(1986)
Overall: MEH
Men trying to rape women, other men jumping in to save those women with their martial arts abilities, villagers with torches, and a growling unleashed monster are all motifs that the Ramsay brothers had utilized many times before, all of which are at the forefront of Tahkhana, (Dungeon). It is a paint-by-numbers effort in this regard, offering up nothing unique to Shyam and Tulsi Ramsay's oeuvre, just more of the same, done the same. Musical numbers and embarrassing comic relief segments drag out the already hefty running time, another hallmark for Bollywood genre films in general, not just the ones made by these prolific gentlemen. The rape angle is comically overdone as Imtiaz Khan portrays a scumbag that forcibly tries to get in a women's pants in virtually every scene that he is in, going so far as to murder a lady in his first attempt yet still going for it time and time again. Slow motion, much fog, an imposing creature that wails ridiculously with garish makeup on, females being objectified left and right, and a finale where our hero dressed as Rambo pushes enormous pillars onto the monster in order to defeat it are all silly additions.
(1988)
Overall: MEH
Opening with the usual gag of a black sorcerer doing black sorcerer shit, Veerana, (Deserted Palace), ultimately morphs into the Ramsay brother's version of The Exorcist, be it in a singular enough manner that is nowhere near as blatant as many of the other knock-offs that came in the wake of William Friedkin's masterpiece. A young woman gets possessed by an ancient and powerful witch who mostly allows her to live her life normally as said young woman for over a decade before occasionally having a monster voice, widening her eyes, and threatening to kill people more than she actually kills people. Her powers are arbitrary, (she has the ability to change her form, teleport, and make a scared therapist's car stop, all of which she only does once, per example), and as usual, Shyam and Tulsi Ramsay are more concerned with stretching the running time to over two hours with musical numbers and atrocious comic relief, neither of which have any barring on the narrative. Naturally, this is all per the course and unfortunately, one has to suffer through roughly forty plus minutes of irritating and tone-murdering nonsense in order to enjoy the overtly horror elements which are the true selling points. Said elements are here and they are fun, but as a whole, this is as faulty as all of the Ramsay brother's other work.
(1989)
Overall: MEH
Their last horror film of the 1980s, the Ramsay brother's Purani Haveli, (Mansion of Evil), does almost everything that their previous many other horror films did, for better or worse depending on one's tolerance level. We have a monster living in a crypt, a big haunted mansion, roaming thugs of rapists who the hero kung-fu fights in broad daylight, pointless side arcs and obnoxious bozos who provide ruinous comic relief, and a shady asshole who is trying to get his hands on something of value. Also, the Ramsay's have long locked-in their style which persistently contradicts itself. They can create cranked-up atmosphere, yet they also dilute it with large amounts of horrendous silliness and song and dance numbers. The horror set dressing looks great on account of the meager budget, but the set pieces are clumsily handled. There is aggressive misogyny and scantily clad women getting eye-humped left and right, but never any nudity or sex scenes as to avoid going full exploitation. The music is often better and more memorable than the cheap synth scores that their Western counterparts lazily utilized, but they overdue it by playing the same snippets dozens and dozens of times throughout. These movies always feel their length and yet there is always a better movie hiding in there somewhere, one that requires significant editing to take out half the things that routinely fail. This is no exception, so proceed with caution.
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