Bhoot Returns (English: Ghost Returns) is a 2012 Bollywood 3D horror film directed by Ram Gopal Varma and written by Ravi Shankar. The film was released on 12th October, 2012, with mixed to negative reviews. The film stars Manisha Koirala, J. D. Chakravarthy, Madhu Shalini and Alayana Sharma in the lead role. It is a sequel to the 2003 film Bhoot, also directed by Varma. A further sequel, Bhoot 3, is in production.

Tarun, an architect, moves into a luxurious bungalow with his wife, Namrata, and their children, 10-year-old Taman and 6-year-old Nimmi. During an exploration of the house, Nimmi finds a doll, and includes someone named ‘Shabbu’ in all her activities. The family mistakes Nimmi’s new doll to be Shabbu but are surprised when Nimmi points to an empty space and introduces her invisible friend as Shabbu. Her parents suspect her wild imagination as the reason for her new ‘friend’.

Soon, Tarun’s younger sister, Pooja, surprises the family with a visit. As Tarun, Namrata and Pooja discuss Nimmi’s fixation over Shabbu, the family servant, Laxman, is sure of a spirit’s presence in the house. Laxman’s worries receive severe backlash from Tarun, an ardent rationalist. Soon, each night at the bungalow seems to turn for the worse, with knocks at unearthly hours, demonic sounds and eerie movements. Tarun suspects Laxman to be the mischief-maker, trying to prove his points. As Nimmi’s fixation with Shabbu increases, the family decides to consult a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist explains Nimmi’s imaginary friend as a result of her loneliness and terms it as a common technique used by children to grab attention.

Laxman’s sudden disappearance and the increasing curiosity in Pooja to find answers for the ongoing activities make her install wireless cameras at various places in the house, which record Nimmi playing with what seems like a ghostly apparition. Tarun’s mind starts reeling as he sees the captured footage; it is proof enough for the disturbed family to finally decide to leave the house. But the house has other plans: Nimmi is found missing the next morning…

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN said the film is time-pass entertainment, as Varma succeeds in keeping you on the edge, and the film does deliver a few good scares in 3D. Madhureeta Mukherjee of Times of India gave it 2 stars. “We did leave with one horrifying thought though – of this Bhoot returning (in a third instalment). Hellllppp!!!” Rediff Movies said “Bhoot Returns has quite a few nail-biting moments but ends abruptly”. Roshni Devi of Koimoi gave it 0.5 star “This Bhoot had no business returning. RGV could have at least saved the original Bhoot from being ruined by trying to make a sequel out of it.” Rohan J.Tambe of Independent Bollywood gave it 1.5 stars and said “Save your money and time by skipping this movie”.

Wikipedia | IMDb

Cape Karma is a 2007 Indian mystery thriller film with a “dark secrets” plot, shot in Scotland. It was directed by Pankaj Advani and stars Rahul Dev, Audrie Woodhouse, and Gulshan Grover. Surprisingly for an Indian production it contains topless nude scenes.

After being separated from his wife, Kamini, loner Manav spends time with his ailing father-in-law, and dramatically meets with sexy caucasian Maya J. Mundhra and both are attracted to each other. They get intimate after a few meetings much to the chagrin of her horse-breeding wealthy husband who is already aware of their affair. Maya invites Manav to her husband’s mansion and conspires with him to elope with her, to which he agrees. But before this, she asks him to be intimate on her husband’s bed – and he agrees to this also. And it is this decision that will endanger his life as well as expose a dark secret from his past…

IMDb

“The film starts off on a bizarre note and stays on like that right through its course. However what pains you most about this ‘made-in-English’ film is that it tries too hard to be different. This means you see different shades of frame capturing on display as one scene transitions to another. At times you have the story moving forward, then all of a sudden it starts moving backwards (well, literally) and then in between all of this it also gets into a silent movie zone.” Bollywood Hungama

Darwaza (“The Door”) is a 1978 Bollywood Hindi horror film directed by the Ramsay Brothers, Shyam Ramsay and Tulsi Ramsay, from a screenplay by Kumar Ramsay. The film stars Anil Dhawan, Imtiaz Khan, Anju Mahendru, Shakti Kapoor, Sheetal, Krishan Dhawan, Trilook Kapoor, Kumud Tripathi and Appi Umrani.

For generations, a family live in their haveli (manor) in fear of a dark and terrible curse. Adolescent Suraj is sent away to Bombay (Mumbai) so that  he is not afflicted by the curse. Suffering raging insomnia, he returns to family home to face up to the horror that seemingly await him. Meanwhile, a werewolf-like creature is on the prowl…

Wikipedia | IMDb

Aatma (“Spirit”) is a 2013 Indian Bollywood supernatural horror film directed by Suparn Verma and is not to be confused with the 2006 film of the same title by the Ramsay brothers. It stars Bipasha Basu (Raaz 3D) and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in lead roles and Shernaz Patel and Doyel Dhawan in supporting roles. Aatma was released in India on March 22, 2013 and centers on a mother that must fight to keep her daughter safe from the ghost of her father.

Niya (Doyel Dhawan) watches a video of herself and her father. Niya is the daughter of Maya (Bipasha Basu) and Abhay (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). Maya and Abhay are divorced. Maya and Niya live with Maya’s mother (Shernaz Patel) and father (Shiv Kumar Subramaniam). Niya is unaware of the fact that her father is dead. Maya deliberately hides the truth from her as Niya is a sensitive child and worships her father. Things start getting bizarre when Paras, Niya’s classmate who gives her a hard time in school, ends up dead after he pulled Niya’s hair. The same thing happens to Niya’s class teacher Mrs. Sharma who complains about the child. Moreover Niya starts talking to her absent father. Maya is concerned about the absurd change in Niya’s behaviour and hence takes her for counseling…

Critical reception for Aatma has been mixed, with Rediff.com criticizing the film for lacking a “sense of mystery, the element of surprise that’s essential for films in this genre”. NDTV praised the film’s acting, particularly that of Doyel Dhawan and especially of Bipasha’s deep role, but also commented that they felt the film wasn’t particularly frightening. In contrast, India TV stated that the movie’s “thrilling parts” “succeeded in frightening [them]“, although they found the ending anticlimactic. Yahoo Movies Review stated,”The film’s linear narrative follows a very predictable plot trajectory that hardly delivers on the thrill quotient”

Wikipedia | IMDb

Ek Thi Daayan (translation: Once there lived a Witch) is a 2013 Bollywood Indian horror film directed by Kannan Iyer. The film features Emraan Hashmi, Konkona Sen Sharma, Huma Qureshi and Kalki Koechlin.

The plot revolves around the character Bobo (Hashmi), one of India’s leading magicians. Unknown to even his girlfriend Tamara, Bobo’s life is falling apart. His constant hallucinations leave him with no option but to seek psychiatric help. Going through regression hypnosis, a terrifying story about his childhood surfaces involving a sinister power called Daayan who has not only destroyed his family but also promised to return to haunt Bobo. He chooses to ignore it and move on with his life. Just when his career and love life is at full throttle, irresistible Lisa Dutt enters his life. Bobo is convinced that she is the daayan. But is she, really? Or is he just losing his mind?

Wikipedia

The Dead 2: India is a 2013 British horror film written and directed by Howard J. Ford and Jon Ford and produced by Howard J. Ford. It is a sequel to the 2010 film The Dead, which was set in Africa.

Filmed in five weeks, in locations across India, including Rajasthan, Delhi and Mumbai, The Dead 2: India stars Joseph Millson, Meenu, Anand Goyal, Sandip Datta Gupta and Poonam Mathur.

The film follows the story of American engineer Nicholas Burton (Joseph Millson) in a race against time to reach his pregnant girlfriend Ishani Sharma (Meenu). Burton enlists the help of an orphan street kid Javed (Anand Goyal) and together they make a perilous 300 mile journey across deadly landscapes as a zombie apocalypse threatens to engulf the entire nation.

In Cannes, Howard J Ford  recently commented: “Jon and I knew we’d get around to making a sequel one day as there was plenty of scope to where we could take our idea of abject horror and emotional devastation presented against a stunning natural backdrop. But it was while we were escorting The Dead to various film festivals around the world, listening to the overwhelmingly positive feedback and reading all the Internet comments, that we felt compelled to make another film pretty quickly to satisfy the demand we knew was out there. We wrote the sequel frighteningly quickly, tapping into every constructive comment from true fans of the genre so we could make a film we feel we owe to all the people who supported The Dead“. Jon Ford added, “We still felt our creative itches hadn’t been scratched and that we needed to continue our adventure into the living dead unknown. There just seemed to be too much talk and anticipation about us making another zombie movie we couldn’t ignore. So we thought let’s do it! Part of the magic of The Dead was its minimalism both in terms of dialogue and how it played out in the road movie style. Not everyone was going to get that and we knew it. So we decided to embellish the story this time with a few more mainstream elements without losing what was so special about the first film”.

Howard concluded, “There was a tenderness to The Dead that thankfully people loved and the character connections are what many warmed to. Thus it was important to include those aspects again and add to them, because we want The Dead 2: India to pull on your heartstrings as much as we want the exciting and violent elements to thrill you”.

Related: living dead | zombies

Aatma (Hindi: ‘Spirit’) is a 2006 Indian horror film produced and directed by the Ramsay family, the pioneers of Indian horror cinema since the 1970s.

Neha (Neha A. Mehra) gets married to Dr. Aman Mehra (Kapil Jhaveri). After celebrating their first wedding anniversary, Aman is approached on the beach by a gun-toting couple on the beach who make him sign a death certificate for a man named Avinash Malhotra, that pronounces his death as being due to natural causes. Aman is reluctant to prepare this document, but when Neha’s life is threatened, he does so – little realizing that in so doing, the vengeful spirit of the dead man will manifest itself in Neha’s body…

IMDb

“And Aatma isn’t bad at all. It was released in 2006, but the style and atmosphere is more from 1986, including a spectacular kung fu fight, a colourful exorcism and some very light gore (including a graphic autopsy, a throat ripping and a fun exploding head). The visual effects are well-made and we’re talking both new computer generated effects and old-school, and both fit very good together.” Ninja Dixon

“Gangu Ramsay’s cinematography is daunting, appealing and tailor-made. It has been one of the salient features of this horror flick with lackluster performance and promotion. Anu Malik’s subdued music is a forced one and a couple of tracks retard the pace of the film. Raju Khan’s choreography is reduced to hip-gyrating dance moves to titillate audiences. Neha stands out as the finest among the feeble star cast followed by Kapel Khan. Vikram Kumar needs acting classes to polish his skills. Amreina displays her physical assets without hesitation but fails to draw attention.” SmashHits.com

Aatank (translation: “Panic”) is a 1980s Bollywood film that remained unreleased until 1996. It is also known unofficially as “Bollywood Jaws’ as it has a sub-plot with a killer shark. It was directed by Prem Lalwani from a screenplay by Sachin Bhowmick and story by Sachin Bhowmick. The film stars famous Indian actor Dharmendra, plus Nafisa Ali, Girish Karnad and Hema Malini.

Jesu and Peter are childhood friends who live in a coastal village in India and depend on fishing as their livelihood. The community is oppressed by a powerful gangster named Alphonso. Jesu is an orphan, while Peter is brought up by his aunt and uncle, after the death of his mother. The community is all thrilled when Phillips finds black pearls off the coast. But then so does Alphonso, who asks his divers to get all the pearls, thus disturbing the ocean. Peter meets with Suzy D’Silva and they fall in love with each other, and get married. While enjoying a quiet swim on the sea-shore, Suzy disappears. A search is carried out, and a number of human body parts are recovered. With shock and horror, the community finds that their new livelihood is being threatened by a gigantic, virtually indestructible man-eating shark…

‘While the shark in Aatank is a fairly useless addition to the film’s narrative and its screen time is limited, I have to give credit where credit is due. You won’t see another shark like the shark featured in this film. It is hysterically big (its size also constantly changes), zooms through the ocean with its fins and tail entirely immobile and possesses the strength to shatter boats in two. Aatank‘s shark is a screaming, panicking mess attacking anything in its path. Unlike Jaws, where the shark is clearly smarter than your average sea monster, Bollywood’s adaptation is a mindless buffoon, so cartoonish, unpredictable and wild that it gives the film a surreal quality.’ Dave Jackson, Mondo Exploito

Wikipedia | IMDb | Related: 2-Headed Shark Attack | Great White | Jaws | Jaws 2 | Jersey Shore Shark Attack | Jurassic Shark | Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus | Psycho Shark | Sand Sharks | Sharktopus |Sharktopus Versus Mermantula | Snow Shark |Super Shark | Swamp Shark | Shark Attack 3: Megalodon | Shark Week

Thanks to Dave Jackson at Mondo Exploito for this posting.

Purani Haveli (English translation: “Old Castle”) is a 1989 Hindi Indian horror film produced and directed by the Ramsay brothers. It stars Deepak Parashar and Amita Nangia. The soundtrack was composed by Ajit Singh.

A young couple, Raja (Anil Dhawan) and Rita (Priti Sapru), are driving through a dense forest at night. Tired and sleepy, they decide to stop for the night, and find a haveli(mansion) nearby. They fall asleep in the outskirts of the mansion. Around midnight, the husband awakes all of a sudden and gets up to investigate. Then a horrible monster (Manik Irani) attacks him. His wife wakes up hearing him scream and they are both killed by the monster. An old man Narendra (Narendra Nath) suddenly appears, a bit too late but eventually traps the monster in an underground cage and attaches a cross to the latch to keep him from escaping…

Wikipedia | IMDb

“When the horror element in the film finally kicks in it does so reasonably effectively. An unusual feature is the extensive use of Christian symbols to combat the monster. The horror works because the Ramsays use the method they use with every other element in their films – total excess. They throw in every horror movie cliche. You get shadows and fog, you get thunder and lightning, you get mysteriously slamming doors, statues coming to life. And you not only get all these things, you get them all in vast quantities.” Cult Movie Reviews

” … equal parts horror and comedy film. The film loses its momentum every time it shifts from horror to comedy. Also the bulk of the comedy scenes are a secondary plot that feels more like padding than actually adding any substance to the film’s main plot about a young woman with a sizable inheritance and the cursed mansion in which the bulk of the story takes place. The film’s pacing doesn’t help things out as the film just meanders along until its bizarre ending.” 10k Bullets

“The man-monster is truly horrific and an excellent example of a well-realized traditional effects job. Keep in mind that American horror cinema was beginning its reliance on computer trickery at this point, so Purani Haveli’s old school scares are even more impressive. The film’s ending is extremely well executed and could hold its own against any of its horror contemporaries from other nations. The ending chase sequence is evocative of the climaxes seen in the slasher genre…” Shocking Images

Buy Veerana + Purani Haveli on Mondo Macabro DVD from Amazon.com

Bollywood Evil Dead (original title: Bach ke Zara) is a 2008 Indian horror film written and directed by Salim Raza. It is an unofficial remake of The Evil Dead (1982) .

Bach ke Zara looks like it could have come out only a couple of years after Sam Raimi’s original film. The only giveaway to its production year is the costuming and a horrific, and amazingly out of place, dance number featuring a mud smeared sexy lady and muscle men.

The plot of Bach ke Zara will obviously be familiar to fans of Evil Dead. It’s near identical, but features a handful of hilarious changes. Sunny and Raja – two cool guys – and some scantily-clad girl pals – Sweety, Nicole and Sheena (who is sometimes referred to as Tina) – take a trip to the country. Unlike Raimi’s version, they camp next to a lake rather than heading straight to the cabin. The characters take turns flirting and body-kissing each other while the rest watch.

Their bliss is interrupted by a spooky woman who entrances Sweety with a spooky song and leads her to a spooky cabin. Sweety breaks free from her trance and warns the others, who, rather cruelly, laugh at her repetitively. Then a crazy guy shows up, cackling like a maniac and warning the campers to leave. Instead, the idiots decide to investigate and discover the uninviting cabin.

Despite Sweety’s understandable protests, they begin to explore the cabin. Despite discovering a dead body, they stay and even play a few dodgy pranks along the way. The film then follows Evil Dead down to a tee with minor alterations – Sweety is “entwined” by trees rather than raped by trees, Nicole is stabbed in the foot or ankle (it’s offscreen) with a fork instead of a pencil (Evil Dead‘s most painful moment, in my opinion), and Sweety becomes possessed and is locked in a cupboard (I think) rather than a cellar. Sunny assumes the role of Ash towards the end of the film. Both Sunny and Raja cry a lot.

Bach ke Zara, as you’d expect, is like watching a dumber and cleaner version of Evil Dead. Still, it is rather entertaining watching Bollywood’s take on classic scenes. I’d imagine, despite being made thirty years apart, the budgets of Bach ke Zara and Evil Dead would be similar. While Bach ke Zara doesn’t quite stretch a limited budget like Raimi did, there are some surprisingly decent effects and make up on display. The possessed are gooey and gross, and a liberal use of fog machine is employed. There’s even a decapitation that’s only partly offscreen.

The real reason to watch this though is the laughs, and, while not the most sidesplitting Bollywood effort going around, laughs are abundant. Sunny’s gag-worthy flirting, the bug-eyed acting, music that violently halts when you least expect it – it’s all good stuff. There’s also an amazing use of English dialogue. I love it when characters in Bollywood films whip out occasional lines in English, and in Bach ke Zara entire conversations often devolve into nonsensical silliness. The hilarity peaks when Raja shouts at a possessed Sweety, “Shut up, you rascal!”

Bach ke Zara scores huge points for being far shorter than your usual Bollywood flick running at a respectable ninety minutes, and, with all its body-kissing and near-nudity, it’s sleazier than expected too. Better still, there’s hardly any musical numbers! (Although I must confess, I did miss the lack of shit songs after a while.) Bach ke Zara is not the only Bollywood film to rip off Evil Dead – there’s also Bhayaanak Mahal (1988), which takes an interesting approach to the infamous tree-rape scene – but it’s probably the most shameless.

Dave Jackson, Mondo Exploito

Bees Saal Baad (‘Twenty Years Later’) is a 1962 Indian horror film produced by Hemant Kumar, who also gave the music and sings some of the movie’s songs. The film was directed by Biren Nag from a screenplay by Druva Chatterjee, loosely inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. It stars Biswajeet, Waheeda Rehman, Madan Puri, Sajjan and Asit Sen. Bees Saal Baad became the highest box office grosser in 1962. It was re-made in 1988.

Thakur Kumar Vijay Singh (Biswajeet) returns from London to claim his ill-fated legacy. He is warned to stay away from the marshes that have killed his ancestors, but Kumar intends to find out, who is behind the killings. Suspicion shifts from human to ghoul.

First there is servant Laxman, who always stands with his neck tilted at an acute angle. He tells Kumar the family is cursed because of the crime committed by Kumar’s grandfather. He raped a local girl, who eventually killed herself. Now her spirit is taking revenge! Then there is Dr. Pandey (Madan Puri), who is going to inherit the property in case Kumar dies. A crippled man (Sajjan), who mysteriously roams the jungle, adds to the curiosity.

Kumar hires a private detective (Asit Sen), who turns out to be a buffoon. Meanwhile, Kumar comes across Radha (Waheeda Rehman), the niece of the local doctor, Ramlal (Manmohan Krishan) and both eventually fall in love. Then one night a man is found dead in the forest wearing Kumar’s suit…

‘Bees saal baad is an unintentionally hilarious mess, a suspense thriller unburdened by any suspense or thrill. An absurd parade of creepies populates its roster of murder suspects … And since a murder mystery is apparently not sinister enough without a supernatural element, there is a ghost, a payal-wearing apparition who jangles ephemerally past each murder scene.  When the mystery really gets going, we  hear of men in disguises or misleadingly wearing one another’s clothes, the story takes on the aspect of a Scooby-Doo mystery – and I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!’ Filmi Geek

IMDb

Bhoot Returns (English: Ghost Returns) is a 2012 Bollywood 3D horror film directed by Ram Gopal Varma and written by Ravi Shankar. The film was released on 12th October, 2012, with mixed to negative reviews. The film stars Manisha Koirala, J. D. Chakravarthy, Madhu Shalini and Alayana Sharma in the lead role. It is a sequel to the 2003 film Bhoot, also directed by Varma. A further sequel, Bhoot 3, is in production.

Tarun, an architect, moves into a luxurious bungalow with his wife, Namrata, and their children, 10-year-old Taman and 6-year-old Nimmi. During an exploration of the house, Nimmi finds a doll, and includes someone named ‘Shabbu’ in all her activities. The family mistakes Nimmi’s new doll to be Shabbu but are surprised when Nimmi points to an empty space and introduces her invisible friend as Shabbu. Her parents suspect her wild imagination as the reason for her new ‘friend’.

Soon, Tarun’s younger sister, Pooja, surprises the family with a visit. As Tarun, Namrata and Pooja discuss Nimmi’s fixation over Shabbu, the family servant, Laxman, is sure of a spirit’s presence in the house. Laxman’s worries receive severe backlash from Tarun, an ardent rationalist. Soon, each night at the bungalow seems to turn for the worse, with knocks at unearthly hours, demonic sounds and eerie movements. Tarun suspects Laxman to be the mischief-maker, trying to prove his points. As Nimmi’s fixation with Shabbu increases, the family decides to consult a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist explains Nimmi’s imaginary friend as a result of her loneliness and terms it as a common technique used by children to grab attention.

Laxman’s sudden disappearance and the increasing curiosity in Pooja to find answers for the ongoing activities make her install wireless cameras at various places in the house, which record Nimmi playing with what seems like a ghostly apparition. Tarun’s mind starts reeling as he sees the captured footage; it is proof enough for the disturbed family to finally decide to leave the house. But the house has other plans: Nimmi is found missing the next morning…

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN said the film is time-pass entertainment, as Varma succeeds in keeping you on the edge, and the film does deliver a few good scares in 3D. Madhureeta Mukherjee of Times of India gave it 2 stars. “We did leave with one horrifying thought though – of this Bhoot returning (in a third instalment). Hellllppp!!!” Rediff Movies said “Bhoot Returns has quite a few nail-biting moments but ends abruptly”. Roshni Devi of Koimoi gave it 0.5 star “This Bhoot had no business returning. RGV could have at least saved the original Bhoot from being ruined by trying to make a sequel out of it.” Rohan J.Tambe of Independent Bollywood gave it 1.5 stars and said “Save your money and time by skipping this movie”.

Wikipedia | IMDb

Darwaza (“The Door”) is a 1978 Bollywood Hindi horror film directed by the Ramsay Brothers, Shyam Ramsay and Tulsi Ramsay, from a screenplay by Kumar Ramsay. The film stars Anil Dhawan, Imtiaz Khan, Anju Mahendru, Shakti Kapoor, Sheetal, Krishan Dhawan, Trilook Kapoor, Kumud Tripathi and Appi Umrani.

For generations, a family live in their haveli (manor) in fear of a dark and terrible curse. Adolescent Suraj is sent away to Bombay (Mumbai) so that  he is not afflicted by the curse. Suffering raging insomnia, he returns to family home to face up to the horror that seemingly await him. Meanwhile, a werewolf-like creature is on the prowl…

Wikipedia | IMDb

Qatil Chudail  (“Killer Devil Woman”) is a 2001 (or 2002) Indian Bollywood horror film directed by Kanti Shah (Darwaza, 2002) for Pali Films. It stars Sapna, Amit Pachori, Vinod Tripathi, Anil Nagrath, Dimple and Jhony Nirmal.

This Indian movie is so obscure all we could find online are the images here. No synopsis and it isn’t even on IMDb.com. One to seek out for international horror completists!

Dracula 2012 is an Indian Malayalam 3-D horror film directed by Vinayan, starring Sudheer Sukumaran, Prabhu, Monal Gajjar, Nassar, Shraddha Das and Thilakan. Portions of the film were shot in Bran Castle in Romania. It was released on 8 February 2013. The film was also released in Tamil as Naangam Pirai and in Telugu as Punnami Ratri with additional scenes and songs featuring Tamil and Telugu actors.

Reviews:

“To be be fair to the Count, Sudhir Sukumaran does look impressive with a nicely toned torso and the gelled hair adding to his countenance. The growls and the snarls could be worked upon of course, and so can the facial expressions which have mostly been limited to menacing grimaces. The ladies serve as eye candy, as they are expected to be. Technically, the 3D effects are quite notable, with drinks, arrows and what not thrown at your face. The shrubs and twigs that brush against your face initially are appealing, but they irk you in no time.” Now Running

“Now, it’s a daunting task to understand what was the director trying to say here. It’s not even scary and this Dracula looks more like a joker, with his funny lines and mannerisms. There is nothing like even a remotely decent storyline or a script here. The dialogues are trite, the performances are atrocious and the whole film is unintentionally comical.” Sify.com

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Horror Story is a Bollywood horror film written by Vikram Bhatt (RAAZ, Haunted, 1920: Evil Returns) and directed by Ayush Raina. The film stars Ravish Desai, Hasan Zaidi, and features the Bollywood debut of television actor Karan Kundra. It was released on September 13, 2013.The plot revolves around a night spent by seven youngsters at a haunted hotel.

Bhatt has stated that he did not want Horror Story to contain any songs or any sex scenes. He also remarked that he wanted to avoid casting “big stars” in the film, as he believed that they “cannot turn the audience fearful” in what he termed as a “hardcore horror film”. Ravish Desai has commented that the movie will be the first in a franchise and that planning for further films has already begun.

Plot:

A group of seven youngsters – four guys and three girls decide to spend a night at a reportedly haunted hotel to celebrate the farewell of one of them leaving for the USA. Despite people’s warnings and other “signs” trying to ward them off from there, they enter the hotel, and then the truth dawns on them…

Reviews:

“Horror Story isn’t a masterpiece, yet it is one of the better movies to come of this genre. It offers cheap thrills, goose-bumpy moments and genuine shrieks unlike the giggle inducing comic moments other proclaimed horror movies. At the end ultimately it depends on how much you revel in movies of this nature. Are you spooked easily? Do you eye-roll at flying chairs, random screams and hackneyed false scares? Do you believe in ghosts/spirits? Whatever your take is, you may not hate or like this one in its entirety, but you won’t be bored either. Yes it’s not a great film, that doesn’t make it a completely bad one either.” Pooja Rao, Bolly Spice

“Debutant director Ayush Raina shoots the grisly goings-on with the minimum stress on conventional sounds and visuals associated with the horror genre. Belatedly the horror genre has chanced upon the relevance of austerity in putting forward the panic and terror of youngsters trapped in a situation where they cannot escape from a satanic annihilation.” IBN Live

“Horror Story is less than two hours long, mercifully has no songs or blossoming romances, and unfortunately no skin show or scares either.” Aditya Mehta, Mehta Kya Kehta?

“The film uses too many ideas from popular films like The Ring and lacks tremendously on elaborating the writer’s imaginative bent! It is a brazenly written, uninspired work lacking originality and freshness. You can easily give this one a miss unless you are desperate to scare yourself, in which case I assure you, the film will need a great deal of effort from your side to numb you off!” Mohar Basu, Koimoi.com

Indian horror on Horrorpedia: 1920: Evil Returns | Aatank | Aatma (2006) | Agyaat | Bandh Darwaza | Bees Saal Baad | Bhoot Returns | Bollywood Evil Dead | Cape Karma | Darling | Darwaza (1978) | Dracula 2012 | Ek Thi Daayan | Horror Story | Khooni Panja | Purana Mandir | Purani Haveli | Qatil Chudail | Veerana (1988)

Wikipedia | IMDb

The following is just a selection of the Hindi comic book covers posted by Aeron Alfrety on his Monster Brains blog. Sadly, we have no details regarding the historic nature of these often surreal images or the artists themselves.

Please visit Monster Brains to enjoy more Hindi comic books images and much more besides!

Indian horror films on Horrorpedia: 1920: Evil Returns | Aatank | Aatma (2006) | Agyaat | Bandh Darwaza | Bees Saal Baad | Bhoot Returns | Bollywood Evil Dead | Cape Karma | Darling | Darwaza (1978) | Dracula 2012 | Ek Thi Daayan | Horror Story | Khooni Panja | Purana Mandir | Purani Haveli | Qatil Chudail | Veerana (1988)

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Ragini MMS is a 2011 Bollywood found footage Indian horror film directed by Pawan Kripalani and produced by Jeetendra and Shobha Kapoor of Balaji Telefilms. It was released on 13 May 2011 (Friday the 13th).The film is inspired by the 2007 American supernatural horror film Paranormal Activity and is allegedly based on the real story of a girl from Delhi named Deepika. It was promoted in India as “the scariest date movie”.

A sequel, Ragini MMS 2, was released in March, 2014.

Plot teaser:

Ragini (Kainaz Motivala) and Uday (Rajkummar Rao) go to a secluded house, set deep inside a forest, for a weekend of fun. Upon arrival, Ragini and Uday discover worms in their bag of food, but neglect it. Uday has plans of recording a video of Ragini, without her knowledge, so that he can fulfill his dream of becoming an actor. However, they are interrupted by Ragini’s friend, Piya and her boyfriend, Vishal. Vishal was told that the house belonged to a lady who was accused of being a witch, and subsequently killed by her family. However, she returned as a vengeful ghost and murdered her entire family…

Reviews:

The film has met with mixed reviews. Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave it 4/5 stars and called it a “creepy, spine-chilling date movie” saying, “Ragini MMS amalgamates components of horror, paranormal and sex seamlessly. It titillates, it petrifies, but most importantly, it tells you a story which is daunting, imaginative and unconventional.

Naresh Deoshi from Apunka Choice also gave the film 4/5 stars calling it “a damn scary film!

Ankur Pathak from Rediff.com gave the film 3.5/5 stars and said “Ekta Kapoor’s new film is terrifyingly real, and immensely watchable for the cold fright it inspires. She must be lauded for relying on young actors, and believing in the risky attempt of largely untouched storytelling.” 

Nikhat Kazmi from the Times of India gave the film 3.5/5 stars as well. She said “…Ragini MMS makes a heady cocktail of sex and horror that’s so very different from run-of-the-mill Bollywood.” Shubha Shetty-Saha gave the film a good review of 3/5 and said “some scenes were so scary, that I actually wanted to run out of the theatre.”

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image sources: Movie Masala

Posted by Ameeta Singh

Pizza (Hindi: पिज़्ज़ा) is a 2014 Indian 3D Hindi supernatural thriller film written and directed by debutant, Akshay Akkineni. The film features Akshay Oberoi, Parvathy Omanakuttan and Dipannita Sharma in lead roles, while Arunoday Singh, Rajesh Sharma, Omkar Das Manikpuri and Sonali Sachdev play supporting roles. The film is a remake of the 2012 Tamil horror film hit, Pizza, directed by Karthik Subbaraj. The critical and commercial success of the Tamil version led to its remakes in Kannada as Whistle and Bengali as Golpo Holeo Shotti. The remake right for the Hindi version was bought by Bejoy Nambiar for a whooping 1.5 crore (US$250,000), which by itself is the actual budget of the original version. The Hindi Pizza is set to release on 18 July 2014.

Plot teaser:

Kunal, a Pizza delivery boy, was sent to make a delivery of Pizza at a home of a family full of Dark Secret. The crux of the story is about how will Kunal be able to overcome this situation with twists and turns…