Pizza 3: The Mummy Movie Review: A well-made horror thriller that’s interesting in bits

Pizza 3: The Mummy Movie Review: The third installment of the Pizza franchise follows the typical Horror genre template of a ghost seeking revenge against the people responsible for its death. Though there is nothing new, it manages to stay true to its genre with well-staged jump-scare sequences and a few elements of mystery. But the drastic tonality shift in the second half, with the film turning into an emotional drama, becomes a drawback.

The story starts by showing a man bringing a mysterious Mummy doll to his family, which later reaches a restaurant owned by Nalan (Ashwin kakumanu). Nalan, who is already facing pressure from his girlfriend Kayal’s (Pavithrah) brother, now gets to witness spooky events in the restaurant as an unknown delicacy appears every night in the kitchen. Parallelly, an influential man gets killed under mysterious circumstances, and Nalan’s name gets dragged into this as well.

The events that unfold further reveal the hand of a supernatural presence at his restaurant kitchen. Who this spirit is and how Nalan is connected to it form the rest of the crux.

Mohan Govind begins the film in a very intense manner by setting up a perfect plot where a restaurant becomes the place of haunting. The hero, here, is a restaurant owner, and he’s left with no clue as to how the dish is appearing every day. All that is good, and the viewers are made to invest their interest in knowing who’s behind this and what’s exactly happening. The couple of jump scares in the first half work to an extent, mainly because of the technical aspects and staging.

But then, trouble begins when we get to know more about the ghost and its backstory. The intention of the writer to deliver an emotional and heartbreaking backstory is convincing, but at a point, it ends up dampening the horror experience which was initially set up well. There aren’t many twists like in previous installments, and the story goes on to become just another revenge tale.

Ashwin Kakumanu’s portrayal of Nalan is decent and expresses his fear and confusion well. Pavithrah Marimuthu has done her part well, as she is one who tries to communicate with the ghost. Other characters come and go and don’t have much scope to showcase their abilities. Anupama Kumar and Abi Nakshatra, who came mostly in the second half, delivered their best as well. Director-actor Gaurav Narayanan plays Pavithrah’s brother in the film and has done a good job.

Coming to the technical aspects, which are definitely something to appreciate. Both cinematography and music, including the sound effects, complement each other and make the experience enjoyable. Overall, Pizza 3 is a decent addition to the franchise as a one-time watch.