Description- Unimaginative recreation of a predictable horror storyline with drab humor leaves the audience spiritless
Director: Vivy Kathiresan
Written by: Vivy Kathiresan
Produced by: Krishna Chaitanya
Main Cast: Ramana, Varsha Bollamma, Praveen Prem, Sanjeev, Chethan Gandarva, Aishwarya Gowda
IMDb rating: 3.1/10
The News Minute: 1/5
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
Release date: 26 November 2020 (India)
The recent Kannada horror movie released on Amazon Prime Video called “Mane number 13”. It was released on the OTT platform after a delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was also released in Tamil by the name “13aam Number Veedu”.
It is a tale of five IT professionals who venture into a haunted house two years after an incident that is the key reason for the mayhem. The story goes on to learn if they will be able to save their life from the strange forces present in the house?
The storyline feels familiar and quite similar to that of the Hollywood film “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. The makers of the film have tried to add some twists to differentiate the experience but sadly they are as predictable as the story itself and make the overall experience dull.
Keep reading the following article to know the details of the Mane Number 13 Movie Review.
High Expectations from the Makers
In 2013, the makers of the movie 6-5=2 revolutionized the way horror films were made in the Kannada film industry. The makers again came up with Karvva in 2016 which also did well. So, when the makers announced their next horror creation – Mane Number 13 – the audience was genuinely looking forward to some unique fright fest. But as it turned out, it was just a humdrum experience.
The storyline is very unimaginative and conventional with no great twists. The fatuity becomes quite evident with the first few minutes into the trivia of the mess. It is packed with daunting humor like throwing a banana peel on someone’s head. The only thing that stands out is the cinematography. While the background score is unreasonably loud and does not serve the purpose. The production design and editing are also too generic and do not offer anything exciting.
The movie has been shot as a bilingual of Kannada and Tamil. And has some scenes that occur to be dubbed from what appears to have been shot for Tamil version. And the lip sync in such scenes is a little jarring and gives a displeasing effect. Although, the makers claim to have shot separate scenes for both the languages and not dub anything.
Performance of the star cast
The five protagonists of the movie (three men and two women) are grown-up IT professionals, seem to be inseparable as they are together at all times. They work together, travel together, party together and of course, stay together. They find themselves stuck in a shady haunted house where they have recently shifted.
When it comes to acting, Ramana has done a decent job and stands out because of his dramatic role. The rest of the characters are like supporting roles to him and act accordingly. Varsha Bollamma, who is also a talented actress, has been underutilized. The two females can only be seen staring at the camera with wide eyes to convince that what is happening is indeed very terrifying.
The characters are poorly written and they act surprised by even the most obvious things that can be seen forthcoming right in front of them. They can be seen making no genuine effort to get out of the house as they start experiencing paranormal activities. The cast can be seen acting clownish one moment and frightened to death in the next. They not only interfere in each other pathways but also knock off the possibilities of any spooky affair.
While one can’t blame the actors when the characters are written and directed in a lousy manner. There are sequences which instead of creating a chill feel more laughable, justifying the pitiable Mane Number 13 Movie Review.
Also read: Scam 1992: Harshad Mehta Story Review
Poor Narrative and Direction
The directorial debut of Vivy Kathiresan is full of confusing elements and has an illogical plot development. Story writing is so insipid and effortless that it is far from creating any suspense. Traditional elements from all the familiar horror movies are incorporated into this one. With only jump scare moments to offer in the name of horror, it is in no doubt going to dishearten the genre lovers.
The flashback scenes are repetitive. Editing could have been done a lot better. Songs are irrelevant to the script and look like they have been added only for the sake of increasing the movie length. Characters are not even introduced properly. It does not take an expert to point out such loopholes in the movie.
Mane Number 13 Movie Review is poor because it not only suffers from poor writing but also has some technical glitches. The incident that leads to the series of further horrific events is poorly staged. The screenplay of the movie is as confusing as it gets. The tone of the film keeps swinging between that of a horror film, a horror-comedy, and a thriller.
The movie bombards the audience with jump scare moments in the hope to get qualified for a horror-thriller experience. Unfortunately, these moments do no good to the movie and none of them stand out. Only a few things that bring back the concentration of the dreary audience are the spooky camera angles, few continuous long shots, and unnecessary loud sound effects.
Lack of efforts and poor presentation
A haunted house, a ticking clock, a scary doll, and other such props are quite familiar to the audience. No such new element has been added to give a jolt to the jaded audience. And although the movie has a run time of around 100 minutes, it feels like a never-ending saga.
It is a general notion that one needs to watch horror movies without searching for any logic to enjoy it to its fullest. But with the given narrative, one needs to watch the movie with a sense of complete disbelief to witness some of the clear cut consequences which the characters are unable to see coming through.
Even though the story is substandard, the structure is worse. The prelude leaves nothing for the imagination and out goes the window any chances of suspense. As the story progresses, the audience is even more confused and unable to decide if the connotation “horror” is right for the movie. The genre keeps swinging with the awful taste of comedy to series of jump scares.
Most of the Mane Number 13 Movie Review claims it to be pointless because of its poor writing and amateur direction. Lack of efforts are felt throughout the movie in every aspect be it writing, direction, dialogues, music, etc.
Also read: 15 Best TV Shows Of 2020 Which Added A Little Cheer To Lockdown
Lacks Clear vision
There are scenes where one might assume that something dreadful might happen. But as it turns out, swings the story into a completely different angle. Like, there is a sequence where the audience might assume that escalating distress might play with the minds of the characters. But to their disappointment, turns out to be a prank pulled by the four guys. Such attempts at humor go vain leaving the audience clueless.
The tropes are picked up from the endless list of conventional horror films. And makeshift of whatever is available is served in the platter with a dash of the loud background score. Desperate attempts of the cameraman to create the ambiance of the haunted house with a series of dimly lit shots and focus on subjects is palpable. But is waste, because the random string of events and unnecessary flashbacks set back the track of the movie again.
The twists that are included throughout the movie are unimaginative and uninspired. And only tangle the movie further without giving it any lucid direction and structure, let alone arising any excitement or fear. The twist at the end of the movie is as futile as the rest of the efforts. It only makes the whole movie look even more absurd.
Overall Mane Number 13 Movie Review
The highlight of the Mane Number 13 Movie Review is that it has nothing new to offer in terms of storyline. And it is unable to keep the audience glued to their seats even for its short duration of 100 minutes. What makes the movie Mane Number 13 downright silly and a waste of time is the lack of proper direction and lazy writing. The major cause of disappointment is that it comes from the makers who have excelled in the genre and raised the bar for horror movies in the Kannada film industry.
This movie will remind you of some teenage horror films from the 90s with the characters written in the same mediocre way. You can skip the movie without missing a beat if you are not into old-fashioned frights and looking for a fresh scheme.