[Movie Review] 1920: Evil Returns - Fizzed Out!

Actor: Aftab Shivdasani, Tia Bajpai, Vidya Malvade, Sagar Saikia

Director: Bhushan Patel

Writer: Vikram Bhatt

What would it feel like to go through two hours of cinema which ultimately succumbs to the same shades of stereotypes that this industry has suffered for many years? What would it feel like to see a movie in which the effects become tacky and are ultimately unable to run a shiver up your spine? What would it feel like to see a horror movie that has taken its spooky sequences as unashamedly as possible from cult biggies like ‘The Exorcist’ which released back in 1973? If you have no clue about what all things I have mentioned above, well, go and watch 1920: Evil Returns.

Promise! That’s what was given to us in the first hour of the movie. A mystery was there to unveil itself and what should have been built for a gripping second half, wobbles on its knees and falls on ground. A renowned but unhappy poet Jaidev (Aftab Shivdasani), in search of muse, finds a lady (Tia Bajpai) by the shore of a lake. The female has lost her memory and thus a love affair spins between the two distressed loners. Alas! An evil spirit dooms the girl, and our hero decides to be the man of the hour. Wait! That is just not the end of the story. It also has a handful of love letters thrown around, blind love affairs, revenge served cold and confessions.

One must be wondering about the thing that clicked in favor of 1920: Evil Returns. The answer is its breathtaking cinematography which captured the country side of England in a lush and opulent manner. Right from the chilly mist to the horse carts and to the gorgeously shot mansion sequences; all of them hit correct notes as the movie came alive on the screen.

One must complement Chirantan Bhatt for giving a breath to the love story with sumptuous tracks that gave an air to the proceedings. An eerie background score also created a chilly ambience which supported the cause of the director, but, in some of the instances, it was way too loud and noisy to serve its purpose.

Performance wise, to say the least, Aftab Shivdasani ended up being an ever-so-clueless guy carrying a poker face all around the movie. I must say that he tried, but with not-so-good results. Tia Bajpai chipped in beautifully for the scenes in which she was possessed by the demon. Vidya Malvade, who played Jaidev’s sister, seemed uncertain of her act.


1920: Evil Returns churned its material in the wrong fashion. The spookiness and the chills gave its way for ho-hum scares and bookish techniques to induce chills, which took the fizz out of this foggy affair. Only recommended if you are one die-hard fan of horror-genre!

Rating: **

(First Published in www.udaipurtimes.com ; http://www.udaipurtimes.com/movie-review-1920-evil-returns-fizzed-out/ )