Vikram Bhatt‘s obsession with the supernatural subjects is widely known and after making some really good movies  in this genre viz. Raaz, 1920, Haunted 3D etc., he seems to have run out of ideas. Proof? In the last few years, movies like Raaz 3D, Shaapit, Creature 3D, 1920 London Returns etc. written or directed by him did not offer any novelty. However, I did go to watch Raaz Rebooted with a lot of expectations. One, for the franchise and two, I thought after few setbacks Vikram would have upped the game to bring back the audience’s faith back in him. Alas, I was much disappointed. Anyway, more on that later. Let me start with my review.

Raaz Rebooted tells the story of Rehaan (Gaurav Arora) and Shaina (Kriti Kharbanda) who move back to Romania after Rehaan gets a lucrative job offer. The couple although married seem to have a lot going on between them after they shift to Romania. Although they stay under the same roof but they live in different rooms. Soon Rehaan gets busy with his work and Shaina seems to experience paranormal activities in the house, making her believe that the house is haunted. However, Rehaan dismisses her claims and chooses not to believe her which makes her feel more lonely and distant from him.

One day Shaina runs into her ex Aditya (Emraan Hashmi) who tells her that he is been getting nightmares about what is happening to her at her house. Although, she chooses to not believe him, but when Aditya explains each and every incident in detail which she is privy to, she believes him. Aditya also tells her that he knows the reason behind all these activities and Rehaan is keeping a dark secret with her. To find out if Aditya can help Shaina get rid of the evil spirit and what ‘Raaz’ Rehaan is hiding from her, you need to watch the movie.

Like pointed out by me in the start of the review, Vikram Bhatt disappoints the audience’s expectations by making a ‘khichdi’ of all the horror movie plots he has made in the past and also from others and tries to serve as a new movie. The story does not offer anything new. The sequences do not provide anything new, nor does the movie offer any chills or thrills popularly associated with this genre. All the more, one can easily predict how the movie is going to unfold and there is no surprise element. The scenes with the Raven, wall crawling and bent backward pose by the possessed woman or the possessed woman eating insects, eye in the wash basin etc are done to death. The only twist he has given is that no mantra just ‘Mangalsutra’ is the biggest ‘hathyar’ against evil spirits. If Vikram Bhatt had put it across that he is making a spoof of horror movies then I am sure this would have been a great show and tell example

Performances by the lead actors are again a mixed bag. Emraan brings on board his years of acting experience and therefore does not disappoint. Gaurav Arora is promising, although the first sequence of the movie when he and Kriti’s character are shown entering the house, his expression seems to be flat and wooden, however, if you excuse that one scene, you will see a potential powerhouse of a talent in the rest of the movie. Few scenes stand out like the confrontation scene with Emraan Hashmi and the emotional breakdown scene towards the end of the movie, Gaurav stands his ground. A great outing for Gaurav and I am sure in the coming days he will only get better. Kriti Kharbanda in her debut Hindi movie seems to be quite amateur and does a bad job, especially in emotional scenes and her possession scenes. If any other actor would have got an author backed role, she would have made a kill for it, alas, Kriti falls flat on her face. I would rather blame Vikram for not extracting the best out of her, the way he did with Bipasha in the first ‘Raaz’ movie.

The music by Jeet Ganguly and Sangeet-Siddharth Haldipur is quite nice but not as good as the first movie in the series (I am sorry for comparing both movies, as I feel, the first movie was the best in this series and I am glad even the producers Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt has realized that they do not have anything fresh to bring to table, therefore, announcing this to be the last in the series.)

The cinematography by Manoj Soni is superb, the way the snow laden landscapes of Romania are captured is breathtaking. Also, the set designer has done a great job bringing to life some really great pieces of Romanian furniture on screen.

On the whole, the movie is a spoof on horror movies, rather than being a horror fest. Moreover, I would like to give my rating only for the music and performances by Gaurav and Emraan. Sorry, this movie didn’t work for me at all.

My Verdict: 1/5