Bloody Ishq Review: Vikram Bhatt Sets a New Low for Indian Horror Cinema

Horror isn’t a strong suit for Indian filmmakers, with overly dramatic camera angles, cheap jump scares, and cringe writing dominating the genre, but Vikram Bhatt’s latest horror thriller, Bloody Ishq, somehow manages to stoop further. The film has all the trademarks of a poor horror flick, plus very shoddy CGI overused beyond reason. Bhatt has utilised visual effects not just to portray ghouls and possessed humans, but even for seemingly simple and routine shots. Bloody Ishq’s lackluster VFX ends up working against the film, breaking all possible tension and taking the thrills out of the horror thriller.

While I didn’t have high hopes from the movie to deliver the scares effectively, I did not expect it to be the intolerable visual nightmare that it turned out to be, especially since Bhatt has in the past delivered decent films from the horror genre.

Bloody Ishq’s pacing is torturous, with long stretches of boring exposition

Bloody Ishq starts with Avika Gor’s character drowning in the ocean, with her fate left unclear. In just the next scene, however, we find her in a hospital – all dolled up – with many months wiped from her memory. Soon, she is taken to an isolated, luxurious Scottish villa by a man (Vardhaan Puri) claiming to be her husband.

Within the first ten minutes, Gor’s Neha goes into a frenzied fit about why she can’t feel love for this man (umm… because you have amnesia and don’t remember anything about him?), casts suspicion on him, only to start trusting him immediately after spending the night with him. Okay, Mr. Bhatt, please stop churning out ridiculous ideas on how to gaslight women?

This is just the beginning of a very problematic storyline, filled with absurd dialogue and unhinged scenes. There is a sequence where a spirit possesses a ghost hunter, and her partner keeps filming, instead of helping her. We also see a husband trying to soothe his almost maniacal wife by suggesting they take the matter to the bedroom. To make matters worse, almost every character in the movie forcefully slips in English words within their conversations, seemingly to establish the movie as a modern-day tale, unlike Bhatt’s precious work that’s partial to the 1920s.

Even mundane scenes in the movie appear to be sloppily edited

We see Neha entertaining an outright creepy woman who keeps making mysterious appearances in her house, instead of getting the security tightened. One can’t help wondering if amnesia not just erased her memories, but common sense as well. Throughout the film’s 140-minute runtime, you’ll see her trusting every suspicious character she comes across.

The twisted version of the truth that she has accepted takes more turns than a merry-go-round every ten minutes. The only sane decision she makes is in the film’s last scene.

The film fails to deliver any genuine frights

In a hurry to establish the urgency and restlessness gripping the protagonist, Bhatt has compromised heavily with the tone, starting the film on a wrong note. What could have easily been slipped into the story later for a more natural flow, forms the thrust of the story from the beginning. Gor’s daily soap-style performance doesn’t help, either, with the film suffering from overacting.

Bhatt’s direction fails to establish tension, making the scares predictable and ineffective. The CGI is laughable, with poorly rendered ghosts and possessed humans. Bloody Ishq is hard to recommend for a casual watch, and perhaps harder to suggest to fans of the horror genre. The only things scary about Bloody Ishq are its torturous pace, pathetic CGI, and overly dramatic performances that become nightmares in their own right. Avoid Bloody Ishq at all costs; your sanity will thank you.

Rating: 1/5

Bloody Ishq is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar