First of all if you've seen earlier Vikram Bhatt's flicks and you liked it, you will like it as well. The story remains almost on the same theme as earlier but this times it come with the 3d effect. The movie visually is very appealing with all the make ups and effects. It lacks on the verge on sound effects. Being the first stereoscopic horror movie it achieves it and manages to thrill the audience. It has some scary moments and the 3d effect enhances them on a vast scale. The romantic side is well stuffed in. The 3d effects are commendable. Overall I would recommend at least one watch for the great effort. If you love the horror genre you would like it.

Vikram Bhatt's first horror film Raaz was a huge hit and then after flops he returned with 1920, Shaapit Haunted 3D was the first horror film in stereoscopic 3D As per me the first film in 3D was Chota Chethan(1996) but as per media it is Haunted. The film has the typical hangover of Vikram Bhatt's films this time with something different about time travel thatz all We have the same mix of blind faith and paranormal activities. The film takes place in a mansion(predictabily) where Mahaakshay(earlier named Mimoh in Jimmy his debut film) comes to see and then what happens. After HAWA(2003) here we have a ghost raping the heroine and then the second half shows how Mahaakshay goes back and tries to save her. There are some scary scenes but some are predictable like the chandelliers falling down, Doors open, screeching noises.etc The film does gather steam towards the end and alls well till we reach the dargah though it is little difficult to understand why the ghost gets so vulnerable suddenly often taking long time to attack? but such things are forgiven in horror films. Post the dargah the film drags 30 mins more and we are thrown in some well and dingy area where the heroine again is attacked and finally all ends well. There are some flaws with the film like the hero and heroine suddenly breaking into a song when life is at stake? Also some scenes are unintentionally funny

Direction by Vikram Bhatt is good in many scenes Music is okay 3D effects are good better then many Hindi films

Mahaakshay(name changed after Jimmy failure) seems to have improved after his terrible debut, but still has to improve more He has to loosen up more, work on his weight and expressions His voice is dubbed by Vikram Bhatt(mostly in his films he dubs for actors) Tia Bajpai in her debut gives a good performance Achint Kaur is superb, Mohan Kapoor, Arif Jackeria are good in their roles The actor playing sufi baba is good, while Prachi Shah(seen in kyunki saas) is superb

If you are a die-hard fan of the Horror genre and have seen the famous classic scary films coming from the World Cinema, then HAUNTED might be a kind of amateur attempt for you. And in case you haven't seen all those brilliant films and are only familiar with the Ramsay kind of Horror Cinema famous in our part of the world, even then HAUNTED is not going to impress or entertain you greatly with its monotonous kind of content and execution.

Vikram Bhatt, the director, after tasting marginal success with his last few horror films, sticks to the genre and comes up with another from his stable in 3D. But in simple words, it is a film which has been made with the sole motive of taking the maximum advantage of its Horror + 3D combination and has got nothing more than the routine, seen before stuff to offer its viewers. The film starts off in a laid back manner and the pace doesn't pick up even after its initial hour. So the viewer doesn't really feel the excitement and thrill of watching a horror movie in its first half. Post intermission, it falls back on the routine path, adding a weird kind of plot of moving back into the time-space (some 80 years back),which actually falls flat in absence of an electrifying execution.

In fact the time-travel remains the weakest part of the movie as it is neither explained properly to the viewer nor treated with the right kind of thrill and competence. For instance, the hero easily finds his places to live and spend days in, after moving back in time to the year 1936 and nobody cares who he is and from where has he come with a completely different kind of clothes, looks and style. Moreover he also reaches back in the present, just like that in the end without any proper build up and clarification.

Further, as usual HAUNTED is haunted by the ideas and visuals earlier seen in many other horror movies, which once again put it in the category of inspired movies. Starting with the same ages old plot of a haunted mansion, the film has at-least one novel plot of having two spirits in the palace instead of one. There is an evil spirit of a Piano teacher in the house who has captured another spirit of his own girl- student, whom he used to love. Now for 80 long years the spirit of the girl is being tortured by the other spirit in the house and therefore the palace has become a haunted one from many decades.

Moving ahead, the script once again has a psychic healer who is called upon but runs away looking at the powerful evil. Then there is a Sufi saint who gives the real life saving instructions to the couple giving them a bottle of pure water. There also happens to be a Father of the Holy Church who does his own prayers to save the couple but gets killed by the spirit too. As per its plot based on one sided love, the film also has scenes of an invisible spirit raping the girl, as earlier seen in "THE ENTITY" and our own version of it called "HAWA" featuring Tabu. And on top of all, the climax once again has a scary but blessed well (reminding you of the cult flick "RINGU") as if nowadays no horror movie can be made without showing a dark black well in its end which saves everyone from the evil.

So content wise, I didn't find HAUNTED having anything new in its 2.15 hours of lengthy duration. With a crispier edit of less than 2 hours, it could have been an OK one time watch. Performance wise too, I didn't find anyone great other than a fine act by Tia who has got both talent and on screen presence visible on the celluloid. In fact I liked the girl and her cute smile even in her early days of T.V performances and would love to see her soon in some reputed projects. Mahaakshay tries too hard and he simply reminds me of Dev Anands's son who also tried hard in films but later decided to quit. My best wishes are with Mahaakshay but he seriously needs to give it a second thought for sure. Achint Kaur is good and so is Arif Zakaria in their haunting roles. The musical score in the film is pretty weak and actually songs should not have been there in the first place. Even the background score doesn't transform you into a scary world, which happens to be one of the most important requirements of a horror project.

However, technically the film has been worked upon, which clearly shows and its 3D effects are well supported by its first rate Cinematography. But still I found the 3D scenes, which at once reach out to you, quite less than what was being expected. Though the sudden attacks of spirits does scare you at times but its not a hugely scary movie at all even in its 3D avatar.

In the end, I would only like to say that as being publicized, HAUNTED is not the first Hindi 3D horror movie made in Bollywood. More than 25 years back we had a Ramsay film called "SAAMRI" released in 3D in the year 1985. And to be very straight, I still remember that we all (then students) immensely enjoyed the movie with its purely magical, scary scenes in 3D and a likable background score, much - much more than the current HAUNTED. So now the decision to watch it or not, is all yours.