Pari is predictable and that's its biggest downfall

Let me tell you: the trailer is deceiving.

I had zero expectations before going to watch Pari. None. For me, when it comes to horror films, more often than not, high expectations meet an uninspired script, amateurish acting and faulty CGI. The result is a major disappointment.

While the above is true for Pari, what the film really lacks is a comprehensible storyline.

Spoilers ahead

The film starts with a family of three moving into their new home in the middle of nowhere. The mother, Mahwish (played by Azekah Daniel), and her daughter Pari (played by Khushi Maheen), sense a weird presence in the house, but the father, Shahraam (played by Junaid Akhter) is unsuspecting.

The parents notice a change in Pari's behaviour and this concern soon gives rise to tension between the couple. They are repeatedly warned by a man from the woods (played by Saleem Miraj), who forebodes that their daughter will lead to their doom. However, they pay no heed to him, until things take a turn for the worse.

Pari is a haphazard collection of scenes and characters put together

The film unsuccessfully tries to weave together a story with no coherence or connection and ends up leaving the audience perplexed.

The audience is set up to believe that the girl Pari is the focus, however, less than halfway into the film, the story changes course and becomes about the father, with some focus on the mother and Pari disappears in the background till needed.

Doors creaking, swinging shut. Dead crows. Rocking chair. Candle blowing out. Sudden ghost appearances. Lights going out. Crazy person who is ultimately the deliverer. And you can guess the rest.

Pari mainly fails to deliver because it hinges on to the same humdrum checklist every horror film employs; resulting in a film severely lacking originality, imagination and being disappointingly predictable.

Filmmaking comes with great responsibility, one which Pari reels away from multiple times during the course of the two hours. Like:

1) A romantic relationship between a teacher and student

A flashback of Shahraam and Mahwish's first interaction reveals that the two shared a student-teacher relationship which snowballed into an intimate affair in and outside of university, eventually leading to marriage. The film fails to recognise that this act between the two is a crime especially when a minor is involved, it can fall under sexual harassment and possibly land the teacher behind bars.

Furthermore, showing and promoting such a relationship dynamic can heavily influence minors and pave the way for ideas creating a grey area between what's acceptable and unacceptable in the professional world.

2) The (mis)representation of women through the main female lead, Mahwish

The lack of attention given to the female leads in the film is troubling, but what's more worrisome is the treatment of the only woman, Mahwish, at the hands of the men she interacts with.

Mahwish is shown as careless, irresponsible, irrational, irritable and moody, while her male counterpart Shahraam is the calm, cool, collected one in the relationship. Though this could be owing to the age gap between the two and difference in maturity level (see point above), I find it rather reckless that her role is reduced to one of being puerile.

Mahwish runs away from confrontations, is strangely distant from her daughter, cries when she can't bring herself to say anything, and is hysterical when upset. Shahraam, is the glue keeping the family together trying to solve all their problems.

Their relationships goes downhill when Shahraam demands to know whose child Pari is, immediately second-guessing his wife. He yells while she looks at him helplessly while he continues to shout.

The film never fully grants Mahwish the opportunity to speak, giving Shahraam the upperhand. His lines to Mahwish like, "Everything is going according to the way you want it," and "You know I can never get mad at you," automatically place sympathy in the hands of the husband, irrespective of his treatment towards Mahwish.