Outdated tropes haunt this unremarkable horror comedy

A DEEP forest in 1963. A group of Tamil-speaking travelers are arguing near a curve in the Kulathupuzha woods.

- VIVEK SANTHOSH

Some are anxious, others cautious. Legend has it that the path nearby is haunted, and only a fool would risk it after dark. One man, stubborn and dismissive, sets off with his frightened wife. They reach a waterfall, where a woman appears. She is graceful, glowing and strange. The couple freezes. The screen cuts to black. With this moody prologue, Sumathi Valavu begins not with dry exposition, but with atmosphere and intrigue. It is a promising start.

Director Vishnu Sasi Shankar, working again with writer Abhilash Pillai after Malikappuram, taps into a real-life Kerala myth about a woman named Sumathi whose tragic end gave rise to local ghost stories. You expect the film to build on this eerie premise. Instead, it gets sidetracked by a flood of outdated ideas.