Here is a horror film with a decent premise. Karter (Venkat Sai Gunda) is an artistic sort – specifically, a photographer, apparently of some renown. He’s also mute. And a serial killer. He’s depressed; he feels trapped by his crimes, but he can’t stop killing, he doesn’t want to go to prison and he can’t quite face suicide. One day, he begins to feel he isn’t alone in his house. It seems the vengeful ghosts of his victims are resting uneasily and have set out to torment him.
But there’s something here that just falls short. It’s a shame that the film-makers were working with such an evidently small budget: the vengeful ghosts are giving Halloween at Alton Towers vibe, which blunts the spook factor somewhat. You can detect delicious whiffs of classics like Peeping Tom, Carnival of Souls and Psycho in the air as the film begins, but rather than building as it goes into something special in its own right, The Deserving runs out of steam.