. people gets scared for this usual cringe which reveals the director is boom boom boomer.. lol..

2nd half was more pathetic. Funny thing is vimala raman repeats the same story what has been said in the beginning.. Asvini kumarar's story plot is illogical in the second half.. the boy who has the statue didn't do anything in the beginning.. later vimala raman was saying that he will come and fight back..

Overall the movie is not engaging after 20 mins and all scenes were made in 1000 films before..

This movie joins the party...... Excellent movie.

[bharadwajjkg · 9/10 · 25 June 2023]

There are many things to praise about the movie... But with few aspects which need improvements

Good - - - > 1. Camera angle and shots are simply brilliant.... The way the shots are taken in the whole movie... And the camera angles and POV with which the movie is shown is absolutely thrilling...... 2. You have that classic horror movie jump scares...... U will love that.... 3. Sound affects... Are superb.... It will literally keep u engaged..... Till the last end 4. Actors performance... Protagonist and the supporting characters do their best job to keep us engaged..... Their face expresions speaks a lot....

Not that much good - - - > 1. Climax location lightings.... 2. Plot depth.... Could have made up something more.. 3. It's a simple story... 4. No twists.... Except interval scene.

A good attempt at making a horror film gone terrible thanks to little effort in writing

[Vetrrich_Chelvan · 3/10 · 2 July 2023]

Horror films stand out, create impression, leave impact in the audience when they are either intellectually stimulating (Insidious (2010)) or absolutely mistifying (The Ring (2002)).

Asvins is neither of the above but tries hard to be at least one of the above. Sure we can see influences of famous horror films (Paranormal Activity (2007)) but nothing can save the lethargic attempt at writing. I heard that the original script is developed from a short film. When you hear it, you think that the movie would have a lot to offer than the short film but it is merely a prolonged (dragged out) explanatory video of the same.

Somewhere in a foreign land, five Indians venture out in a country side to explore a haunted mansion where an archaelogist of Indian origin had seemingly killed all her servants and herself sometime before. They go here in the pursuit of capturing footages to use for the promotion of a black tour but unfortunately, as mentioned above, it is a haunted mansion and they go at night, what could possibly go right?

Only the first 15 minutes is entertaining. Tarun Teja, the director, must have taken his audience for fools, so he makes sure that we understand certain things by repeating what was told before at the start of the film during the entire course of the film through dialogues, characters and mark boards, which was annoying.

The back story should have been enjoyable like in Arundhati (2014) but is bland and often told through drawings. Apart from this, all the main characters are highly 2D like we don't even care about them whether they are dead or alive and it is a horror film, even if all of them are dead, I would not have mind. There was nothing at stake for the main lead to jump into actions.

Through out the whole film, I, along with all the audience who watched it in the theatre was like, meh, whatever.

Sleeping pills

[iamdeepujayakumar · 1/10 · 24 July 2023]

This movie is a sleeping pill imagine a horror movie makes you fall asleep ,yup. Wow what a boring movie. The only jumpscare is the first time when that lady with face covered with hair is shown, rest of the movie was basically taken from other horror movies . The background score was legit boring , i guess the director wanted audience not to for get movie name so they came up with ashvina ashvina, which sounded pretty much boring they power of love typically copying of bollywood movies is adapted to this movie , which makes the movie boring again. The worst part is the acting starting from the lead hero to everyone a big bad overacting actors, seriously vimala raman ,why would someone hire vimala raman she's practically the worst actress out there, mostly everyone in the movie acted so bad.

Khan Review- Again disappointed by positive reviews

[zkzuber · 3/10 · 25 July 2023]

Since I am fan of horror genre I was eager to watch this movie since it got positive reviews on its release but again like it happened in the past the reviews are totally wrong when you watch the movie. In horror movies music and location plays very important role like the actors if the casting is good. The movie scores in background music and location but actors lets not talk about it and why should they be blamed the real culprit is poor script and the director. The first fifteen minutes you feel the movie will be interesting but as it moves ahead what you get is boredom. Very bad attempt the movie pulls on with no sense you regret why you watched few scenes you find it comical too due to bad acting.three star only for the background music.

Not a Netflix material

[aunindarsaleque · 1/10 · 24 July 2023]

Let's talk about the good things that made me start watching the film.

1. Camera work.

2. Environment.

3. Initial story build up.

4. Some good scare tactics.

Well, after going 50 mins into the movie, I realised it's not worth it. Reasons:

1. Repetitive scare tactics.

2. Over dramatic actors/actresses.

3. Typical flaws of a horror film all over the movie.

4. Scenes that could have been cut short, felt like kept on dragging for no reason. It was like, they needed to drag the movie long by just doing this.

5. The script was terribly written. To me, this was the main reason for giving the movie such a low score.

Conclusion: The movie had huge potentials. But, it is not worth watching for anyone who doesn't like too much drama or has been a horror movie enthusiast for a long time. Maybe a remake with a different script could do justice to this movie.

No

[JPEI64 · 1/10 · 24 July 2023]

Comedy show. The scary part is I think the actors, the director and everyone involved in the making must have thought they're making an original and path breaking horror movie!!

Watch Daniel Radcliffe's The Woman in Black from where many scenes/ideas have been lifted.

Less said about the corny dialogues and the scattered script, the better. Its funny to see in some where the actors discreetly try to look at the others to see what the cue is, as they seems to have forgotten their roles/dialogues.

The first 10 minutes, though not original, was done pretty well but post that everything goes all over the place.

So e if the worst acting to match the deplorable movie. Watch The Woman in Black instead and do yourself a favour, which is still far better.