 I'm thinking about one of the most important stories I've read in a long time today. Oh yeah, what would that be? I mean the level of importance is extraordinary. What did Jada Pinkett say now? Way more important. I mean I know that's hard to believe that it's hard to believe but I can't believe this happened. The Wax Museum in Paris they got Dwayne Johnson's skin color wrong and of all the things that are happening in the world Corbin of all the things happening in the world. No one's talking about that. No one's talking about Dwayne Johnson's skin color. Hey welcome back Corbin. You can follow us on Instagram Twitter for our GC content. Thank you for watching the Patreon follow us so to count subscribe like button. All I want to know is where's the Wax Johnson? Way too much. That was that was that was theater right there kids. Do you think they make the penis when they do the Wax Johnson? That's like Ken. That's like Ken, you know. Let us know if you know down below. Hey we're doing a movie. And welcome back to spooky month. It's spooky time. Spooky spooky. And on top of that we're doing another 2022 Malayalam film that we did not see in 2022 called we were doing a lot of time travel this year. We are. Yeah. Kumari the horror thriller directed by Nirmal Sadev. Nirmal Sadev. Yes. Written by. Oh sorry. That's okay. I wanted to see oh the story is Nirmal and it was co-written with Fasal Hameed. And it's starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, Ashwarya Lakshmi, Shain Tom Chakal. Yes. Also known as Fafa Light. Yeah that's what you have every single time. Every time you see him it's Fafa Light. Yep. Anyways obviously this came out last year so if you haven't watched it please go watch it's on pulling up my notes. It's on Netflix so you can go check it out. It is on there and obviously the reason we're watching it right now is because it for us I'm wanting to do it too once again as many spooky films as I can. Indeed. We like that kind of stuff so break your initial thoughts of Kumari. My initial thoughts are a mixed bag for me. There's things about it I want to highlight that I thought were excellent and there's some things about it that were that fell really flat for me predominantly some things in the story that just didn't engage me so the ultimate thing for me is I I didn't like it that much there was a lot about it that I did like but that wasn't enough to carry me through for the totality of the film for it to be something where I would say yes I liked it and I recommend it. Well again there are some things in there that I especially some technical things and I thought the performance of our titular lead she she she did Ashwarya. Yeah I thought she did it a very good job but the ultimate takeaway for me is it wasn't enough for me to be a full endorsement and say I liked it. No I'd say I liked it I do have issues with it though so it would be more of a mixed bag for me as well. But the things I liked I really like. I think we'll have some similar stuff in terms of like cinematography and other stuff like that obviously. I thought it was a really similar in terms of I think this genre of horror fits India very well because they have so much for lack of a better word folklore of demigods. We've seen it in a lot of films that they've done really well Kuntara, Tombad. We've seen it like done a lot and it fits the genre quite well and it's no shock that I mean I've said it many times that I think the industry that's gonna start exploring horror and really start perfecting it not that it's a perfection at all but is the Malayalam industry and I feel like they are starting to explore quite a bit. I mean just as past year we had the one with Subhan, Boom Plakaro, the one before with the guy from Kumbhalanji Nights, this one. And I would I would rather see a film like this that is a very in my opinion a very good attempt at trying to be a horror film when it's not made very much that has some flaws then to not attempt it at all because it's only gonna make the genre and the storytelling not much better with more trial and error and more things attempted. Yeah. So let's talk about obviously our lead here. Yeah, Ashwarya Lakshmi. Ashwarya Lakshmi, what do you think about her? Well I she's just a very we saw that in PS1 and 2 yes and she's just she's a solid actress she's right from the very beginning that first musical number you're engaged with her you can care about her immediately she's very believable I feel like she's definitely an actress that we're whatever you put her in she's gonna do about as good a job with whatever you give her as you could hope for I she for me by far and the acting aspect of it is the one that I enjoyed watching the most what about you? I liked her a lot as well I thought she did a very good job she obviously had the most I don't know if she had the most to work with actually probably Shine Tom yeah he had a lot to work with he was a his character was very intricate obviously but she was the one that was obviously more the central character the stuff was happening to her yeah so like in terms of like you have to look scared a lot you have to but also I don't feel like she was just a damsel in distress not at all a lot of horrors as well yeah not at all she was a very strong she brought a lot of emotion from the beginning believable emotion yeah I liked it a lot yeah Shine Tom Chaka Chaka I always enjoy he definitely had the the character in this that had a ton going on in terms of the story like what the what they gave him whether it was fully fully explained all of his character I don't know but I enjoyed his performance as well he he gave it a lot of some corkiness to it some some intricacies that I that I enjoy some maybe sometimes it didn't always work but I I always applaud the attempt yeah thought of the way I I always enjoy his performances he's like I said he's far far light for me not only in his looks I think he's a very good actor we've seen it many times yeah we have we've seen a lot he's done a lot I the same thing there were there were points of of me sensing a choice was made for the choice itself not really as a justification for something coming from an organic place of the moment and the why which is very very common and it just didn't it didn't the believability factory at sometimes kind of fell back for me because I felt there was a choice made that was more performative than a choice being made that was really grounded in something in being but they were far and few between for the most part like most things we see him in he was yeah he was pretty good yeah yeah and Prithik Raj obviously he had a smaller role but I thought he did well as well the some of the big shout outs of this that I think will definitely agree upon are the cinematography beautiful just like in it's very similar in terms of tone in terms of color palette of a cantara yep or a tombad yeah and even even some of the beautiful shots we got in the night shots of jelly katu yes was similar very similar pallets but equally just as beautiful really pretty really pretty so in terms of like you could watch this with the sound off and be like Joe gorgeous that's a freaking gorgeous yeah to the cinematographer yeah I'm Joseph Abraham Joseph that that for me was the predominant carry through at the points where I was wondering why is that going on and that doesn't seem congruent and it even seems kind of conflicting and I wasn't caring which will get into that when we talk about story yeah the thing that held me through predominantly was the beauty of the cinematography that just each frame was just a really really pretty shot that you could I agree you could just you could turn this the sound off and just appreciate each standalone scene for how good the cinematography was seems like a theme with this genre in India in terms of the folklore genre yeah because they got a they got a kind of create a setting an eerie kind of forests or a great place for the lots of red yep which is a very engaging color not as not as vibrant I think as a bull bull that was on a different level that's a whole other level how vibrant they may yeah that's a whole other level this is more like gothic and but I think that was probably intentional it wouldn't surprise me if the combination of cinematography and production design talked about we want to convey in the visual imagery the differentiation between these two monsters one of them is of the mountains one of them is of the underworld and so we want things to be a combination of forest and sky and dirt and smoke yeah I thought they did a very good job at that so what were some of your biggest issues that you said you have well another real positive for me I love a big shout out to me was makeup oh yeah these these creatures at many points were Guillermo level for me yeah I thought the the man who's been there for 100 in the attic yeah when he showed up like holy shit yeah one just the makeup and VFX alone we're beautiful man we're gorgeous beautiful some of the best we've seen in the world shout out to the to the VFX and and makeup department great on great answers they were they're really phenomenal yeah so that's that's all the heavy side of the stuff that had the positives the larger thing and this is admittedly probably partially or if not for the most due to the fact that we have we don't know this folklore we don't know the story we don't know this setting and if it is derived from something that would be known or at least more familiar with folks in India especially in this region of India I think they would grab a lot more from it there were there were a ton of things for me where the the story itself became kind of all over the place for me and there were things that were part of the storyline that I questioned as to well then why don't you just do that one of them for example was it seemed to be the the the two main monsters of Chathun and Gary Devon Gary Devon was the one that wanted child sacrifice and Chathun was the one that liked kids I didn't I didn't see a clear line as to why why are we even giving any attention to the one that wants child sacrifice it seems to me that as long as you appease the one who likes the kids there isn't going to be a problem in the place and then when they have a final battle why do these supernatural creatures have to devolve to just natural means with a fist fight that that was one of many questions I had watching the story and I don't I'm interested in answers to some of the other questions that I had throughout it but for the most part that was one of the bigger questions for me as well as I never got so engaged with the story and the characters that I had an investment in for example the fight with her brother and shines character when they had that fight and he spoiler alert we're right yeah when he when he kills him it didn't matter to me that her brother died at all I was I had no dog in the eye the whole time for me all that mattered to me was please don't hurt any kids and I don't hurt her but I didn't have an investment in any of the characters beyond that because the story kept kind of going all over the place but things like take this and bury it in the dirt and it did that come back the thing that she buried in the dirt that the lady in the forest told her to go bury well she said never never dig it up and it was there to protect her and get my guess is that was part of the folklore of whatever this is yeah and there were just a lot of things like that in regard to this has to happen during the lunar eclipse why just because okay I'll just accept that at face value why why did the guy in the attic stay alive for 12 generations other than it was penalty for his sins I didn't I didn't there's so many things that I didn't understand why does that one I'm excited why it's just that's just him being cursed and now he has to suffer for eternity basically yeah but okay then why does he have to stay in the attic I mean why why would you keep that guy in your attic he's family that's basically okay okay they like family okay yeah there's just a bunch of stuff like that that for me just I didn't didn't have a payoff for me okay yeah yeah no I though most of those I mean there were some stuff that I that in terms of I just assume it's part of the folklore that I don't understand but also that some of that stuff happens in horror films all the time like with anything with witches or so it has to happen during the full moon or blah blah blah blah that's that's pretty common in terms of like when stuff has to happen for what reasons I don't usually care I'm like okay that's that's what you say but I understand my biggest issues were actually I just I think it was too long I would have much preferred to be an hour and a half hour 45 I could have easily done that I didn't even though the songs are very beautiful I actually don't think this kind of film needed the songs I agree there was actually quite a few songs that I was like I feel like this is actually almost hindering your your even though they're very pretty they're like like the engagement of this creepy style of film and once again it's India so right that's what I'm like justification I think they had is like we need these songs promotion people yeah it's been around in Indian cinema so long it doesn't do anything to suspension disbelief for them yeah but I am and it wasn't really suspensionally for me in this one it was just that I think you could have made it even more snappy in terms of a film and keep people more engaged in this creep because I don't think people are there in this style of film for the song I think people have come to this style yeah no for the creepiness and the folklore elements and there were a lot of dovers from my breakfast there were lots of elements even though like I did I care for the brother no bless you sorry that happened right but I don't know anybody really I think the only one you're supposed to care for is the girl I don't actually think there's anybody else you supposed to care for in this film because nobody else is really good except for the girl that kills herself and that was a really snappy that I right after the thing I think there's anybody else you're supposed to out kids obviously well the kids obviously and I do think there should have been I mean it seems when her husband tells her the story about his childhood and the fact that so many people there I mean was he mentally ill was he not mentally ill there comes a point where she sees a level of empathetic concern for him that I think if they had expanded upon that that would have been really great to have seen him be somebody that you do care about and make that climactic moment when she has to kill him really tragic because it could have been so much different if certain circumstances hadn't happened to this poor guy versus him being painted far more to me as just the antagonist in the film well I think because they kept giving him medicine to suppress whatever he had going on yeah off his hand right in that kind of stuff so I'm wondering if it was like almost a curse right element as well they didn't that was one of the elements that I wish they would have explained more exactly what was going on with him yeah I think it was something like that but yeah I agree with that element of it in terms of I would have liked that that part of it explained a little better if it was please explain it to me even though I did enjoy I enjoyed the the creature elements in term like we've talked about it already in terms of just their style but the fact that and we've seen it mostly in don't bad in terms of that that whole brilliant sequence at the I think there was some in the beginning of don't bad and from what I'm remembering obviously the end sequence in all over the yeah when they're all over the wall yeah we see a little bit there but this is obviously a little bit different than that as well these are like especially the child sacrifice one it reminded me so much of something in Pan's labyrinth or yeah creepy part when he sacrificed his son I really enjoyed that element of it in terms of just how creepy this monster was I'm like cool make these creepy kind you don't see it a lot in Indian cinema and I thought since the VFX team did such a phenomenal job on the design of them yeah the makeup of great creatures was great I I'm assuming it was a real person inside that a hundred-year-old couple hundred year-old man the original Lord yeah or was it animatronic I'm assuming for cost reasons it was a man in they just in makeup in makeup either way very good job fantastic job so those I wouldn't say it wasn't engaging because I was engaged in this film I just there were in times that I think it lagged a little bit and I think you could have eliminated that just from eliminating because there was actually a decent amount of songs in this which I wasn't expecting for this and the score for the most part was quite nice yes I think you could have made it snappier agree I think you could have explained stuff maybe it maybe we're just dumb and not you Kerala people that know about this particular folklore please obviously tell us if they explained everything correctly and we're just dumb and we didn't catch it my specific thing that it was it was a shine taco shine Tom's character of I would have liked to a little more clarity on exactly what was going on because there were a few different maybe that's the thing they didn't want to fully explain it but I feel like he had so much going on I needed a little more explanation of okay is it this is it is it a curse is it just mentally ill is it what is it even even if that hadn't been explained which I agree I would have liked that yeah I go back to what I had said a little bit ago in regard to the fact of I really wish we had had it would have been really powerful in the storytelling to have made him somebody who was misunderstood and treated so badly because of superstition and when she comes to the place she realizes at first when she's told you don't want to be married to this guy that she realizes almost in the same aspect of say quasi-modo of this man is so misunderstood all he needs is love yeah that would have for him to not actually get that fulfillment and she realized that the only way she can save her child is for him to die I would have loved that yeah there that would have obviously been obviously different angle on it but there was so much more going on that he clearly wasn't just a misunderstood character in this one obviously no because he had sinisterness behind him he had evil so that's why what gave me the like the vibes of is he possessed by one of these demigods is he just this evil evil person which I don't think so I there was I think there was some type of either possession or curse or yeah there was so much on with him because he literally did awful things one element of the the brother fight when he destroyed his head after he was already dead I love that part that made me go like that so that was that was nice they also did very good on the VFX with the fingers cut off yes that was seamlessly perfect like that was a really really really really creepy filmed scene because obviously it's always fun when you go into a dark room and he pan over and there's a guy just hunched over doing yeah yeah so imagery wise it was really cool and then you figure out that he chopped off his fingers all that was extreme so there's a lot a lot of good elements in terms of I enjoyed I obviously I know you didn't enjoy it as much but there was a lot of elements that I that I thought they did very well I just wish some things were done better maybe a little more snappy explanation yeah I do agree and for me the the primary thing of whether I liked a movie or didn't like a movie when it's on that cusp is I I measure I measure the aspects of would I watch it again did I enjoy it while watching it and this again this had some of the sentence so the main thing is what I watch it again and what I recommend it to other people and I wouldn't watch it again and my only recommendation would be the points we we pointed out of yeah if you want to see the great cinematography something that's very original sure but I I think it's a crapshoot as to whether or not you're gonna leave it having thought wow I really enjoyed myself yeah yeah I would watch it again but it's still not my I would watch Contara and tombad over this for sure without question yeah absolutely so but anyways let us know what you thought about this film did you like it didn't you like it why we're stupid why we're stupid explain some of the stuff obviously that we had questions to what should be the next Malialum film that we should watch horror specifically since obviously I know most of you here going to be Malialis or Carolites or and I think both of those are right correct us we're probably wrong and any other spooky films that we should watch to finish out spooky month let us know down below