Deemak: The Underdog Film You Shouldn’t Miss

“A single creak in the night—only then do we realise how deep family secrets can burrow.”

Horror at its best thrives within the fine line between what it presents and what it leaves implicit. Deemak—a psychological thriller through impressive performances and a director willing to trust his actors—balances these elem-ents with a chilling sense of precision.

Without revealing too much, the exchanges between a man and a woman, and between a mother and son work far beyond cultural extremes. They remind us that domestic anx-ieties and suppressed traumas are universal.

An unexpectedly refreshing film, it explores the tense relationship between Samina Peerzada’s bedridden matriarch, Kulsoom, and her daughter-in-law, Hiba.

Kulsoom’s possessiveness knows no limits. She refuses to share Faraz’s affections—even when he becomes a father himself. Faraz (Faysal Quraishi) wrestles with his divided loyalties between love and duty. For Hiba (Sonya Hussyn), Faraz’s wife, there’s bitter hatred towards her mother-in-law for their perpetual battle for her son’s attention. From the beginning, the film takes us to a world in which recognisable domestic dynamics have a creepy undertone.

Instead of documenting every turn of plot, the director prefers to entrust the subtlety of his actors’ performances. He makes implicit tensions so palpable that once the screen fades to black, the air remains heavy with them. Hollywood director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, and Split) relies on the minimalist terror of the unknown, especially his earlier works.

Bollywood has also dabbled with the supernatural to great success. Here, as well, the paranormal lurks in the periphery without breaking out in the familiar jump scare of domestic cinema. By interweaving trauma into the cracks, the movie is both subversive and uncomfortably close to home. It’s a statement about how horror doesn’t need to be about presenting something superhuman or enormous. It can frighten us with a common human experience. The title is apt as a metaphor: unaddressed res-entment, abuse, and mistrust cause the family structure to rot. It isn’t actually about termites and mold.

Samina Peerzada gives a chilling performance as the matriarch; her magnetic draw is tempered with a coat of menace.

Faysal Quraishi grounds the story with a quiet, restrained performance as a man torn between conflicting allegiances. Sonya Hussyn, initially a little weak, becomes a force to be reckoned with in the second half. Cameos from Javed Sheikh and Bushra Ansari add depth without becoming unnecessary.

The restraint displayed by director Rafay Rashdi is espec-ially effective during scenes that invite silence and interpretation. This works better in some ways because the film is not pre-senting binary ideas.

He does not buy into the simple spectacle of technical prowess. Instead, he allows human weakness to create dread and echo the subversive atmos-phere of The Conjuring or The Babadook, yet remains firmly grounded in our own cultural identity.

It is a courageous decision and one which audience seem eager to embrace.

Some might find the tempo of the film slow, but that quiet intensity is exactly what dist-inguishes the film from generic genre fare. Horror here does not provide a checklist of scares. Rather, it trusts in the incre-mental revelation of what we fear: suppressed guilt, unex-pressed grievances, and the frail connections that tie us together.

For Pakistani audiences that may experience supernatural narratives that are arbitrary and formulaic in their shapes, this new sensibility is refreshing. With its unorthodox style, the critical success of the film shows that audiences are increasingly open to genre-bending experiments. They are welcoming directors who take risks beyond traditional boundaries.

With well-crafted characters, a supernatural aura brooding darkly in the background, and a sharp examination of abuse and intergenerational trauma, this story may not be to everyone’s taste. But to those who prefer richness over complication, it is very rewarding.

If you long for clear-cut answers and traditional closure, you might find this film some-what disturbing.

However, if you’re drawn to experimental films that question the human experience and the line between what is known and what lingers in our minds and eventually haunts us – visually and openly – this film is worth watching.

When the credits end, you’ll find yourself wondering about your own relationships—won-dering what signs you’ve been ignoring. If a film can make you think after it is over—whether you agree with its conclusion or not—it has merit, and that is ultimately the hallmark of a good film.

– The writer is an educationist and can be reached at gaiteeara@hotmail.com.

“Samina Peerzada gives a chilling performance as the matriarch; her magnetic draw is tempered with a coat of menace. Faysal Quraishi grounds the story with a quiet, restrained performance as a man torn between conflicting , allegiances. Sonya Hussyn, initially a little weak, becomes a force to be reckoned with in the second half. Cameos from Javed Sheikh and Bushra Ansari add depth without becoming unnecessary. The restraint displayed by director Rafay Rashdi is especially effective during scenes that invite silence and interpretation.”