Bala Saravanan has done justice to the emotional character of the distressed person who struggles to explain his situation to someone who does not understand the tragedy, the fear of running away from the supernatural...

Cinematographer Parthiban has carefully crafted the grandeur of the dense forest of Kollimalai and the dark lighting of the story. He has recorded supernatural scenes in terrifyingly compelling frames. Cinematographer Ignatius Ashwin has enhanced it with tense scenes. Kudos to the film crew for not using too much graphics for ghost films but for making it scary in makeup and cinematography...

Music director Rajesh Murugesan, realizing the need for background music in horror films, has given it a scare. Art director Kumar Gangappan's works are special, with witch's house in the forest, witchcraft objects and scary dolls. The team has done all the technical work required for a horror film. This attempt to do justice to the horror genre on a low budget is noteworthy...

The way the characters are revealed in some scenes to get into the story as ghosts, devils, supernatural makes you travel with the story. They have tried to pour new dough on the old dough like the templates of the go-go horror films like the ghost suddenly appearing in front of you, scaring through the soundtrack, the same person appearing in two places. It has worked here and there. But "horror is all right... where is the plot point?" As we have to search...

While the flashback that replaces it doesn't make much of an impact, the second half is filled with horror elements like unexpected movements, unseen forces and strange noises. Only the places where 'Pechi' appears here and there are interesting. The main problem with the film is that none of the characters except Bala Saravanan's character engages us emotionally! Strong backstories, narratives Missing Boss!

Especially till then, the screenplay that raises the horror meter and adds interest, tells a story with a twist as a tag diversion in the climax is all going to go! Bala Saravanan, who lives in the same town, is not familiar with that 'face of the woman who caused the turn'?...

With great technology, a slightly interesting screenplay before the climax, this 'Bachy', superficially written characters, and illogical twist turns it into another ghost film...

Except actor Bala's acting and that of the main actor and excellent cinematography with superb shots nothing else holds the movie. The ghost itself is not scary enough even for a child. Pechi in tamil means to talk and the movie is just people talking. The flashback part is okaish but not good enough. The one playing the character of the photographer gives us some comic effect and is a natural for his role. But actress Gayathri's character just irritates you too the core. Overall you can watch it for bala's acting and the wonderful cinematography which is the highlight of the movie. The ghost itself is weak and jump scares are less than needed. The movie moves at a very slow pace. The ending though expected by me is an unexpected one. The ghost just comes and stands at a distance hoping to scare you for doesn't even make you flinch a bit. It's more like jurassic park than a conjuring type of a movie.

TL;DR - I cannot stress how much I do not enjoy Indian horror movies. It is very rare that I watch a trailer and I am not put off by the forced romance between the "Lead's", or forced songs (sadly called item numbers) which usually acts as a complimentary to the film and as it's promotional material or the forced teenager level humor and jokes coming out of grown adult's in these films.

It has been a while since a Mainstream Horror film from any part of the Indian film industry has made me not recoil and cringe in my seat while watching it, except for the movie Tumbbad.

The excellence of Tumbbad and how highly I regard that movie and use it as a standard to measure Indian Horror Filmmaking is a topic for a different day, since we are talking about Pechi today.

Pechi is not quite at the level of Tumbbad, but nevertheless better than a lot of Indian Horror that is released from the industry these days about a group of friends looking for an adventurous weekend through a forest trek, run into an unexpectedly deadly circumstance.

The Good

The Cinematography is spectacular, rivaling a high budget mainstream movie and surpassing it with flying colours.

At the beginning of the film there is a sort of disclaimer that says, 'Inspired by all the Horror Movies Ever Made Before This One' and I would say that the inspiration was taken from all the right places.

The opening shots with what I would think is probably footage shot by Drone cam, gave me vibes of the opening shots of Kubrick's The Shinning, one of my personal favourites from the classics, as well as The Ritual (2017) whcih has a similar plot based in Norse Folklore.

Both the above mentioned film's have one major theme in common, the location itself is a character in the film that adds to the eerie atmosphere and tone that Pechi expertly builds.

After watching this movie I jokingly stated to a friend that if I had the funds right now my next weekend trip would be to wherever this film was shot as great editing and color grading gives the film a constant feel of being in an undisturbed piece of the world.

A place where I would like to run to for some quiet decompression time, I say jokingly but I now realize I was fully serious when I said that.

As a horror experience, one of the most important parts of said experience is the sound design, this when done correctly must grip you in a strong enough embrace and still slowly build up the tension, steadily tune up the unease and play on the part of the brain that invokes the flight response but keep the pace steady so as not to have a viewer stop watching by cranking the tension up to 11 immediately.

Pechi's gradual build is near flawless through sound design, and how small odd things and turning a blind eye to basic warnings by the accompaniying forest guide and slowly cranking the dial till when stuff starts actually playing tricks on our group of trekkers who are just trying to have a fun weekend.

The actors are also doing a good job though a little hampered by some really bi-polar style dialogue writing, although supposedly "Friends" (not longtime friends) saying stuff and riffing on each other by being weirdly antagonistic and mean spirited comes off as a little forced just to build tension.

But the actors are good enough that they just barely are able to keep their characters from venturing into 'You deserve to be Monster/Ghost fodder' territory, just barely I might add, some might find them a little insufferable.

However the climax of the movie is bookended by a good twist, nothing groundbreaking but an unexpected twist that refreshingly sort of provides an explanation as to why this group of friends and their written dialogues came off as more than a little 'WTF are they doing/saying !?' type things.

The Bad

As mentioned before, the one thing that really dragged the experience for me was the dialogue writing, though still leagues better than any mainstream written stuff, it still very nearly kept venturing into insufferable territory.

So much so that I suspect there might be a chunk of viewers that might say 'They are Idiots' and stop watching or go into 'She/he are so annoying I want to see them get taken out by the ghost/monster' and actively root against them.

However, by the time I ended the movie a tried and tested yet completely unexpected by me, twist; to the film's end put a lot of the frankly A-hole "I know better than you' behaviour and annoying weirdly mean spirited dialogue writing into a different context, which is why I rate the film as high as I did.

This is a movie which on my re-watch I will be looking at the character's and their interactions in a completely different way.

I will add this part in the negative section, since I know there would be people who would not like to watch a movie that leaves itself open for a sequel, as this one certainly does end with the last 10 to 15 seconds hinting at a possible Part 2.

However let me assure you that the story and characters we start out with has a definite conclusion and only then, does it leave the door open.

If in the case that we never get a follow up it is a complete movie on it's own and does not rely on any future possible opportunity to complete This film's narrative.

Conclusion

I take an opportunity again to praise Tumbbad for people who have not seen it and request that you watch that movie for an original and unique Indian Horror Experience and measure Pechi to it, with the former as a standard for me and to say that Pechi does a great job with what it has.

It is not trying to re-onvent the wheel as it very clearly states in it's opening disclaimer, they are not under they impression that they are doing something new and innovative, but are providing the best 'Wheel' they can provide using inspiration from their forerunners to provide a great and satisfying horror experience.

Bonus points for there being no songs/item numbers shoved in the middle to break immersion and take you out of the film. And I will add once again that the movie ends with a proper conclusion to this story but with a teaser to a sequel which I hope will get green lit.

I will be waiting to see what else this production team can deliver after this entertaining experience.