1920 Horrors Of The Heart Review - A Wannabe Emotional Horror With Less Brain & No Body

After being an AD for many horror films made by Bhatts, Krishna Bhatt makes her own "1920 Horrors Of The Heart" with Avika Gor, Rahul Dev, Barkha Bisht, and Danish Pandor. The horror cinema has a long history, but no films can ever be as great as silent era gems from German Cinema, "The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari" (1920), "The Golem" (1920), "Nosferatu" (1921), and then came Hollywood classics like "Frankenstein" (1931), "Dracula" (1931), "The Mummy" (1932), "The Invisible Man" (1933), followed by "The Wolf Man" (1941), "Night of The Demon" (1957), "Village of the Damned" (1960), "The Innocents" (1961), and then came modern zombie horrors, "Evil Dead" till the latest sensations of "The Conjuring" universe. In the meantime, Bollywood had a gothic horror film, "Mahal" (1949), which set a landmark at the box office, followed by some other horrors of the 60s and 70s, and then came Ramsay Bros' era, which made money through 'B-grade' cinema by providing horror elements with male-driven sexual appeal. Bhatts broke the myth of mid box office earnings with "Raaz" in the early 2000s, which still remains the biggest hit (highest footfalls, not gross) of the horror genre in modern times. A low attempt like "1920" (2008) became a sleeper hit and then began a series, even though not all films have been that successful. 1920 Horrors Of The Heart comes with the ambition of reviving the franchise, but rather gets possessed by a horrible screenplay, low standard vision, and daily soap-standard filmmaking.The film begins with a romantic chat between Meghna (Avika Gor) and her boyfriend, Arjun (Danish Pandor). Before Meghna can tell her father about her relationship, she gets news of his suicide. Her father, Dheeraj (Randheer Rai), commits suicide and leaves a note for Meghna explaining how her mother, Radhika (Barkha Bisht), left them and married another guy. Burning in rage at avenging her father's death, Meghna sets out on a mission to destroy Radhika's happy family, but she is not aware of the dark and devilish powers she is carrying there. Meghna is convinced by a half-dead demon and the bad soul of her father that she has to do harm to Radhika's daughter, Aditi (Ketaki Kulkarni), to make her life hell. Unknowingly, Meghna lets the bad powers possess innocent Aditi, and the only thing that can bring her back to normal is Meghna herself. Will she be able to pull this one off?1920 Horrors Of The Heart is a wannabe emotional attempt at stereotypical horror drama that you have been seeing for years. The old classics I mentioned above had many great horror elements that had pathbreaking impacts. The frightening aspects were visually fancy at the time, while today's horror flicks do nothing but use loud music in Dolby Atmos to scare the fur out of you. Every single cliche is known, be it the heroine opening the door after hearing a whispering sound, doors closing and opening automatically, that too with a lot of noise, a drawer opening and the sound making you feel like a car crashes into something on the street, the possessed girl walking on the wall, running backwards, murmuring words in reverse, making bone-breaking yoga poses, vomiting blood or some insect, a lady's screams, or even a Black magic pandit. 1920 Horrors Of The Heart has all these things, and they are not enough to scare you.What it tries new is the emotional entanglement of the character, connected by love, blood, or kindness. That possessed teenage girl is my idea of "The Exorcist" (1973); those ear-bleeding noises have stopped scaring me after the first film of "The Conjuring" franchise; that devilish pujari and bad father are already used by Bhatts; all those Hindu God cliches are used by Ramsays; the haveli is used by recent films of OTT; the intimate scenes are used by Ramsays and Ekta Kapoor both; so what's unique there in 1920 Horrors Of The Heart? Nothing. The writing isn't up to the mark in any scale, be it characters, surroundings, backdrops, conflicts, fight backs or conclusion. If that's not enough, then there are poor VFX to irritate you even more. The train sequence, that ugly red-blooded hand, the girl's make-up after being possessed, the exorcism through devotional chants, the fight sequences, and even the sets of river, cave, and others—every single thing looks visually destitute. Where did the budget go? Or they didn't have it in the first place? How can storytelling go so bad with so many outdated and annoying theories? A powerful, half-dead monster can be killed by an ordinary human in the end. The heroine has to kiss the hero even in the most distressful situations, be it her mansion or a train's coach. Even 1920s silent horror classics were far more updated than this.Thankfully, it's a glueing narrative. You never feel bored in the two hours except for the last 10-15 minutes, when everything is ended forcefully without any proper attention. The more I say, the more I'll spoil it for you, so it's better if I stop without disclosing much about the script, screenplay, and technical aspects. Avika Gor is strictly average as a 1920-heroine and a huge debacle in emotional breakdown moments. Were they shot badly, or did she act badly? I'm not sure. Maybe it's both. Barkha Bisht fares okay, while Rahul Dev is wasted with melodramatic scenes in a surprisingly well-written role. Danish Pandor and Rajdheer Rai are both disasters. Ketaki Kulkarni looked too small for a 16-year-old girl but somehow survived with her dialogues. Naveen Singh, Amit Behl, and Avtar Gill were barely noticeable.The technical aspects of 1920 Horrors Of The Heart will again remind you of carelessness and how low-budget it is. The sound effects are the only saving grace, because that's just what today's filmmakers use for jump scares. Music sounds decent but is forced into the narrative just to add that feel and a couple of intimate scenes between the hero and heroine. Krishna Bhatt's direction doesn't give 1920 Horrors Of The Heart any chance to survive even as an average flick. It was almost on that average level until midway, but things really got scattered and childish in the second half, especially the conclusion. Modern horror movies are struggling to crack the code, and this one lands way behind the basic algorithm. Overall, this new 1920 film tries too hard but fails in almost every aspect. Watch it if you love and care for old-fashioned horror cinema with daily soap-type execution.