It is an astonishing thriller that holds no limits of mayhem. It is a ride where heads will spin. Every aspect of Kill left me breathless. Written and directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, Kill is not one’s typical heist movie. It has moving parts that all come together. It throws fuel to the fire repeatedly and proactively. That is because of its setup of hostages, good guys, bad guys, and a train that is not stopping. Who will make it out alive? Both the good and the bad give everything they have in a train that is a death match for survival.

The film gears on Amrit (played by Lakshya). He is in love with Tulika (played by Tanya Maniktala). Tulika is forced (by her family) to marry a different man. Amrit has a plan to stop this engagement. Amrit joins her on a train heading to New Delhi. However, the halting engagement becomes the least important. Once the train starts to move, it becomes compromised by a gang that is extremely dangerous and lethal. The enemy (behind the criminal operation) is Fani (played by Raghav Juyal). Fani is ruthless and one who terrorizes his feelings of power and authority. Amrit is a trained soldier. When Amrit is in rage mode, he can do lots of damage.

Once people’s lives are on the line, there is more to the moving parts. It is all calculated. The criminals have their eyes on Baldeo (played by Harsh Chhaya). Baldeo is a man of wealth. Fani sees him as one for ransom. The train is a Tetris game. The train has cars in patterns where the ones with Fani are on different ends of the train, and so are the ones with Amrit. The passengers see how life-threatening the conflict is. Everyone does what they can to fight or survive. Once Amrit and Fani do some damage, it is instant death.

The thrilling /vibrations of the film had my heart pulsing. The eyes and rage of Amrit bring that feeling of fear. Amrit’s “fear” evolves into recklessness. It is done right! The film feels like The Raid (2011) meets The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009). That is because hostages are in a tango with massive and never-ending combat. All of which are insane and pushed to the limits. It does with context. The continuity of survival and power keeps getting tested. This aspect begins when the train continues towards dangerous territory. “Dangerous territory” is in all of Kill.

There is a moment where one says, “Think like Ali.” The reference is to the boxer Muhammad Ali. At this moment, one of the groups is trying to find the attitude to fight and continue. Those three words serve as an enticing purpose of the brilliance of Kill. Ali always had hard punches no matter what match, as does Kill.

All the mayhem had me thinking about previous films surrounding India. I thought about the worldwide sensation RRR and Monkey Man. Both of which had stylized mayhem with a structured storyline to keep rising. Kill rises to the depths as well. With similarities (to both films), Kill is the next level of international and cultural suspense. The aspect of battling for connection, importance, family, power, and beliefs is all part of the landscape of the war on board the train. A question kept flowing through my head with Kill. Who is the target if the deadly mission is a success? The mayhem juggles made my head go in circles of stimulation.

With all the factors of lives being on the line and a mission obscured (by Fani and his gang), the train is the conflict. Since it cannot stop, the only way to survive is to keep fighting (until the train reaches its destination). Who will win? Amrit or Fani? Do not miss this one-of-a-kind thriller where the velocity and magnitude of high-octane combat do not stop! It is astonishing and spellbinding. These films are rare to come by. My rating falls at four out of four stars for Kill.

A film with a teddy bear at the center of the movie may make the audience think that the bear is going to come to life. Surprisingly, the bear in remains calm and silent in Imaginary, a thriller where the terror can be hard to find. Directed by Jeff Wadlow, Imaginary is one of the most authentic thriller films I have seen. Not exactly excellent, but high quality and, again, authentic.

Imaginary begins with Jessica (played by DeWanda Wise), a woman who grew up with a harsh life of abuse and hardship. She is married to Max (played by Tom Payne), and she is a stepmom to Tom’s daughters, Taylor (played by Taegen Burns) and Alice (played by Pyper Braun). When Jessica moves with her family into her childhood home, Alice’s mood start to shift. Alice has an imaginary friend named Chauncey. At first Jessica believes it’s a phase—until more evil begins to emerge in the most unexpected realms throughout the childhood home.

There is a background of conflict that mingles throughout Imaginary—a mother with a harsh childhood, a father who is divorced, a daughter who is a typical teenager and another daughter with a detrimental imaginary friend. The audience will at first believe that the film is a typical horror film where a spirit makes a child evil, but the terror in Imaginary backfires in unpredictable ways, and it tends to pop up like an old-fashioned wolf man monster. The film is more of a puzzle than anything else, and there seems to be a lot of over-thinking in the writing and execution. The film is just not written to leave the audience feeling scared after. Rather, it leaves them curious. What in Jessica’s past is related so much to the teddy bear? What are those weird moving parts in Jessica childhood home?

I found Imaginary to be not extremely well written, but it has a niche in the horror genre. It has a spiritual type of terror that is hidden in a teddy bear. It also seemed to create a maze of sorts that grows with tainted memories. Karma and misdirection find itself combined in this film, and that is what sold me the most with Imaginary. But instead of a revenge teddy bear, which we expect after the teddy bear is introduced, it heads down the track of almost a terror Tetris. The questions and theories keep evolving. And instead of scary terror, it’s more about experimenting and investigating the spirits that are flowing. The film begs the question of who will find the answers to the terror? Find out in Imaginary. Three out of four stars.