Vikram Bhatt’s Haunted Echoes of the Past is a supernatural thriller that revisits familiar territory and tries to inject a new emotional core. It’s a mixture of gothic horror and psychological drama with themes of trauma and love, and restless spirits. While it does create an eerie mood, critics are divided on whether it truly reinvents the genre or simply recycles old tropes.
The story is about Dev (Mimoh Chakraborty), a man with painful memories, who retreats to a remote mansion in the mountains and is confronted with supernatural forces and visions of his lost love Sunheri (Chetna Pande). It is a haunted place where the horror of reality and the supernatural collide and Dev has to confront both his own demons and the outside world.
Performances are the standout of the film. Mimoh Chakraborty plays one of his best acting roles, portraying a man caught between grief and supernatural fear. Chetna Pande is emotional in her portrayal of Sunheri, balancing vulnerability and resilience. Shruti Prakash, Gaurav Bajpai, and Praneet Bhatt contribute to the unsettling atmosphere, but these roles are secondary to the main story.
The film is atmospheric visually, with its gothic setting and unsettling sound design adding to the tension. The movie is visually beautiful and has a haunting feeling. But critics argue that the film relies too much on the same horror tropes creaking doors, sudden shadows, and loud jump scares—without adding any new storytelling. The two-hour length is also a bit long-winded, and pacing issues are evident in the second half.
Critical reception has been mixed. FilmiBeat praised the film for its suspenseful emotional impact and rated it positively. Bollywood Bubble, however, criticized it for predictability and slow pacing, calling it a recycled attempt at horror. Overseas reviews have similar opinions, appreciating the performances and visuals but noting poor execution.
Finally, Haunted Echoes of the Past is a thriller that will appeal to fans of Bollywood horror and Vikram Bhatt’s classic style. It does have some genuine scares and strong performances from Mimoh and Chetna, but struggles with pacing and originality, serving more as a nostalgic return to Bhatt’s horror roots than a bold reinvention.
