MIRUTHAN Trailer: The Zombie Apocalypse Hits South India

Over the last four years, Kollywood has had an explosion of popular horror films that have made big bucks at the box office. From Muni 2: Kanchana in 2011, through Pizza in 2012, Pisaasu and Darling in 2014, and Muni 3: Ganga, Massu, Demonte Colony, Maya, and more in 2015, horror is a big money maker. However, the vast majority of those horror films are ghost stories; it seems to be the one kind of horror film that India has been comfortable with for a long time.

In 2016 we get Tamil Nadu's first zombie film, Miruthan, featuring Jayam Ravi in the lead. Zombie films, while often thought of as overdone and tapped out in the US, are still an untapped genre resource in India. To this day there's only been one truly large scale zombie production with big name talent, 2013's Go Goa Gone, which starred Saif Ali Khan as a Russian mobster stuck on a desert island with zombies attacking. There have been a few other micro budget releases, but nothing quite like that. Go Goa Gone was a full-on horror comedy, but Miruthan looks to be taking the more serious route and I have to say, I am intrigued.

A look at the trailer, which is sadly unsubtitled, gives us the impression that not only is Jayam Ravi looking to frighten us, a fair bit of South Indian styled over the top action has been added to the mix, making the film all the more intriguing. Miruthan opens on January 15 in India; no word yet on international release plans.