Malayalam cinema has recently shown a liking for horror comedies built around hostels, lodges, reckless youngsters, and supernatural trouble. Karakkam, directed by Subhash Lalitha Subrahmanian, also enters that space, but with a slightly different flavour. Starring Sreenath Bhasi, Praveen T. J., Femina George, Abhiram Radhakrishnan, Shaun Romy, Manikandan R. Achari, Sidharth Bharathan, and others, the film has a genuinely interesting central idea. However, even though the concept is fun, the screenplay does not give it enough depth or surprise.
The story follows Dhanush and Khaja, two careless youngsters whose drunken actions after a fight lead them to a cemetery. In their reckless state, they disturb five graves by uprooting the crosses, and this brings five spirits into their lives. What follows is their attempt to escape from the trouble they have invited upon themselves. As a basic horror-comedy setup, this works well. The idea has enough scope for fear, humour, chaos, and emotional weight. But the film often stays close to a familiar revenge/horror structure, instead of using its unusual premise to create something sharper or more layered.
One of the most interesting aspects of Karakkam is the way it presents the ghosts. These are not the usual Malayalam cinema ghosts dressed in white, silently appearing in dark corners or moving through the frame in a predictable manner. Here, the ghosts belong to an earlier period, and they are imagined through a more colourful, performative style. Since they are connected to a past world of bar dancers, rock-star energy, music, and performance, their costumes and body language also reflect that. The disco-like dressing, dancing, and exaggerated stage presence give the supernatural portions a fresh visual identity. This makes the film feel different from the standard horror-comedy template, even when the writing around it is not equally inventive.