Horror flicks fail to make a kill

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript" src="Config?Configid=43376741"></script></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="77.7%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><a href="javascript:popUp(&quot1;photopop?msid=248228&type=0&quot1;)"> <img border="0" align="left" src="/cms.dll/thumb?height=143&width=143&photoID=248228" hspace="12"" /></a></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">Click to enlarge picture</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal">NEW DELHI: This year will probably go down in Bollywood as the year of the thriller.Among a surfeit of spooky (<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bhoot</span>), horror (<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Darna Mana Hai</span>) action (<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Qayamat, Zameen</span>), drama (<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Boom</span>) and mystery thrillers (<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Inteha, </span><a href="http://samay.indiatimes.com/" target="_blank">Samay</a>) was also the slasher. <br /><br />The sub-genre of horror, which emerged first in the seventies with classics like <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Halloween</span>, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Friday the 13th</span>, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Nightmare on Elm Street </span>is witnessing resurgence this year in Hollywood with <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Freddy Vs Jason </span>and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</span>, both box office frontrunners. <br /><br />"Over all, audiences show the same preferences," says director Pavan S Kaul, whose <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Sssshhh</span>", with shades of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Scream</span>, hit the theatres this Friday. <br /><br />The director says another reason for the slasher’s popularity is that its target audience, the teens, comprise a big chunk of the market. "The audience is getting younger by the day."<br /><br />Ask him about the likeness of the two and he replies candidly. "It’s the same genre, so there is bound to be similarity."<br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />Another slasher, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Kucch to Hai</span>, produced by Ekta Kapoor earlier this year, also had shades of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">I Know What You Did Last Summer </span>(1997). But none of the Indian derivatives seems to have worked the same magic as the original. <br /><br />While <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Kucch To Hai</span>, at best, did average business, it’s too early to predict the box office fate of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Sssshhhh</span>. The film has come out tops among the four releases this week, but trade analysts are not impressed. Industry pundit Indu Mirani says the thriller is likely to end up a turkey. <br /><br />Experts believe the Indian version still cannot do without the song and the romance, which takes away from the chill factor. Filmmakers realise too much gruesomeness, like in <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</span>, would not go down well either. <br /><br />"It only had three songs, and 10 murders without romance would have been a bit much," Kaul protests. <br /><br />Looks like Bollywood needs to invent another formula.</div> </div>