Ghoul Series Review: NetFlix's First Indian Horror Movie Is A Scary Good Time

This NetFlix original is produced in conjunction with Blumhouse Productions (who brought us "Paranormal Activity" "Insidious", "Hush", "Ouija: Origin Of Evil" and "Get Out" to name a few), Phantom Films and Ivanhoe Pictures. 

Nida Rahim (Radhika Apte) is a newbie interrogator at a secret military facility (Meghdoot 31). It's a dirty, nasty business. A new captive named Ali Saeed is brought in for questioning. The interrogators will use any means necessary to extract intel. Their so called "moral reconditioning process" actually means torturing prisoners until they're dead (but Nida doesnt know that yet).  

Nida is 100% pro government. She even turned her father in for having anti government views. Harsh! 

I initially watched the movie thinking it would depict mysterious zombie outbreak in which everyone had to run for their lives. "Ghoul" has a different spin on the familiar genre. "Ghoul" is actually the English spelling of "Ghul". It is a demon (or "jinn") from early Arabic folklore. The creature can be summoned by a person who cuts themselves, draws a special symbol with the blood and recites "Reveal their guilt, eat their flesh".  

The demon then attacks those that have guilt over their past deeds. OK but my question is "What if you dont have any guilt"? I'm not sure some of these guards really feel guilty about anything. On second thought, my interpretation is slightly off. It's not that they FEEL guilt but that they ARE guilty of misdeeds. 

Nida's father summoned the creature in hopes of proving to Nida what is really going on. In this world, the agents of the State are worse than the ghouls. 

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). "Ghoul" is an interesting twist on the zombie genre. The fact that the Ghul takes the shape of the last person it bites (or eats) makes it impossible to tell where it is...until it's too late. This keeps the audience guessing in the third act of the series.  The setting is claustrophobic which adds to the feeling of doom. Radhika Apte does a great job as a "final girl" we can root for. The show is quick with only three episodes total. I still have questions though. Does the ghul just keep attacking people until it runs out of victims? Or is it case specific based on the person that summoned it? How many jinns can be operating at one time? Could we have thousands of them simultaneously running around eating people? I would also like to know more about this dystopian society. How did the country get to this point? What year is it? I guess we'll have to wait for another movie to find out. 

Photo Credits:
https://deadline.com/2018/07/netflix-ghoul-release-date-indian-horror-series-blumhouse-phantom-radhika-apte-1202422921/
https://www.scoopwhoop.com/ghoul-netflix/

GMonsterTV

TV: Heavy On Horror, Sci Fi, Fantasy & Adventure

November 11, 2018

5:42 PM