Hells Ground is a Brilliant Throwback to 70s and 80s Horror from a Very Unlikely Place
Hells Ground is what happens when you blend The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Romero's Dead films, a pinch of Scooby-Doo, and a whole lot of Middle-Eastern spice.
Written by Crypticpsych, James Lasome
January 4, 2009
Watch the Hells Ground Horror Movie Trailer!
Release: June 24, 2008 (U.S. DVD)
Directed by: Omar Khan
Starring:
Ashfaq Bhatti as Masih
Haider Raza as Simon
Kunwar Ali Roshan as Vicky
Osman Khalid Butt as OJ
Rubya Chaudhry as Roxy
Rooshanie Ejaz as Ayesha
One of the reasons that horror films continue to thrive over the years is a near-universal appeal that spreads across continents and languages. I’ve reviewed many from around the world including such places as Asia (Three... Extremes), Italy (Demons), France (13 Tzameti), and England (Tales from the Crypt), but every so often I stumble across something… special. Hells Ground (aka: Zibahkhana): the horror flick billed as “The first PAKISTANI gore flick” is a very special film. Calling it a “gore flick” is a bit of a stretch, but it’s definitely a fantastic and different rethinking of the slasher genre with effective bloodshed through another culture’s eyes.
After an effective opening kill involving a car accident and a brilliant camera angle showing blood running down the moon, we meet our cast of characters: Roxy (Rubya Chaudhry), the spoiled one who is disrespectful to her parents; Simon (Haider Raza), the generally good guy who is beaten down by his father and hides his low social standing from his rich friends; Ayesha (Rooshanie Ejaz), the pious and respectful good girl; OJ (Osman Khalid Butt), the horror movie lover and lazy stoner; and Vicky (Kunwar Ali Roshan) who picks up the VERY eccentric van used in the movie (hence the Scooby-Doo). These five friends get together to drive across Pakistan to go see the country’s biggest rock band. Along the way, they stop at a famous spice cake and tea shop run by a creepy older man named Deewana (Rehan). Deewana warns the quintet that they should turn back for they are all headed for their doom in the surrounding area known as Hells Ground.
This being a reasonably by-the-books slasher, the kids ignore his warnings and head further into the woods. It’s at this point that Hells Ground plays “spot the influences” with its audience. First we have a very effective spin on Romero’s social commentary “Dead” movies with the poor of Pakistan becoming bloodthirsty zombies by way of drinking contaminated water. This is precluded earlier in the movie by numerous shots of protests against government inactivity. Then the movie turns into a pitch-perfect riff on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre right down to the hitchhiker who freaks out our cast and the violent murderer in a shack filled with power tools and various implements (this time being a man in a burkha wielding one of the most awesome weapons I’ve ever seen in a horror movie: a makeshift ball and chain made of a 2x4, metal chain, and a massive, jaggedly spiked ball). There’s even a twisted family aspect to it that seems lifted straight out of the 70s classic! Which of our heroes will survive the night and what will happen to those who don’t?
I realize from what I’ve said that Hells Ground seems like it’s just a riff on its predecessors. What raises it above that, though, is that the movie imbibes those aspects with a spirit spawned in Pakistani culture. This, of course, goes beyond the fact that the movie is basically a 50-50 split between heavily accented English and Urdu with English subtitles. The opening credits roll over a series of shots of daily life in Pakistan, serving to point out to the viewer that this isn’t exactly the Western/European world we’re used to. The rest of the movie is also effectively scored with some songs that sound like a careful blend of Bollywood and retro grindhouse movies. Finally, while it should be patently obvious to any slasher-phile which of the above characters might not survive, the way the movie seamlessly blends pagan religion and healers into this construct while also driving home the idea that these kids are partially in danger because they aren’t being “good children” (the characters continually get asked why they are out driving instead of praying or going to school) is distinct and original. This is, of course, not including the always welcome sight of the rare Pakistani carnivorous dwarf zombie…
There are even some interesting visual tricks director Omar Ali Khan uses to great effect. Besides the blood moon I already discussed, he has a habit of building tension using shots of a spiderweb coming closer and closer to completion, paralleling how close a character is to death. He also jumps quickly from the happy, music-loving and drug-taking kids to scenes of isolation, unrest and poverty, further underlining how blissfully unaware most of them are of their surroundings.
The only flaw in Hells Ground is a frequently used visual effect. For some reason, there are a few random comic book style transition shots interspersed through the movie. While these do work at the very beginning in the opening credits, they appear randomly in the movie afterwards and kind of serve to do nothing but break action. For example, when the burkha-clad killer makes his first appearance, suddenly there is a comic panel transition before his attack. Why? Why not just have him attack? It just feels totally unnecessary.
That being said, the panel transition is small potatoes when Khan reinvents, spices up, and pays homage to a stale genre so well. A trip into Hells Ground is definitely recommended for all and required for fans of classic 70s and 80s slashers, and one hopes this film gets enough publicity that we see more from Khan and Pakistan in the genre. Questions or comments about Hells Ground? Discuss it on The Ossuary Forums!
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