Raaz Reboot
Pictured: Twitter

Rating: 1.5

A married couple shifts abroad and lives in a luxurious, but eerie, abode. Soon the house actually turns out to be haunted and the evil spirit starts attacking the lady. However, the logic-seeking husband does not believe her until she eventually gets possessed by the spirit and then the husband feels guilty.

When will Bollywood ever give up on the tried and tested formula when it comes to horror films. The story of "Raaz Reboot" is similar to almost every horror film that has hit theatres in the last few years.

Raaz: Reboot movie stills | Movie Poster

The horror movie, or rather the romantic horror movie, starring Emraan Hashmi, Kriti Kharbanda and Gaurav Arora has very little to horrify, or for that matter, make you call it a horror film.

"Raaz Reboot" features Kriti (Shaina) and Gaurav (Rehaan) as a married couple. The much in love duo's relationship starts souring due to difference of opinion and things turn nastier after they shift to Romania.

Although Kriti is happy to have shifted to a new place, her happiness soon turns into horror as she starts feeling the presence of an evil spirit in the house. She tells Gaurav about the spirit and tries to convince him to leave the lavish house, but he refuses to believe her words.

Meanwhile, Emraan Hashmi's character (Aditya), who happens to be Kriti's former boyfriend, makes a sudden entry. He tells Kriti that he knows everything and he is here to help her. He tries to convince her by pointing out all the things she has been facing inside the house and claims that he saw all those in his dreams. He also tells the girl that there is something that her husband has been hiding from her. Although she initially refuses to believe him due to Emraan's wicked past, she later joins her ex boyfriend to dig out the mystery.

However, the supernatural power takes control of Kriti's body and that is when Gaurav finally realises that she was telling the truth.

Directed by Vikram Bhatt, "Raaz Reboot" has nothing new to offer. Although it has been touted as a horror film, the only thing horrifying about it is the storyline, which hardly scares you. However, it does make you laugh at everything that is going on and wonder why you decided to watch the movie in the first place.

Hard to believe? Here's an instance. In one of the scenes, Gaurav chants some Hindu holy mantras in front of a possessed Kriti and the evil spirit shows its rage by repeatedly chanting the F-word, 16 times in one go. See what I am talking about?

Although there are a few scenes where the special effects, like Kriti floating in the air bending her body in weird ways, look good, similar visuals have already been used in a host of Hindi horror movies and much earlier in Hollywood films like "The Exorcist."

Like any other horror film, "Raaz Reboot" was granted an "A" certificate by the censor board, but it looks like it was put into adult genre for a couple of bedroom scenes and lip-locks, rather than the horror aspect.

After spending 127 minutes watching the film, the first thought that came to my mind was "When will Bollywood come up with a good horror movie that actually fits into the genre?" In a nutshell, "Raaz Reboot" is just another Hindi romantic horror movie sans the horror. My advice would be to avoid it.