1980s Ramsay Brothers Horror - Part Three

TAHKHANA
(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.

 

VEERANA
(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.

 

PURANI HAVELI
(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.

1980s Ramsay Brothers Horror - Part Two

HOTEL
(1981)
Overall: MEH

 

The third straight horror film that the Ramsay brothers released in 1981 alone, Hotel takes longer than even most to get to the freaky set pieces, about ninety minutes in fact which is likely too long of a wait for even the most patient of genre enthusiasts.  Until the newly constructed hotel of the title gets the haunted treatment so far into the proceedings, we are forced to witness overacting characters occasionally laughing with each other, occasionally backstabbing each other, and occasionally flirting with each other, including one burly and aggressive man who unknowingly drinks a potion that is meant for a lady which turns him into a flamboyant homosexual because the early 80s were a different time.  The musical interludes are frequent in number, the wacky sound effect-ridden slapstick is also frequent in number, the exaggerated yelling is, (you guessed it), also ALSO frequent in number, but the last act has some fun supernatural set pieces to get behind.  Transparent ghost zombies coming out of the walls, wailing scary noises on the soundtrack, a guy getting impaled, a guy getting crushed by a chandelier during a song and dance number, a guy getting run over by a driver-less car, and another getting electrocuted, etc.

 

PURANA MANDIR
(1984)
Overall: MEH

 

Over-burdended with dopey, tasteless slapstick subplots as well as a staggering five musical numbers, Purana Mandir, (The Old Temple), suffers from the usual Bollywood ailments that Tulsi and Shyam Ramsay's genre films indulged in.  On the plus side, it does deliver a lot of ghoulish window dressing and censored exploitation within its laborious one-hundred and thirty-eight minute running time.  The camera zoom abuse is off the charts, along with tons of fog, blaring noises, a guy who gets ping-pong ball eyes after being possessed by a headless demon, said headless demon rejoining with his body to enact his centuries-prophesied curse, Bava-esque lighting on a creepy mansion and underground crypt, torch-bearing villagers, and a bloody shower scene where the woman keeps her one-piece bathing suit on since nudity of any kind is never allowed in these movies.  Men gawk at cleavage, and Indian comedian Jagdeep portrays a completely unnecessary scenery-chewing rapist character who looks like Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder, getting plenty of screen time against the film's better judgement.  The main gist of the story involves the classic motif of a condemned bad guy vowing his revenge on the decedents of his persecutors, which is something that the Ramsay's certainly deliver on for long stretches.  Unfortunately, they also deliver on pointless padding that makes the whole thing bloated and significantly skippable.

 

SAAMRI
(1985)
Overall: MEH

 

One of the Ramsay brothers more straightforward genre works that mercifully clocks in at under two hours, Saamri, (Satan), is otherwise no different or worse than the lot of the sibling duo's outrageous horror movies.  Several cast members who had previously appeared in Ramsay joints show up again, and unfortunately one of them is the obnoxious and wretchedly unfunny comedian Jagdeep, here playing a mansion servant called Changez Khan who mugs directly into camera, jumps up and down like Daffy Duck, and bulldozes though inane dialog.  Removing his character entirely would help wonders, but the Ramsay brothers continually balanced out the garish horror bits with dopey comic relief, all of which enhances both the madness and the boredom.  The story finds Anirudh Agarwal playing the one-hundred and thirty-five year old occult sorcerer title character who is murdered by family members in order to get a hold of his wealthy estate, only to be resurrected by his goonie and sent on a zombie revenge mission.  A few of the set pieces are over the top and fun, sometimes adhering to brute violence and other times arbitrary supernatural "logic" just to get the bad guys systematically out of the way.  Also, one of the musical numbers is a reworking of Michael Jackson's "Thriller", not to be confused with that other Bollywood clip that went viral from A. Kodandarami Reddy's film Donga, coincidentally from the same year.

1980s Ramsay Brothers Horror - Part One

GUEST HOUSE

(1980)

Overall: MEH

 

The 1980s kicked off with a slew of horror films from the Ramsay brothers, Guest House continuing the previously established template of low-grade production values, over-acting, tons of fog, occasional ghoulish set pieces, and both unintentional and intentionally goofy atmosphere.  Roaming gangs of ruffians trying to rape women must have been a persistent problem in India since every one of the Ramsay's horror films up until this point featured at least one scene where a lady is chased in broad daylight by men trying to get in her pants, only for a hero to spontaneously emerge to kick and punch them away.  Said moment as well as prerequisite musical numbers pop up, none of which are necessary to a tale about a group of characters that willfully murder and bury a guy who stays at the guest house of the title in order to get their hands on his expensive ring, one of these characters severing the hand that it was on in order to pay off gambling debts.  The story is too simple, (and idiotic), the tone too inconsistent, and the length too long to make it something worth recommending, but as always, sporadic enjoyment can be found for patient viewers who can lock into the Ramsay's quirky agenda.

 

DAHSHAT

(1981)

Overall: MEH

 

One of the better and certainly more consistent of the Ramsay brother's large crop of low-budget horror films, Dahshat, (Terror), is a simple and contemporary mad scientist romp that minimalizes the usual goofy detours into slapstick comedy, tedious melodrama, and mood-killing musical numbers.  It still gets off to a sluggish start and is at least thirty minutes too long, but the Ramsay's keep the fog machine running day or night, throwing grave robbing into the mix from the onset, which leads to the discovery of a superhuman, blue-skinned mute in a black hood, and then Om Shivpuri conducting vague experiments on animals in a colorful and also fog-laden laboratory.  This comes back to bite him in the ass when his neglected and embittered wife shoots him up with his own syndrome after one of his adulterous flings, at which point the movie shifts into a quasi-Jekyll and Hyde slasher scenario where Shiypuri turns into a beast, attacks people, and keeps trying to get a colleague of his on the phone before he kills again.  The makeup effects are primitive of course, but they are also striking in the sense that variations are used, depending on what stage of transformation Shiypuri is settling into.  Sometimes he looks like Hyde, sometimes a werewolf, sometimes a full blown snake man, and sometimes a combination of all three.  We also get more than one spontaneous angry, torch-bearing mob scenes because what horror movie involving a monster chase can go without some of those?

 

SANNATA

(1981)

Overall: MEH

 

For Sannata, (Silence), Shyam and Tulsi Ramsay find a way to integrate the prerequisite Bollywood song and dance numbers into the actual narrative, concocting a story where a vengeful spirit sings a pop tune equipped with full instrumental production values whenever she means to claim another victim.  Well, such as the tale goes since what is actually happening, (and what kind of framework the movie adheres to), is a slasher killer in a garish Halloween mask and black robe who goes knife-happy on people staying at an estate.  In typical old dark house whodunit style, the guests and police try and figure out the culprit with ingenious tactics like simply waiting around every night to see who is killed next, and it all becomes tedious despite the Ramsay's gaining a little more stylistic confidence.  The cinematography is less stagnant than usual, plus a red "Cinemagic" filter is utilized to spice up the still D-grade visuals.  Fans of the filmmaking sibling's now established M.O. will be pleased though since the fog machine still gets a heavy workout, plus the performances are as far from subtle as ever, as is the goofy slapstick which comes equipped with cartoon sound effects.

1970s Foreign Horror Part Thirty-Two (Ramsay Brothers Edition)

DO GAZ ZAMEEN KE NEECHE

(1972)

Overall: MEH

 

Serving as the first of many subsequent horror films from the Ramsay brothers Tulsi and Shyam, Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche, (Two Yards Under the Ground), suffers from many of the prerequisite failings that low-budget genre works from the era did, particularly those that try to meld Western tropes and melodrama with Eastern mores and folkways.  This particular Bollywood example is more bog-standard than exploratory for its cultural backdrop, essentially being an Indian variation of greedy family members offing one of their own in order to get their hands on copious amounts of cash in a locked safe.  There are no horror bits whatsoever until ninety minutes in when Surender Kumar's wealthy protagonist succumbs to poisoning at the hand of Shobhna; a woman that he saved from being raped, had a romantic moment with, and whose honor he tried to salvage by marrying her.  Unfortunately for him, Shobhna, her other love interest, and her uncle scheme to take advantage of her good fortune, yet unfortunately for the later crop of money-grubbing characters, Kumar decides to resurrect himself as a zombie.  There is no build up to this reveal, and the film merely becomes a haphazard dump of arbitrary cliches from there, where Kumar's animated corpse sometimes behaves like one, sometimes has the supernatural powers of a poltergeist, and can appear and reappear anywhere at will.  This is all before the rug-pull Scooby-Doo ending that insults the viewer ever further.

 

DARWAZA

(1978)

Overall: MEH

 

After a six year break, the Ramsay brothers Tulsi and Shyam return to the horror genre which they would continue to indulge in throughout the following decade with Darwaza, a typically boisterous, overlong, unintentionally silly, and occasionally striking foray into their own particular Bollywood take on the genre.  If one wants to guarantee alcohol poisoning, a drinking game can be made every time that the camera rapidly zooms in on a character's face while a loud trumpet noise blares on the soundtrack, something that serves the startling purpose of a jump scare yet is done in such comical abundance as to become disorienting.  There is a hefty cast in place, all over-acting to the gills and flying into bouts of crying mania or ragefull and demanding outbursts, all of this along with the busy editing contributing to the over-the-top tone.  The location shooting does not allow for the European or Westernized style gothic scenery, but the Ramsay's make it a point to drench every horror set piece in fog, blaring the scary music, casting shadows on the nondescript walls, and even venturing into an earthy and candlelit dungeon to discover the identity of the film's towering, char-faced, werewolf-like monster.  Angry villagers, curses, cars breaking down, forbidden mansions, dark family secrets, revenge, unnecessary musical numbers; it is all here for better or worse.

 

AUR KAUN?

(1979)

Overall: MEH

 

Tulsi and Shyam Ramsay closed out the 1970s with another wacky horror film, Aur Kaun?, (Who Else?), having the usual combination of bombastic and slapdash elements.  Jet-powered fog, rapid-fire camera zooms, blaring soundtrack cues, characters flying into melodramatic rages, and even a finale where everyone slides through the mud while battling each other, it is a ridiculous watch if one is to merely point out the most outlandish aspects.  At over two-hours as was the norm, it is bogged-down by random song and dance numbers, (which was also the norm), and is more problematic due to a razor-thin story that is stretched to a breaking point with redundant dialog and bare bones production values.  The Ramsay's still crank it up to eleven when going for genre freakiness, but these moments are fewer and more far between than in their previous two horror works.  It is mostly yelling, crying, more yelling, and aggressive comic relief as Padmini Kapila's teacher spirit kind-of-not-really haunts Sachin Pilgaonkar, only for us to find out that someone who we thought was dead never was.  The movie comes to life when it kicks into aggressive gear and has its own semblance of logic for those who can simply ride the wave, but the downtime in between such moments proves detrimental to the whole.