This is an extremely polished indian miniseries making sharp commentary about faith, loyalty, corruption, indoctrination and regimes. Taking place in a near-future dystopian scenario amidst a cultural purge, there are intelligent undercurrents and pointed statements made beneath the core of a body-jumping threat. The first episode creeks from setup but is still remarkably effective at building a high level of suspense and anticipation. Using a closed and claustrophobic setting riddled with its own terrors opens the series with an already racheted tension level, and as further human and supernatural elements are introduced the setup gets quite terrifying. Once the second episode begins the action kicks into high gear and never relents to its satisfying conclusion. The acting, production values, and direction are all top quality with interesting writing adding an overcoat of arab folklore to an otherwise B movie monster plot. In particular, Radhika Apte delivers a phenomenal performance across the emotional spectrum, initially stoic but with depths of anguish, confusion and conflict hovering beneath the surface. The horror scenes are intense and tension riddled, using gore sparingly but to high impact. Unfortunately many of the scenes in the final episode are filmed far too dark under flickering light sources so the action can get confusing. Despite these flaws, Ghoul provides a genuine thrill ride of terrors up to and including its closing frame.
GHOUL (Netflix)