I didn't know what to expect when I saw this on its day of release (in UK with English subtitles) with limited info out there, but I was in the mood for something a little light hearted and I like horror so this looked the part judging from the trailers.

I wasn't disappointed with lots of chuckles, some very ropey effects in places which didn't matter, chases, a myriad of characters we got to know in the first half and then into the haunted house for the second half of the film.

Strangely the trailers seem to ignore the first half of the film outside the haunted house which left me a bit confused but eventually we got to the creepy house.

In summary in the first half of the film there's a wedding that gets interrupted and we get to know several groups of people, some of whom plan to steal a load of money. This sets up themes around love, revenge, kidnap and greed and there's a lot of hilarity. It reminded me of old slapstick comedies with the loot passing from one group to another with various chases.

Eventually the various groups converge on the old haunted house and find themselves being forced to play 'Win or Run' to escape with their lives (and win the money) which is what the trailers focussed on, with more peril and hilarity.

Good escapist fun.

DD Returns, unlike its previous ventures, has an interesting screenplay. You have these good for nothing characters meeting at a certain point where the story unfolds. But for them to meet, it takes 40 minutes. In other words, the first forty minutes of the film was snooze fest. Editor N. B. Srikanth could have used his skills here or ofRo (music director) could have saved us with his talent.

Unfortunately both failed us. OfRo's skills shine in background score but is a pain factor in musical numbers. Srikanth's edit suffers from continuity errors - you have no idea how certain characters end up in certain places and you guess that either there is a whole in the screenplay or in the editing. Most probably the latter.

I would not like to rant any further. After the first forty minutes, the story becomes interesting. The gamification of haunting adds spice to the comedy and soon it is like watching a comedic video gameplay with a backstory.

The positive factors about DD returns are simple logic, segmented screenplay and mild comedy. They did not try too hard. They did not jump too far. Everything is alright, average, mediocre.

Vetrrich Chelvan Zee5 221023.