Why 1920 is better than Phoonk, Horrifying Vikram Bhatt vs 'cameraman' Ram Gopal Verma

Vikram Bhatt is the undisputed king when it comes to the horror genre. Raaz in 2002 was the biggest hit of the year and it was a horror film. You cannot believe a horror film becoming the biggest grosser of the year, but it did. Vikram Bhatt has done it again by showcasing horror really well in 1920.

Though it does look inspired by those English horror films, with the smog, chariots and palaces, Vikram Bhatt exemplifies horror in 1920 very well with some gut wrenching scenes with towering performances by actors, especially debutante Adah. Compared to Raaz, 1920 is a bit lackluster especially with a predictable ending. But nevertheless 1920 is the hit and Vikram Bhatt should be a satisfied man because he has made so many flops since Raaz, no thanks to ex girlfriend Amisha Patel who would look like a cross between asthmatic patient and a tear jerker in most of his films.

Coming back to the trigger happy Ram Gopal Verma who also scored with Phook, was lucky that he had chosen a subject that was appealing to the audiences-black magic. Phoonk looks like a rehash of Bhoot where the little girl goes through the same shock waves which Urmila Matondkar suffered in Bhoot. Copy cat Vikram Bhatt atleast makes his horror films look scary compared to Ram Gopal Verma who only relies on weird camera angles to show horror. With the kind of approach Ram Gopal Verma has towards horror films, he can make a romantic movie look scary. He can well take the camera all the way from the girl’s legs, to her butt(which he always does) to the back , right up above showing the head facing you, rather than the back of the head. In other words, Ram Gopal Verma just experiments with camera tricks to show horror when there are other techniques to illustrate horror.