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FOR ADULTS ONLY - THE BASTARD CHILD
For the longest time in the history of cinema, horror has been treated as a bastard child. Someone always looked down upon, never treated as a higher art form, always slotted as a B-grade flick.
I regard Stephen King is my god and guru, not just because of his capabilities to scare you but because of the characters he creates.
For the longest time I held on to a script with which I wanted to make as my debut film, you guessed it right, it was a horror film, but did not get any backers saying horror does not work.
For me horror is not just about scaring people, it’s about creating a whole new world, where the suspension of disbelief has to be far greater than a normal genre. It’s a world where we can stick to old rules or create new ones, a world without boundaries in it’s script, structure and visuals.
I first met RGV when he was doing sync effects at Purple Haze studio in Bandra for a Telegu film called Deyyam inspired by Stephen Kings Pet Cemetary. The first thing he liked about me was according to him I looked like Stephen King (I had hair at that time) and also the fact that I used to carry my Press card and instead of my photograph it had a snap of Stephen King! That afternoon was a very special one where I interviewed him for 30 mins but chatted about horror films and novels for the next 4 hours.
The first horror film, which I experienced in my life, was ‘heard’ not seen. In those days not everyone had a TV set, having a color TV was the equivalent of having a Mercedes. Having a video player was living the high life. I was the resident movie expert, the boys from our colony would collect Rs 1 each, to rent a English film worth Rs 10 and Hindi were Rs 15. When it came to English films, I would tell them what to get, thus recommending a English film would spare me of shelling out my share of the money, but the onus was on me, if they did not like the movie, the ten of them would make me pay for it, the only time I had to shell out money was when I wanted to see Untouchables! The morons were expecting an action packed gangster film not a film where the only action in the first half was the exploding bomb. So while they went out to shag seeing Debonair center spreads at a hidden spot behind an electric tower, I experienced the sheer joy of watching Untouchables all alone.
So now you know what the world was then. Coming back to my first ‘audio’ horror film!
The 16 year olds decided to have a movie day, they hired Bheegi Palkhien (Raj Babbar, Smita Patel crying throughout the film as the movie suggests) so that their family members could watch it and then go to sleep, the second movie would be the scariest movie ever ‘Evil Dead’. I all of nine at that time (two years post release) and sat with a very grave expression and saw the very grim and weepy Bheegi Palkien, and when the time came I was told to go home as Evil Dead is an adults film! I begged and reasoned but to no avail. All kids were kicked out. So again while they were playing cricket, I put my ear to the door of the apartment and heard the whole film! And then had nightmares for a whole week.
No other film had ever had this kind of power on me. I tried for years to see the film but the video library owner who would gladly give us a soft porn flick would not give us Evil Dead. I finally saw my first horror film Evil Dead when I was 14, then I saw Exorcist, The Basket Case, The Incredible Melting Man, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street and the works.
I loved the Ramsay movies. Purana Mandir, Saamree and Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche are my all time favorites. Woh Kaun Thi, Gumnaam and Mahal are god level films though expect for the latter both WKT and Gumnaam are not really horror films.
While horror was still and still is being treated like a cheesy form of teenage entertainment with the exception of Exorcist, Omen, Rosemary’s Baby and a few others. Italian Cinema took it to an art for with Dario Argento making Suspiria, Tenebre, Inferno and the works.
Though in the last ten years horror has taken on a new level of brilliance with Asian filmmakers like Hideo Nakata, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takashi Miike, Pang brothers giving us some of the most exceptional horror films in a long time. Ringu the entire series, Dark Water, Audition(it will make you scream without any ghost in it), Pulse, The Suicide Club (not supernatural), Tale of two sisters, Whispering Corridors, Ju-on, Tomie, Uzumaki, Acasia are just some of the names, the biggest hit in South Korea right now is The Host, a massive budget creature horror film made by Joon-ho Bong, the man who made the superlative Memories of Murder (a real life serial killer movie).
There are filmmakers like Goerge Romero, John Carpenter who have spent their life devoting it to the genre of horror. Today an M Night Shyamalan treads the path of mixing the supernatural in all his films trying to give it legitimacy.
Its big bucks for horror all over the world, yet in India a culture so rich in tales of the supernatural and a culture so steeped in superstition that its part of our daily life, why is it that we don’t have horror films being made and taken seriously?
All actors want to do an action film or a romantic film, the same with filmmakers. None of them ever mention wanting to do a horror film! I don’t think saying that horror films don’t work is an excuse. Films don’t work because there must have been something inherently wrong in them. RGV post the failure of all his horror films including Raat kept saying ‘I want to make a hit horror film’ which he did with Bhoot. But the market forces which fund such ventures dispel its success by saying that was because of its casting or no one would see it!
What the fuck?
If a film flops then you say audiences don’t want to see it, if it works you say it’s because of the cast. I’m sure there are millions out there who want to be scared shitless and have nightmares that night and the next day say that they weren’t scared. Because out off all genres a horror film accordingly to me is a true big screen experience, to sit in a dark theater, lost in your horror, to be joined in nervous laughter and to be led to scream as a collective experience, its nothing like one can recreate anywhere.
Zombie movies, slasher movies, movies about possession and alien invasion and invaders and creature movies, I’m sure we each have a horror movie we love. I think its time we gave this bastard child legitimacy, its time we started making 5 horror films a year.
Who wants to see a horror film?
Say BOO
48 Responses to “FOR ADULTS ONLY - THE BASTARD CHILD”
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I don’t go for horror but I get your meaning. I didn’t think much of Bhoot, except for Rekha’s performance. She needs to be in more movies, that’s one actress that deserves to have more movie roles.
I think Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness are my favorite horror films. I could go for body horror or zombie films. Hitchcock all the way. Don’t go in for the clive barker gore-a-thon unless its like evil dead 2, treated as something over the top. I haven’t watched most modern horror films just because I could care less. The connotation that its a horror film just saps any interest I might have. I did see the ring, and have seen most of the asian horror films, but now its getting tiring. Americans are just getting introduced to asian horror and its already jumped the shark. Seriously, just because he’s asian doesn’t mean he can do horror better than anyone else. The Grudge 2 is proof enough.
Leaving Hitchcock aside, my favorite horror moment has to be when Ash goes mad in Evil Dead 2. The whole madness and absurdity of the entire scene is funny and crazy at the same time, what with the laughing moose and the books.
My personal favorite, I’m sure other people have far better examples. Any particular genre has stigmatas of its own. The comic book genre seems to be especially favored in Hollywood right now.
I went to the see the hulk and got played like a chump,
looked like ang lee took a big fat dump
Hi,
i guess you belong to late seventies & early eighties generation because the films you have mentioned are exactly the kind of films i freaked out on.we used to give tv & vcr on hire & i was the walking talking box office barometer & critic of my area. and yes i am huge horror fan. i believe horror film have the ability to bring people together. the experience after watching a horror film in the late night show and then walking on a lonely street is undescribable.we definetly need horror films every year. i for one have decided that my 2nd or 3rd film will be a horror film. 1st can’t be for obvious reason.there are very few takers for horror.
Finally something on Horror!
It is the coolest thing in fiction. You are bang on about the exaggerated suspension of disbelief thing in horror. Horror is truly boundless. For me horror is the coolest way to deconstruct the very plank of cinema, the pretense. You watch a horror film because you want to be scared, and you know it, you know that it is unreal, what more you could ask for the magic of films/fiction?
And that is where the best horror comes from, when you give in to the writer or the film maker, and flow with him in his fantastical realms/sojourns.
I completely agree with you on the amazing possibilities of the oriental and eastern supernatural in films. I guess RGV is the only guy who trips on it. But the genre will only be a success when we learn to laugh at ourselves.
My horror memories date back to Ramsay films and Doordarshan serials like Kiley ka rahasya, and aahat(sony) later. Though they were predictable, but still fun. In films, I loved getting scared watching Raat(RGV), Mahal(old one feat ashok kumar and madhubala-timeless!). Evil dead was a sorta cult in India in the late eighties, a wealthy cousin of the Ramsay school of films. I also attribute my love for B grade to Ramsay, now that I see the acclaimed tragic-comic cinema of the west, it takes me back to a hat-sporting om shiv puri or satish shah doin some sleazy dancing jig with the hottie-turned-chudail in umpteen of those purani haveli, bhoot bangle films.
I probably missed the prime years of horror, what came my way were more spoofs than real horror gems.
The few films I have enjoyed lately are The Ring(part 1), the last horror film, RGV’s horror/comedy/deconstruction flicks, The Omen.
If you like deconstruction ones then you might wanna check out a film called The Last Horror Film, it’s kind of corny, but cool deconstructing the genre stuff.
In the west, i like the subdued horror of cronenberg, kubrick and guilerimo del torro(pan’s labyrinth).
I am still dying to check out mario bava, takeshi miike, hideo nakata, dario argento, james whale, lucky mckee, don conscrelli, stuart gordon…
BOOOO….
:-ss
When I was a lickle kid I used to watch those horror dramas on TV - it was showed during early 90s - I cannot remember what channel it was. Anyway, I used to love it even though it used to come late and I got scared of sleeping alone. I have not seen those dramas for ages - I doubt I would find it scary anymore, in fact I might find it funny.
After Bhoot’s successes so many investors wanted to cash in - many horror flicks came out but none worked, hence, everyone said Bhoot worked cos it had star - hardly! Urmila was nothing before that movie - this movie redefined her career. I like both Bhoot and Raat - but Raat is much scarier the RGV’s second version of Raat.
Apparently, RGV was going to make a another horror film called ‘Choodel No. 1′? Does anyone know anything about it?
Suparn-ji, if you had told the investors we would have himesh playing ‘Ek Baar Aa-ja’ song and will show that this song certainly brings ghost out of their graveyard.. then the investors would have been jumping up and down - would have given you cash to make the movie ;)
Hi Rony, am 32 now, so Im the late 70’s 80’s 90’s generation:) and since u cant label me lets call me Gen XXX ;-)
Honhaar, after Raat and Bhoot only the only horror films to come out were Saaya, Krishna Cottage, four version of The Others out off which only two released, a version of Entity which had Tabu in it. I had heard reports in between Bhatt was planning to remake The Eye with Rani Mukherjee 3 years ago but that never materialsed. But point being Raat and Bhoot are both 5 year old now. So the amount of horror films tried post then are not even 1% of the yearly films made.
Hey Suparn
you talk about horror films and don’t mention The Shining. It’s like having sweets without tasting sugar. I thought 100 Days was a good (and inspired) effort from Partho Ghosh. Anyways, how you been? I don’t know whether you remember me… this is Pratim D. Gupta from The Telegraph, Cal. We spoke at length before EKEH… Are you making anything new?
Cheers!
I agree this is one genre where nothing much has been done in India.
…compared to hollywood RGV hasnt even started yet (may be budget constraints)…
…and hollywood is churning out these horror ‘clones’ (crossbreed of Japanese horror flicks + Shyamalan kind of cinema + alien concept…etc) almost every week…all look the same (read NON SCARY)and have no life or substance…
After reading the article I realise how less we have explored this genre 8-|8-|
…all said …genre is little tricky…but thats what makes it more attractive as there are no benchmarks set…
Would love to watch a really intruging horror flick…(and JU ON GRUDGE…RING 1,2…etc were not scary[-x)
Suparn,
I guess you and I fall in the same category of Gen W ( the one’s before Gen X!) and the taste in the same films like what you have mentioned is due to the availablity of such films in the 70s and 80s. ;-)
I must admit that the korean and japanese horror films have changed the way hollywood has started making horror films. Ringu, etc have totally changed the face of the horror genre. No more nightmares on elm street!
I remember liking the first half of raat before they went into witchcraft etc. The suspense of the first half was too good ( for its time). I dont know whether anybody would (care to ) remember a film called MANGALSUTRA. This was about Rekha being Vinod Mehra’s wife and fighting for his life against supernatural forces. Came out in the 80s. I still remember that it gave me sleepless nights!
I also remember seeing Vastushastra and then driving home at 1:00 AM in the morning with my wife. Seriously scared me at that time - while in hindsight the movie lost its grip in the last 30 minutes.
@ Pratim: I keep reading ur articles in the Telegraph ( being a fellow calcuttan.)I think you are doing a great job!
Big Filmmakers of past, Mahboob, K Asif, Gurudatt, Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy( Madhumati is not horror , before anyone points that out), Hrikesh Mukherjee, Vijay Anand etc and Satyajit Ray, Shyama Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Mrinal Sen, Adur Gopalkrishanan etc never made any horror film and never desired to make one. That should tell something why there are not a genere of horror films in India. Did Francis Copola tried to make a horror film?
Whats the reason?
sophocles:
yes Mangalsutra was there but it was less in horror category and more in superstition category.
Am an unabashed Stephen King junkie too, and hence the post struck a chord. Mention the genre, and what strikes me is Exorcist, Omen, Psycho & The Shining (one that you seem to have forgotten). Other Stephen King gems such as IT, Pet Semetary etc were badly mauled as films.
Indian horror movies - think there are not many - truly -scary ones. Prob RGV’s Raat, Kaun & Bhoot had moments. Liked the Darna… series too, thought they were not strictly horror - more like the Firday 13 series - spoof-like. Didnt like the Ramsay set much - prefer the psychological kinds rather than ghosts and banshees popping out of nowehere, i think!
Hi Pratim, once I mentioned Stephen King I thought I covered everything made on his work:)and yes I remember u
RK, the reason the filmmakers havent made the genre of horror is because it was not their sensiblity, simple as that, like Karan Johar will never made a satya because the genre does not interest him, rgv will never make kkhh for the very same reasons, its all about what you enjoy as a filmmaker and what genre do u enjoy telling a story about
Hi Suparn,
I think you are missing something Ramu has actually produced and directed in some of the scariest movies ever made in any cinema like:
JAMES…NAACH…SHIVA (recent…previous one is class apart)…VASTUSHASTRA (cocktail of Hollywood horror flicks @ 1% of their total budget)
…although this genre is done to death in Hollywood with a horror cocktail (Some South Asian Flick + M Night Shyamalan effect + ALIENS…etc etc) releasing every other week.
But yes now I have realized how less has been done in this tricky genre…and how much more we can do (as there are no set benchmarks)…
…and yes JU ON …Ring 1,2…Hostel…etc.etc…are not Scary enough…JAMES…NAACH is :-)
Hi Suparn:
Its dot on line that mentioned filmmakers did not make horror films because it was not their sensibility and one more thing to add here that it was not appealing to their sensitive side. May be cinema was having different meaning for them.
Suppose a brilliant film maker makes a horror film with whole his talent and it becomes so real that few people are died in cinema hall!!!
Does horror class, can be termed as films for masses? This can be the reason that a small number of people go there to watch horror films in cinema hall and thats why horror film makers have been using almost same format, a dangerous type mask, fat women to please those audience who come to see some skin show and ending is always very bogus. What was horror in beginig turn out to be a human cosnpiracy and this suggest that perhaps Vishaal Bhardwaj’s Makdee was far more horror than Ram Say and other horror filmmaker.
Why someone not try Horror in 3-D format that will create perfect effect.:)
Mean to say that Horror has been the last priority for the film makers worldwide, who are regarded today as great film makers and certainly there should be some reason why this field did not attract them?
Mystery suspense attracted them but they did not go to make out and out horror films.
Now it has been kind of brand estblishment for some film makers like M Shyamlayan. Like him some other may also feel to enter in this “not fully explored” genere of films. To do different can be a factor for so many film makers and because competition is almost nill here in this category. But question remains there that horror is never for masses then how to recover costs in India if you make a really good film in terms of quality as that demands extreme use of technology and costly means
i forgot to say:
Booo
another reason why investors would not wish to invest in horror genres is because there would not be a scope for typical (romantic/party) kind of musics, hence, no gimmicks.. no marketing which implies no income.. the product is more risky.
(Suparn-Ji, you sound like a person who knows a bit about marketing in India. Are Indians able to market a film without songs? Or say an ad without a jingle/song?)
Guys,
Another thing I forgot: Satyajit Ray. While most of us remember him for films like Pather Panchali etc, he was a master of the horror genre also. His TV serial - Satyajit Ray presents presented some excellent episodes based on his horror stories. He was also a prolific writer of stories including horror.
For any horror fans everyone usually recommends the twilight zone. However, I just got the dvd for Rod Serling’s Night Gallery and I must say that its much better, and IN COLOR!
I really loved those horror shows, especially the ones that used to be on Sony TV i forget itst name. Didn’t like the Zee Horror show, I thought that was a waste of time.
If not a horror movie, they should definitely do something like a twilight zone or night gallery again, and not in the campy style of the zee horror show. Actual, relevant stuff. If you didn’t know, the twilight zone was probably the only show on television in the 50s that got away with making political statements. Probably the best combination of scifi, mystery, horror and topical subjects on television.
Sophocles:
perhaps you are talking about Professor Shonku of Satyajit Ray. Ray made mystery tones serials and wrote books of that genere but not a typical horror.
YO RK, bro!
Nope - Shonku was more sci fi. Ray wrote a bunch of stuff that was pure horror. There is a whole bunch of them (In fact there is a two volume series on them). I remember two stories distinctly
1) Utpal Dutt is a ventriloquist and has a young student ( I think it was KK raina). The apprentice leaves and starts performing on his own but his doll is fashioned on Dutt. Dutt approaches him and tells him to stop but to no avail. The in the climax, they show dutt dying - and in his room, miles away, raina sees his doll coughing, spitting blood and dying at the same time. Man, I was a kid when I saw this - i simply freaked out and was scared out of my wits. There was a slow music in the climax that heightened the fear factor.
2) the second was about a man who meets his neighbour who is a painter. Except that he paints dead people - after they die and come to him as ghosts. The climax had the man dying and coming to get his painting made.
Ray had a strong eye for such themes and even in the satirical/comical Goopie Gayen Bagha Bayen - there was an amazing dance sequence performed by ghosts in the jungle.
I am not too big a fan of his social commentries like pather panchali - i found them too depressing. But his other films had a lot of depth and vision.
suparn, “the eye” was remade in hindi as “naina” with urmila. it’s obvious this was made to cash in on her success post-bhoot. though a decent attempt at bringing horror back to the big screen, it was way too slow for a horror movie, and i for one, started to fall asleep thru it.
thanks also for this post, as i’d been thinking about highlighting some of my favorite horror movies as well. as much as i LOVE watching horror flicks, i never thought i’d get pulled into the genre to the extent that i’d be working on at least one horror film every year. but it seems that’s all that’s coming my way. in 3 years, i’ve had the opportunity to act as a lead in 4 horror movies, including one which i start shooting next week! \:D/
Sophocles:
I know he wrote stories with mysterious themes. Ray was more in to detective type stories. he might have written some horror stories as well. But the serial, you are refereing, was not belonging to Sandip Ray, his son? cant recall properly:(
rk, his son had made a subsequent tv series called Sandip ray presents. Ray sr.’s series had come on TV somewhere in the Mid 80s. (In fact a very young and dapper shashi kapoor had acted in one of the episodes)
suparn, “the eye” was remade in hindi as “naina” with urmila. it’s obvious they were trying to cash in on her success post-bhoot. though a valiant attempt at bringing back horror to the big screen, it was too slow for a horror movie, and i fell asleep thru most parts. some of the “jumpy” scenes are well-executed but it doesn’t go beyond that. “bhoot” was decent, but not astonishingly scary.. i actually found ramu’s “kaun” to be a lot better! funny what you said about “bhoot” working for the cast though. that’s like saying “raaz” was a success because of dino [-( bottom line: the stories and execution were good, and they got the credit they deserved.
thanks also for this post. i’d been meaning to write a post to highlight a genre that is so unappreciated and underrated, and this tribute to horror is well written. as much as i LOVE horror movies, i never thought i’d get sucked into the genre to the extent where i’d be working in horror films at least once every year! in 3yrs, i’ve acted as a lead on 4 horror films, including one which i start shooting next week! \:D/ though it wouldn’t be an “exclusive” diary, do expect some posts and behind-the-scenes stills regarding this project, where i’ll be directed by john johnson of Darkstone Entertainment (www.darkstone-ent.net)
- Naina was another movie watched entirely in fast forward mode… didn’t anyone realize while watching the rushes or whatever they are called (dailies?) that it just was becoming a torturous journey of story… horrible… story flow wise… though I did notice some experimentations… but don’t remember them now… blame it on the fast forward button.
Sopocles: ya u r rt Sandeeep ray made his TV serial much later.I did not watch all episodes of Ray’s serial and certainly missing episode was havinh Shashi Kapoor as I dont recall him in any TV serial.:(
oh right.. and an emphatic BOO!! >:)
sophocles, do you know the name of the ray story with utpall dutt as a ventriloquist? that sounds like a must-rent for me!
also, for those who haven’t watched “the descent” yet, rent it NOW! i can’t imagine what horror would be in the US if lionsgate hadn’t come to the forefront.. kudos to them for bringing the SAW series, the descent, hostel (and now hostel 2) and more =D>
Re: Urmila, I personally feel she is on the threshold of the finishing her career becasue she signed too many films where she is shown a troubled girl or a girl in deep trouble. Right from Satya, Kaun, Bhoot, Ek Haseena Thi, Naina.
Certainly Naina tops the list of films responsible for her decline. :( all films have her expressions and reactions almost in same manner. She has become Lady troubled like Jagdish Raj was always a police man, Urmila is always a woman seiged by lot of troubles. Even in maine gandhi ko nahin mara she is facing troubles.:(
as of late, i’ve found her dialogue delivery to be quite annoying and repetitive..
“rahul tum.. (pause) tum.. (looks around).. mera matlab.. (blinks 10 times in a second).. tum yeh.. (hand twitches).. tum yeh kaise.. (looks into other person’s eyes).. yeh kaise.. (hand on side of her head, incredulous look).. tum yeh kaise SOCH bhi.. (pause).. mere tho samajh mein nahi aa raha rahul.. (blinks 10 times in a second).. tum yeh kaise SOCH bhi sakte ho!”
every movie. arggghhh! ~X(
RK, you have a point there.. she was awesome in ek hasina thi, but she was troubled there as well! banaras (spiritual trouble.. fell asleep and couldn’t watch ashmit act to save my own life), bas ek pal (emotional trouble), tehzeeb (relationship trouble with shabanaji).. hmm.. very good observation! i’m probably looking into it too much.. after all, all characters in all movies are troubled in one way or another.. but urmila does seem to stand out more.. possibly because of her repetitive acting? :-?
Striker: you are striking correctly at the dot. Under the impression of doing something different than her colleagues she started doing these roles where she had to play almost same emotions and that has killed the chances in her to play roles with vareity. Even Pinjar was a role of a troubled girl but thanks to able direction of Dr Chandra Prakash Dwivedi and wonderful performance of Manoj Bajpai she also performed well. But now its a repetition. Thanks for reminding her other troublomatic(on the line of problamatic) roles. Yes in latest Bas ek pal also she has similar role. Even her Janam Samjha kao ws like this. Perhaps she or her advisors think that she has perfected the art to bring chracters facing pyschological disorder on screen. Her EQ is so high in every film. She must watch Meena Kumari- the trgedy queen who did sad roles but she was not doing same role in every film.:(
sad so sad. No Doubt Urmila has more potential and she has a good voice to deliver her dialogues. Hope she bounces back.:)
:d BOO!
i have been waiting to see your horror film for years now. :)
and quite obviously i love being scared shitless. my dad and i used to watch horror flicks when i was a kid. we watched stuff like Phantasm, Nightmare on Elmstreet, Carrie, Hellraiser, The Shining, Night of the Living Dead, Exorcist, and lots more. We ran the gammit of B-rates in our horror film watching, excluding almost nothing. When I got older, just out of highschool maybe, I found out about the spooky world of Alfred Hitchcock and the Twilight Zone via the AMC channel (now Turner classics?). I also saw a few of those Italian horrors (they keep you constantly on the edge of your seat!)
i remember the first time i saw Stephen King’s Cujo at a drive in theater. i was afraid of every large dog for many years (we lived by the woods, so rabid creatures could have easily bitten and diseased them). Poltergeist scared me too. There was this scene in the second one, I think, where Carol Ann is running in a hall of mirrors. Her reflection does different things than her actual entity. This totally freaked my shit! I used to have this three-way folding mirror on an antique vanity that my parents had nabbed from an old abandoned house in the woods… i would turn it’s leaves into one another every single night so that nothing could come out of it and reflections could not do odd things while i was trying to convince myself it was okay to go to sleep.
i can’t remember which article, or which book, but Stephen King said something about why we like to be scared so much by the films we see… i think it had something to do with the exhilerating feeling of having lived through something really horrific. Horror films may be necessary, not just as an artform, but as validation…or something like that. Through them we can experience things that hopefully will not have to be faced in life after movies.
I saw this really good horror movie recently called Ho Sakta Hai directed by Wilson Louis.It starred Victor Bannerjee and Khalid Siddiqui(The guy in Jogger’s Park).It deals with Black Magic in villages.Damn scary movie
has anyone heard on Paapi Gudia starring karishma kapoor :D
boss.. i had seen trailers for ho sakta hai, but kab release hua kuch pata hi nahi laga.. might just add this to my list…
hi honhaar goonda! dont think so rgv is gonna make a film titled chudail no.1…unless he gets govinda to play a part in the movie! anyways read somewhere that he’s making a horror genre film titled “darling” starring fardeen khan, esha deol and isha koppikar…he’ll also continue his darna series next year and it’s titled “darna bekaar hai”…guys would recommend you’ll to watch david cronenberg’s “dead ringers”…it’s different!!
i’ve read somewhere that he has registered title ‘Choodal No.1′ and wanted to a make movie… anyway, i thought ‘Darling’ will be more of a thriller than a horror movie.
just read on rediff that rgv’s new jai is a guy named RAJ…it’s bye-bye to mohit ahlawat…wonder how’s this new guy gonna be like as a performer…not sure what “darling” is, but am eagerly waiting to watch it…love horror/thriller genre…what about you man?
hi suparn…are you working on a script currently? is it a horror subject? original or inspired from hollywood? speaking of which i just figured out that mr.arjun rampal’s maiden venture as producer “i see you” is a straight lift from hollywoods romantic comedy “just like heaven”! these guys just have the money…but no brains and guts to make something original! admire rgv,anurag kashyap, vishal bharadwaj, rakesh mehra for trying to be original and experiment with fresh ideas…hope it always works…will open gates for a lot of young, talented filmmakers who have something original to offer…lets all have a complete blog dedicated to copycats in bollywood…what say oz?
Hi Ricky, yes I am, and yes one of them is an horror film, and yes all of the scripts are original:)(no homages either) will talk more once everything is final
it would interesting to interact with you on your horror script.think you should throw it opn bt problem is kahin chori na ho jaaye. and i dont want to label you anything as i am 30 now and i also belong to the generation u mentioned. that’s why i found those similarities.
Rony, lemme complete it, will work out a way, if u in bombay, we can meet up
- Forced to comment in here because of your threat to call me in California at 5am everyday… so here it is… I’m not a big fan of the horror genre but would like to see some Hitchcockian more than horror… though if you see the trends 5 out of every 6 trailers being shown in Hollywood these days are horror movies… and the low budget films which are making the maximum moolah are horror films… case in point Saw I, II and now III… (though not sure if it is an out and out horror… not seen it so far) - but a movie like Saw has in a certain way (as far as what I’ve read) has impacted a lot of views and dynamics in the studio system…
oz, absolutely correct with that last statement. the cool thing is that the execs at lionsgate aren’t your typical execs. they are passionate film guys who also happen to know that there IS a certain market for gory movies like the saw series, and their marketing team is BRILLIANT. saw III was not upto par with the first two movies, but it had a charm of its own, and i personally am a fan of that genre now.. not sure if i could’ve said that about myself 3 yrs back. would’ve found it sick ‘n twisted back then, but i’m proud to say i have the sick ‘n twisted in me now >:)
Hi Suparn, good article, read it two days back, been wondering ever since how to contribute to the discussion :).
The biggest problem I see in desi horror is that it often doesn’t derive from any core idea. As in, a good horror movie ought to start with something real/realistic that scares the shit out of you, just thinking about it, and then STICK TO IT. The storyline, characters, etc., all build up around it to drive home the point.
Slasher movies act on our fear that ‘making out’ is going to get us punished. Poltergeist made us afraid that our homes held things we weren’t aware of. Suspiria, Hostel and Shining make us think ‘normal’ places aren’t always normal. Christine acts on our feeling that our machines have some sort of will of their own. Saw plays on our fear of reality shows and of being trapped. Whatever the premise they pick up, these movies remain loyal to them till the end. And this point is where desi movies fail.
Vaastu shastra (as already commented), remained loyal to its premise of ’spirits in a safe home’ till the last 15 minutes, when it turned into a zombie movie and wrecked itself. Most of the Ramsay movies turn the ‘ghost’ into some sort of mortal, killable creature at the end. Avoid this trap, and use a fear that people can relate to, and half your battle’s won.
Hoo boy, am I getting longwided here. Best of luck with your script(s), and if you’re willing to bear another amateur critic, I’m willing to help anytime :).
hello suparn-
i think there has been gud horrormovies… but y v r just pointin horror.. v have had gud thrillers.. finally d idea is 2 scare ppl nd v had them.. d problem about present situation is now they r givin more importance 2 craft then content.. obv craft is important but 2 scare the screenplay shud b like that the craft is given justice..
i dont think bhoot was succesful cuz of stars.. d way ramu presented it..like d camera angles, screenplay nd ofcourse d backgrnd score was truly huantin… ramsays too made gud horror nd even bhatts tried it with raaz though it was totally copied from WHAT LIES BENEATH.. but i think they did it in their way nd did justice 2 it…
lets not forget JUNOON by mahesh bhatt..dat muvie scared every1..dat was 1 of d best thrillers..
d problem now wid ramsays that they think dat older formulas can work 2day nd they end up makin a bad thriller like DHUND(irfan khan)..
kaun really scared in portions which anurag scripted nd directed by ramu.. y cant v make gud thrillers like those nd promote the accordingly
the problem with kaun was it wasnt promoted properly…now its a hit on television
wat say???
Hi all, i know this discussion is over a week old, but i’ve only just happened to come across it (Thankyou Honhaar!!).
Firstly i have to ask how come nobody has mentioned Danny Denzongpa’s 80’s flick ‘Phir Wohi Raat’?!
It was a brilliant horror.
Well, its a psycholgical thriller, but it sure did scare me for years!!
I really feel this should be remade, seeming that remakes are in.
Also yes Sophocles I have seen ‘Mangalsutra’ and it used to frighten me, and its kinda hard to forget that movie, especially as the male was possesed by a female spirit, and a bad spirit at that.
Does anyone remember a horor/thriller with Sanjeev Kumar where he played a jekyll and Hyde character ‘Dr Blackstone’??
And Bhavesh, I have to say that i strongly disagree with ur comments on the Bhatts ‘Raaz’!!
It was, in my opinion, an awful remake!!
But, Ramu’s ‘Bhoot’ definitely had its moments… the music, the sound design and the setting were very scary!
Performances were very good, and some of the scenes really changed the way hindi horrors are seen..
Oh, and wasnt Ramu meant to be remaking it in America?? Called ‘Within’ or summat??
Nice article. I caught up with the horror genre pretty late. I never knew there would be so much joy watching a pure cheesy B-grade horror film. I really enjoy watching the Italian Giallo films espcially Mario Bava’s. I would recommend Kill Baby Kill (Vastushastra showed tarces of influence from this film), Blood and Black Lace.
Of recent films, The Descent is a must-see. And The Devil’s Rejects is a classic!