Love Me: A Romantic Horror Drama That Falls Flat
The latest romantic horror drama, Love Me, has hit the theaters, and we got to see it at one of the US premieres. The film, directed by Arun Bhimavarapu, stars Ashish, Vaishnavi Chaitanya, Ravi Krishna, and Simran Chowdhary. Let’s dive into the review.
What Is It About?
The story revolves around Arjun (Ashish) and Pratap (Ravi), two YouTubers who bust fake ghosts and myths. Priya (Vaishnavi Chaitanya) is Pratap’s girlfriend. When Pratap decides to investigate the missing case of his childhood friend, he discovers that she has turned into a ghost, Divyavathi. Arjun, however, wants to bust the fake story around her. He heads to the haunted place of Divyavathi and decides to stay there after bumping into her in their first meet. What happens to Arjun, and who is Divyavathi? The twists and turns in the tale reveal the answers to these questions.
The trailer of Love Me promised a thrilling ride, but did it deliver?
Performances
Ashish is alright in the lead role. His role is more subtle, and he did fine in it. Vaishnavi Chaitanya did well in her role. Ravi Krishna and Simran Chowdhary appeared in supportive roles and did what was needed.
Technicalities
Love Me has good cinematography, and that’s about it. Legendary Cinematographer P.C. Sreeram once again proves his talent. The background score is routine, and the screenplay is confusing. The songs are just the big hurdles amid the derailed narrative.
Thumbs Up
- Cinematography
Thumbs Down
- Plot and Narration
- Screenplay
- Songs
Analysis
Love Me If You Dare has an unrealistic plot with a mix of a love story, a bit of a ghost scare, and a crime investigation. Due to the overdose of confusion and unconvincing love track, Love Me remains far from interesting.
The first half of Love Me suffers from a slow pace, and the background narrative dominating the characters on screen. It also stumbles with the narrative that gives no thrills or chills at all in the first half of the movie. The pursuit of the protagonist to prove the theory of ghosts wrong becomes meaningless when he decides to fall in love with one. With multiple threads and names, the director creates confusion but could not successfully untangle it at a later point.
The film’s plot twist could be sensed from miles ahead, but the answer to why and how is only revealed in the end and is not so convincing.
With a subpar establishment of plot and characters in the first half, the latter half starts off with the same slow pace. The narrative goes back and forth, finally turning the drama into a complicated crime investigation. The songs come as speedbreakers in between. The plot twist could be sensed from miles ahead, but the answer to why and how is only revealed in the end and is not so convincing.
By bringing too many popular faces into the story, the director tries to save the plot twist, but it keeps looking at us right from the beginning. The suspense element struggles to hold the grip for the same reason. The basic plot itself is not convincing enough, and the lead characters appear clueless often. There are hardly any scenes that can give goosebumps in this romantic horror drama.
Love Me is a love drama in disguise of a horror drama, where both turn out badly. The cliffhanger in the end brings it back to the horror genre with a twist in it. It has to be seen if the makers will really want to bring a sequel for this weak plot and uninteresting narrative.
The film’s climax raises more questions than answers, leaving the audience confused.
Bottomline: Lost In Confusion Rating: 2/5
