While it has largely been an ignored facet of the genre, Horror has long been considered one of the few genres to subtly incorporate satire into its presentation to enhance the horror of the surrounding world and to make the terror more penetrating. Injecting these elements, whether it be politics, race, religion, or as just commentaries on the world at large, it's become one of the genre's most unappreciated and overlooked features. While director Balaji Vembu Chelli isn't attempting anything new satirizing the media in his latest film “The Tremor,” it still manages to serve up some enjoyment in its brief running time.
After arriving in a remote location, a photojournalist (Rajeev Anand) receives the mission to go to a small village, which was just hit by an earthquake, to take images of the tragedy. As this is his first big cover story, he is anxious to arrive at the place before the other journalists. However, when he gets there he only finds empty villages and a few people who don't know about the earthquake —or pretend not to know. The photographer begins to explore the mountains, searching for the tragedy— as the mystery rises, the fog that the protagonist faces gets thicker.
For the most part, “The Tremor” has some decent elements to it. Among its more impressive features is a wholly biting commentary on social media and the lengths one will go to for their coverage. The minute we arrive at the desolate village and get close-up shots showing the devastation wrecked by the events in question, it becomes quite clear what's going on in terms of the focus. Lingering on the brutality and human carnage, sweeping past large-scale destruction with the fallen trees, smashed huts, and dead bodies strewn about or being carried off by the authorities give off the impression of dwelling on tragedy for the sake of viewership. Given that these are filmed in a first-person sense by cinematographer Vedaraman Sankaran adds immensely to this as the constant hounding and pressuring from authorities to let them deal with it first creates conflict with his mission. The general idea of this is pushed even further by the extremes the photographer goes to in order to reach the fabled village. It's almost as if he must undertake any means necessary to get to his goal, regardless of the hurdles or obstacles he comes across.
Likewise, when “The Tremor” focuses on the supernatural horror elements at work, there's a lot to like. The major factor for that is the sense of isolation and quietude felt throughout. Since we follow his journey out into the remote reaches of the woods, the longer it takes to get there the more dread in the scenario arises. The strange inability of the locals to not notice the reported earthquake or claiming not to know anything about it, the mysteriously deserted forest roads draped in heavy fog that never lets up, or the bewildering state of the woods themselves bringing him right back to where he was moments earlier from different directions offer clues to what's happening but are genuinely terrifying in concept. It doesn't hurt that much of this occurs in the middle of the forest with the photographer by himself creates a rather impressive atmosphere to go along with the creepy ideas. These manage to provide enough to like that hold it up for the most part.
There isn't much wrong with “The Tremor” but it does have a minor issue. This main drawback is that this one stumbles rather heavily when it gets to the final half and he finally arrives at the main village. Rather than pay off the impeccable atmosphere and mystery about the deserted village and this strange earthquake, the film goes through an endless loop of him wandering around trying to pry information out of the villagers without actually doing anything. It feels tedious to keep repeating the same thing over and over again when it could've done a lot more to focus on the suspenseful elements it had built up. Rather, there's a hollow feeling at the end with no real resolution to speak of, much like the brief running time that makes this feel somewhat rushed and incomplete. The film is quite short and feels like it ends just when it's starting to get somewhere in the mysteries presented, which combined does lower this one.
Despite getting a couple of impressive aspects here and there, “The Tremor” eventually becomes settled in the watchable realm as the flaws present to bring it down into that kind of film. Give this a look if you're intrigued by the positives or a fan of this kind of simplistic indie genre/mystery effort, while most others should be a bit more cautious before going into it.
