Eeram

"Eeram" which means "wetness" is a supernatural thriller that combines romance and spine-chilling suspense in every scene. Debutant director and writer Arivazhagan presents everything in wet and watery ways throughout the whole movie.

The story starts with the dead body of Ramya (Sindhu Menon) found in the bath tub of her apartment. Policeman Vasu (Aadhi) investigates and interviews everyone in the apartment, including Ramya's husband Bala (Nandha). From the report given by neighbours it is revealed that the victim was having an illicit affair with a stranger and because of that she had committed suicide.A flashback reveals that Vasu was Ramya's ex-lover during their college days and were separated due to her father's disapproval. Back to present day, a series of deaths take place in the same apartment. The common weapon used by the murderer to kill his victim is water. Why are all of them killed using water? Who is behind all these mysterious deaths? That forms the rest of the story.

Aadhi as a police officer gives a reasonable performance, so does Nandha with an unusual role. Sindhu Menon simply excels in her role as a college girl and housewife. Music by Thaman is average but he does a good job with a background score that compliments the film's dark and eerie theme. The story keeps you guessing but many scenes of how the victims get killed are lifted from various Hollywood flicks like "Dark Water", "Final Destination" and "Mirrors". Thank goodness there are no unnecessary romance songs, comedy or fights to interrupt the narration. The special effects also improve the movie, where we have dark clouds and flowing water in many scenes to set the mood. The only drawback is the film's lengthy runtime.

Overall, whodunits are a rarity in Tamil films and Arivazhagan definitely deserves credit for presenting a good supernatural thriller, which is no doubt gripping from first scene. "Eeram" is something new and worth watching.