Pizza (2014 movie)- My Take with spoilers

Bollywood horror movies are usually synonymous with extreme cheesiness, bad lighting, mediocre effects and ham acting. Very rarely, comes a movie that provides any chills at all much less a potent plot.

When I decided to watch Pizza, I expected all this, but promised myself to watch it with an open mind. I don’t care if it was a rip off another movie or remake or whatever- I just wanted to watch a horror movie. Pizza is surprisingly not “cheesy”.

Yes, the acting in the first few scenes is below average and the story borders on all the clichés of a horror movie. After the first few scenes, when the story starts to set, it actually gets interesting. Okay, first and foremost, I totally saw the twist coming. Not every single detail, but most of it- but that’s just me bragging about how I can guess the outcome of most movies.

The story wavers in the beginning with a lot of plot and character backstories thrown in. At first it all seems like a jumble and it isn’t until the lead character sets foot into a house to deliver a pizza that the story finally gets interesting.

Watched with an open mind, the proceedings actually get a bit chilly and you wonder how the character will make his escape. Phones don’t work, lights go out, doors don’t open, windows are unbreakable… all these are vital components of horror stories to make the viewer feel trapped just like the character is, and ask how the escape would happen.

That all has been seen repetitively in most horror movies, but when the character finally gets to make the call and get through to his wife, he is surprised when the phone (that works even though the lines are cut) rings again and it is his girlfriend calling the police station. Apparently, she is all caught up in the web of chaos that is associated with the accursed house.

The hitches of the pacy story come in the second half when too much is happening at once for the horror part to settle in for a viewer. For example, he is brought into a child’s room and the door locks. He struggles to open it, turns to see the murdered family hanging from the ceiling. Before this could provide a startling effect, he turns and sees something even more frightening.

Then before that could settle in, he is tapped on the back by the small girl. Yes, there is a spooky ghost girl in this too. If the movie had just paused to let these small incidents contribute to the spookiness of the movie, it would have been way, way better.

Moving on, the character makes his escape and it is when he reports to the boss, the twist is slowly revealed. The ending too is horror movie clichéd but it is an appropriate end to the proceedings of the movie.

Pizza is a “well-delivered” film that takes Bollywood horror to a whole new level. The movie is one of the better offerings in the Bollywood horror genre and is a must see for all horror fans.