Indian Werewolf Revenge Suburban Tale (FANTASTIC) Loses Itself in Fury

Title: Suburban Tale

First Non-Festival Release: TBD

Director: Stephen Alexander

Writer: Stephen Alexander, Rashmi Somvanshi

Runtime: 89 Minutes

Starring: Rashmi Somvanshi, Ritika Gupta, Vaishnavi Singh

Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here

This film’s review was written after its screening at the Fantastic Film Festival in 2023.

Radhika (Rashmi Somvanshi) has a rocky relationship with her family. After choosing to live in the city, far away from everyone she once knew, she returns after her father calls her unexpectedly with a favor. Her brother is sick, and needs to be watched while the rest of her family attends her sister’s wedding. She dutifully agrees, but soon finds her world crashing down around her. She will understand not only more about her brother’s affliction, but also herself, and what her estrangement has left inside her.

Trippy Indian werewolf film Suburban Tale gets lost in the weeds of its hallucinogenic nightmare.

Using its werewolf metaphor for the unleashing of inner pain drawn by societal expectations of women, Suburban Tale allows Radhika an opportunity to exercise her demons in real time. It is a true test to Radhika’s endurance, and the audience’s too, for how she perseveres through the horrific treatment she receives from her own family. Of course, we learn more about how and why this seems necessary to them, as it translates to Suburban Tale’s commentary on how Indian women are viewed as disposable when they rebel against their family. This is woven in with even more themes of rape culture, child abuse, and victimization that makes for a truly harrowing watch.

Radhika is presented as a hard-working, if down-on-her-luck, woman who has a deep obligation to family, even if she has reservations about returning home. Throughout Suburban Tale, the audience gets a glimpse into her home-life she left behind and the family members who would rather she not be there. Truly a case of using her when convenient and discarding her as necessary, the first minute of their reunion is already contentious. Establishing the family as various shades of cruel, makes Radhika’s subsequent journey even more bittersweet as she finally gains the agency she lacked for so long.

In the end, the choices to combine its nonlinear storyline with its dream logic approach to horror becomes too much, and effectively blunts the experience. There reaches a point in Suburban Tale where it is not only difficult to tell what is real and what is not, but also what is happening at all. Long, overwrought sequences of Radhika’s past life show much depth to her character and answer burning questions about her family’s psychology but effectively speed-run through her motivations and history. It feels like Suburban Tale is hand-holding its audience as if they cannot trust them to grasp the ramifications of her upbringing.

Boasting beautiful special effects and cinematography, the team behind Suburban Tale knows how to craft an impressive production. What is so exciting about this film is its ability to make something from nothing. Understanding that the production budget was modest, Suburban Tale still manages to craft impressive visuals, both in its dream-like reality and in its ever-lurking werewolf antagonists. When Radhika escapes into her nightmares and fantasies, the world expands in strange and terrifying ways. Eventually, it shrinks back to its dingy reality in the modest city where she must face mistreatment. These visual cues allow Suburban Tale to truly sink its claws into the meat of its story.

It’s an odd duck of a film, and a werewolf one at that, but there is enough behind Suburban Tale to merit a curiosity watch in even the most finnicky of genre enthusiasts. Its distinct flavor of trippy metaphorical horror will not win as many over as it loses, but it cannot be claimed that Suburban Tale lacks boldness. A powerful leading performance, strong visuals, and important social commentary make up for the lack of cohesive narrative to deliver an almost satisfying experience. You aren’t prepared for what Suburban Tale is about to show you, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to open your eyes to it.

Overall Score? 6/10