Imagine stepping into a movie theatre and getting literally pulled into the film itself—that’s the wild setup for Devil’s Double Next Level. Santhanam plays Kissa 47, a film reviewer with a flair for saying “bro” more times than you can count. When he and his friends attend a special screening by the mysterious director Hitchcock Irudhayaraj (played by Selvaraghavan), they find themselves sucked into the film’s deadly storyline, controlled by a magical diary.
The premise is bold, and the setting—ranging from eerie cinemas to a low-rent mystical island—is quirky enough to intrigue. But the execution? Not quite next level. Despite Santhanam’s usual comic timing, the jokes often miss their mark, leaning too much on slapstick and toilet humor. You expect to laugh a lot, but those moments are too few and far between.
The film tries to be smart with heavy doses of meta commentary—characters are constantly reminding you they know they’re in a movie. But what could’ve been clever quickly turns into overkill. After the fifth “We’re in a film!” moment, it starts to feel less witty and more worn out.
Still, it’s not all bad. Mottai Rajendran as Veenpechu Babu delivers some genuine laughs, especially in his scenes with Gautham Menon, who plays a deadpan investigative officer. Their exchanges offer brief but welcome comic relief. Unfortunately, the female characters get little more than the standard “scream and look scared” treatment.
Visually, the film looks decent—sets are imaginative and the VFX are polished. But glossy visuals can’t hide the shaky humor or inconsistent pacing. For a film with so much going on, it ironically feels like it needed another round of edits to really come together.