Hrishikesh Hazarika

So, just finished House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths. Also, a long post warning!!! 😁😁 Summing up, this one has an innovative story track, a thrilling narrative - the investigative part parallelly running with what happened on the night of 30th of June 2018 at the Bhatia's place in Sant Nagar, Burari. The mood set up by this Docu-series is enthralling and is fairly edgy - not only with the red herrings just popping up at the right time with main character of the entire incident at play; but also due to the gripping sequences in the 1st episode and an eerie voice over in the 2nd. And that's that, unfortunately. The much hyped "feeling nightmarish", "bone-chilling" and "absolutely paranormal" feelings that have been doing rounds , is overtly exagerrated. No doubt, this is one of the best watches of 2021, with the year ending almost round the corner. But, to term it as an absolute scare would be wrong. There are many spots, when one can nearly feel the eerieness and the insanity of what prevailed in the Bhatia household; it was more of a psychological narrative been done with the help of recorded statements and evidences. The docu has its share of scares, goose bumps and the usual stuff; but doesn't count as an absolute scare fest. At least, not to me. I jumped more watching "The Haunting of Bly Manor", "The Lighthouse" or "Split". These had my mind scrambled to tethers. However, the haunting way these suicides took place, the ritual that the family followed, the spooky voice over from the diaries; they all culminated into something which I won't term as nightmarish, but skin tingling, hair standing nonetheless. The Burari Deaths Docu-series scores good on the narrative, the background score and the direction. Thrilling - Yes, Spooky - Definitely. Nightmarish - will have to try harder to get me to sleep with the lights on.