The picture-perfect happy family, which consists of a doctor (Vinay Rai), his wife (Nayanthara), her father (Sathyaraj), and daughter Anna (Haniya), is having a lovely time across the silent, windy coastlines when the movie opens, the day before COVID-19 goes into lockdown. In the minutes that follow, we are taken back to the situations that remind us of our tragic lockdown days (during those times, our personal lives were truly a "horror" story). Within 15 minutes, a whole prologue that explicitly explains what the rest of the movie is about is shown to us (Revealing this could be a spoiler).
With a 98-minute running time, the first 30 minutes are notable, but after that, you could begin to notice some repetition in the situations. Anupam Kher's entrance has given the movie new life and energy. Yes, in terms of the premise, this is the first time we have encountered a horror story with a lockdown phase as the backdrop. Kudos in particular to director Ashwin Saravanan! However, most of the sequences have overt similarities to classic horror movies like "The Exorcist" and "The Conjuring." After a certain amount of time, the scenarios could feel cliché.
The creation of jump scares and the use of top-notch sound designers, however, provide the new members of the "Horror movie Buffs" club with a worthwhile learning experience. The casting of Ashwin is a major bonus. With their soliloquy-style performance in front of the camera, Nayanthara, Sathyaraj, and anupam kher demonstrate their superb abilities. sathyaraj is the best actor out of the three, followed by anupam kher and Nayanthara. Haniya's performance is so natural.
The lockdown season, which was formerly regarded as a first-of-its-kind presentation, challenged authors and directors to create novel and avant-garde narratives. It all began with Fahadh Faasil's C U, which was quickly followed by the most recent malayalam film, "Gold," with prithviraj and Nayanthara playing the main characters. a constrained format, a constrained budget, and constrained characters. 'Connect' is yet another entry in this genre, however it differs from the others. When it came to using a handheld camera to create a ghostly or eerie movie, decades ago stephen King's Blairwitch Project astounded us. We have a similar display today thanks to technological advances from years ago.
Overall, Connect is a story that might make you think of a lot of hollywood horror movies, but the superb sound and jump scares will mesmerise you in the theatre.Ratings : ⭐ ⭐ ⭐