Visher (2024) – Film Review

With a runtime of just over an hour, Visher is a pretty short horror film. Watching it does not require much of a time commitment but with only two characters and limited settings, that’s a bonus. In my opinion, Visher may have worked better if it was somewhat shorter. The story doesn’t have a lot of meat on the bones. Trying to stretch the script to 65 minutes only results in a diluted viewer experience. Having said that, the basic idea is pretty clever.

Visher is about a wheelchair-bound Indian man called Hari (Rahul Chakraborty) who lives in Texas and makes his living as an online scammer. Early scenes make it clear Hari isn’t happy in his work and doing what he does places him in a moral dilemma. After scamming one victim out of $20,000 by phoning him and using electronic technology to make his voice sound like the guy’s mother, he apologises to the small statue of Ganesh the elephant god he keeps on his desk, stating he has to do it to feed his family back home.

Hari does not work solo. He’s part of an organisation and receives his victims’ initial contact details and financial profile via telephone from someone higher up the chain.

Following the $20,000 scam, he moves on to a victim worth $90,000. Her name is Ruth (Mandy Lee Rubio) and Hari makes initial contact by calling her posing as someone from her bank.

After successfully obtaining her bank details, Hari, who is obviously a very lonely man, shows signs of infatuation, checks an online map, and discovers Ruth lives within a commutable distance. He then rings her back and says the bank has learned her computer has been compromised by a virus, tricking her into providing him with access to her computer.

While he is allegedly trying to find and remotely remove the virus, he is really going through her personal files and spying on her via the cameras on her computer and phone. He also gains access to her security system and can spy on every room of her home. One way or another, this invasion of privacy proves to be his undoing. Ruth’s home appears to be haunted by a demonic entity that he can see via the cameras.

Concerned for her safety, he calls Ruth back and while he is talking to her witnesses some pretty scary manifestations and spiritual attacks, resulting in him taking steps that compromise his personal safety.

One of the most frightening things about Visher is it demonstrates how easy it is for scammers to fool people into revealing personal details and compromising the security of their online technology. Both actors provide believable performances and Chakraborty does a particularly good job of making Hari seem sad and creepy while also demonstrating a more caring side to his personality.

Rubio puts on a good performance too and, as her character reveals some of the problems she’s been dealing with, comes across as a vulnerable person who’s gone through a lot.

Unfortunately, as the film picks up pace, the whole scenario becomes more and more ridiculous and the characters’ behaviour causes them to lose credibility.

As for the finish, it’s in poor taste with hints of upcoming necrophilia so when the final credits roll it comes as a relief.

Although it has its moments and is pretty unnerving in places, Visher isn’t a film that’s likely to wow many viewers. Nevertheless, if you want to get a better understanding of how vishing works, Visher may help you do it.