HELL'S GROUND

(A.k.a. ZIBAHKHANA)

A pre-credits sequence sets up stall nicely, in what is touted as being Pakistan's first gore film.

A man drives down a quiet country lane at Jannat Pur one night, swerving to avoid a hooded figure in the road. He crashes his car and gets out, dazed. As he stumbles through the woods, an unseen assailant hacks at him several times with a shovel. The man dies in pools of blood, and is dragged away on a meathook.

After comic book-style opening titles, the film settles a while to introduce us to it's protagonists: Roxy (Rubya Chaudhry) who lies to her father's maid, telling her she is staying over at her friend Ayesha's house after school; Ayesha (Rooshanie Ejaz), who in turn tells her mother she's going on a school trip; OJ (Osman Khalid Butt), the stoner with a penchant for Mondo Macabro DVDs; and Simon (Haider Raza), the comparatively quiet one.

After lying to their respective parents, the quartet meet up at a local café and excitedly discuss their evening ahead: they're embarking on a 5-hour drive to see their favourite band in concert. Moments later, their wisecracking pal Vicky (Kunwar Ali Roshan) turns up in his garishly painted van, and off the five of them go.

Unfortunately their trip coincides with news reports that local people are holding protests, asking for the authorities to help them overcome the sickness that is infecting them due to polluted water.

Undeterred, the unwitting quintet head off on their journey, stopping off on the way to buy cannabis cakes from the creepy Deewana (Rehan, THE LIVING CORPSE). Deewana warns the group to turn back. He says that all good Muslims should be preparing to pray at this time of day, and that if they follow the road they're on they'll end up at Hell's Ground - from which no-one ever returns.

Stoned and arrogant, the kids continue on their journey. Simon identifies a short-cut on their map and in time-honoured horror tradition, they embark upon it …

The hi-jinks are well and truly tempered when Vicky pulls over to allow OJ to vomit. Responding to their friend's screams, the group race into the woods to find OJ with a huge bite in his leg. Scrambling back into the van, OJ says he thinks a leper bit him.

Driving on, the group are swiftly greeted by several Fulci-style zombies that shuffle slowly out of the woods and into the road. This is potentially the most satisfying moment of the film, and one of the most atmospheric zombie entrances in several years.

Vicky and co manage to escape the zombies - the polluted water, it transpires, has turned locals into flesh-eating mutants - and race back along the short-cut, heading towards Jannat Pur. But what they find there is even more troublesome than the walking dead …

HELL'S GROUND shouldn't be taken too seriously. It's not a comedy, but it does have moments of humour. It's not meant to be funny, but it is best watched with a knowing smile across your face. It is, ultimately, a genuinely warm homage to 1970's horror films such as THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and DAWN OF THE DEAD, filmed with his tongue in cheek by genre fan Omar Khan.

The cartoonish edits that occur occasionally during the film lend HELL'S GROUND a further sense of fun in a CREEPSHOW style, and the actors all seem to be enjoying themselves immensely with their schlocky dialogue.

But the film is also surprisingly dark once it gets going, and the zombie scenes are undeniably atmospheric. Wisely, Khan keeps the tone pretty horrific once the bad stuff starts happening, and as a result things do get genuinely tense.

There's plenty of gore on offer too, with some competent FX work recalling the early 80's output of the legendary Gianetto De Rossi (ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS; THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY etc). The switch between zombie film and slasher movie is a novel idea too and, although not handled entirely satisfactorily, works in serving up two sub-genres in one enjoyable film.

Performances are solid throughout, with the young cast coming across as enormously likeable characters. It has to be said that Choudhry and Ejaz are highly attractive female leads too …

All in all then, HELL'S GROUND is a hip and fun horror film from Pakistan - one that no doubt subverts what will be many people's preconceptions of the country. Here, we see a country where the youth smoke dope, swear, wear trendy clothes and sneak away to rock concerts. In other words, it's not a nation of snake charmers and women wearing burqas.

Sure, it has more than it's fair share of clichés - children's dolls hanging creepily; the squabbling girls making up after a near-death experience; the strong character (Vicky) cracking up, allowing the weak one (Simon) to emerge as the potential hero; the killer who collects their victims' eyeballs - but that's half the fun. As homages go, HELL'S GROUND convinces as one of the most sincerely heartfelt. It certainly felt more like a true 1970s horror film than the comparatively lamentable DEATH PROOF.

The film was presented uncut on this screener disc from TLA, in a crisp 16x9 transfer. Colours were strong and bold throughout, with only minor grain evident on occasion.

The 2.0 audio is worthy of mention. The mix itself is fine, but it's interesting to note that the characters in the film keep changing their language between Urdu and English. I'd say about 70% of the film is spoken in Urdu, but quite frequently characters will slip into English, mid-sentence. The promo disc includes forced English subtitles in yellow, during the Urdu dialogue.

The screener disc from TLA was disappointingly bereft of additional features, save for a gore-heavy 4-minute trailer with English subtitles.

Boasting a rousing score by Stephen Thrower, a cameo from Rehan and co-produced by Mondo Macabro head honcho Pete Tombs, HELL'S GROUND is a minor treat for genre fans. Worth a look, certainly.

Review by Stu Willis