'Immortal' movie review: A decent fantasy horror thriller let down by shortcomings

CHENNAI: Immortal starts thousands of years ago with a tribal couple giving birth to a strange, mysterious creature. Cut to the present day, Mahi (GV Prakash Kumar), a young bachelor working in a printing press, is looking for an affordable place to stay. His search leads him to a luxury apartment occupied by a charming woman named Sindhu (Kayadu Lohar). What starts as a simple house-sharing setup slowly becomes scary as strange events begin to unfold around Sindhu. A major interval twist follows where Mahi gets trapped inside the apartment, turning the second half into a fight for survival against a dangerous threat.

The first 30 minutes quickly establish the main story, where GV Prakash is introduced as the boy-next-door and shows his shift from confusion to fear. Kayadu Lohar is a major highlight of the film, with a completely different look, looking stylish and delivering a good performance in both her friendly avatar and darker vampire side. The supporting actors, including TM Karthik, who plays one of the victims, do a good job. A few comedy scenes also bring some laughs.

On the negative side, the basic idea of this vampire fantasy mystery survival thriller is very small, so the story begins to feel stretched with unnecessary scenes. The first 45 minutes focus mostly on the romance between Mahi and Sindhu, which is flat, old-fashioned, and boring, until the actual horror story begins.

There are also a few logical flaws in the story. Right at the start, it makes no sense how Mahi gets to stay in a fancy luxury room for just five thousand rupees. Also, even though Sindhu controls everything, it is unclear why she never stops Mahi from talking to an earlier victim who had fallen into her trap. Instead, she just stands aside, watching events proceed until Mahi finds out the full truth. Because of this, the intrigue built up in the first half fades away in the second half.

Keeping almost all the scenes inside the same apartment makes the second half tedious to watch. Also, the fight scene between GV Prakash and the creature drags on needlessly. The final fight sequence is staged in a rushed manner, as if it was put together quickly just to end the movie, while the ending, too, although it has a surprise, fails to satisfy.

Technically, the visual effects by TOW VFX for the creature sequences are clean and realistic, while Sam CS’s background score complements key moments. Cinematographer Arun Radhakrishnan and editor Rajesh M keep the visuals sharp and the pacing steady. However, the loud music during character entrances feels grating; it would have been more scary if the audio was subtler.

Overall, Immortal is a somewhat decent watch as it attempts a new fantasy-horror concept inspired by shows like Wednesday. However, a good start, clean visual effects, and strong performances from the actors does not salvage its weak writing and slow second half.