418 Movie Review Roundup: Prashanth Neel’s Horror Debut With Mythri Opens to a Split Verdict

Prashanth Neel’s first foray into horror is out in theatres. 418 (also billed as 418: The Film and 418: The Last Warning), presented by the KGF and Salaar director and produced by Mythri Movie Makers, released worldwide on October 23 in Telugu and Kannada — shot simultaneously in both languages — alongside dubbed versions in Tamil and Hindi. Paid premieres in Dolby Atmos theatres on October 22 pulled in Rs 66.82 lakh from 362 shows at 41.5% occupancy, per trade estimates.

Directed by debutant Kirtan Nadagouda — a former associate of Neel on the KGF series — the film centres on a medical college hostel in coastal Karnataka, where Room No. 418, in a building that was once a mental asylum, remains sealed amid disturbing rumours. Chaithra J. Achar leads the cast alongside Ramesh Indira, Surya Raj Veerabathini, Charan Lakkaraju and Preethi Pagadala.

The early critics’ verdict is a split one. 123telugu rated it 2.75/5, praising its atmospheric horror over cheap jump scares, its sustained spooky mood and Chaithra J. Achar’s standout, genuinely scary performance — while calling the climax confusing and the pacing uneven. Gulte went lower at 2.25/5, asking whether the film lived up to the makers’ own “scariest movie ever” billing. Tenvow has it at 5.5/10, with the film tracking around Rs 0.25 crore net on day one, per trade estimates.

Here is the Filmverse take: the review split is less about 418 and more about what Indian audiences now demand from horror. The critics who responded well to it credit exactly the thing the genre’s biggest commercial hits usually skip — sustained atmosphere and a real backstory — while the dissenters are judging it against the “scariest ever” marketing Neel’s own name invited. That marketing tension is the film’s defining gamble: attaching a mass-action brand to a moody supernatural mystery guarantees curiosity but also the wrong expectations in some pockets of the audience. For Mythri, though, this is the more important story — their first horror production opens a new genre lane for a banner built on action spectacles, and the paid-premiere numbers suggest the brand trust alone is buying them an audience. If word of mouth settles around the film’s atmospheric strengths rather than its hype, 418 could still find its weekend.

Note: All box-office figures are trade estimates and may be revised as official data comes in.

Source: 123telugu, Gulte, Tenvow, TrackTollywood

Team Filmverse

Filmverse is an independent entertainment news desk covering Bollywood and Indian cinema — news, trailers, reviews and box office, published daily from Mumbai.