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Despite
all of the oddities that have emerged from Pakistan’s
film industry over the years, it is interesting to note that they never really
had much in the way of a splatter film (mostly due to censorship and religion,
naturally). This
all changed when the bloke from Mondo Macabro (Pete Tombs) teamed up with an
Islamabad ice cream shop owner (Omar Ali Khan) to make an homage to horror and
slasher movies, the result was Zibahkhana a.k.a. Hell’s
Ground, the first Pakistani gore flick - a film that is so much fun
that I have decided to dub this genre “Wackistani” (look,
it’s a joke, so please don’t bother writing in).
True to horror/slasher form, our story begins with a killing. Then
we go to our five young heroes that are doomed to find themselves
in the epicenter of evil as their road trip to a concert turns sour. Naturally,
these kids deserve their punishment: they’ve lied to their
parents, skipped prayer time, and dabbled in the field of drugs
(well, dabbled is an understatement, especially with the token stoner
kid character).
 The storyline itself doesn’t bring anything new or unusual
to the table, but the filmmakers do have a wonderful tongue-in-cheek
way of presenting the movie to you: the stoner kid is a horror movie
fan who watches the Mondo Macabro DVD release of The Living
Corpse (a little shameless self-promotion, Pete?) - later
on, he meets an old tea stall man and insists he’s the same
man from his favorite movie (and it is: one-time Pakistani actor
Rehan emerges again after 40 years to make a nod towards his fans);
the dialogue and deliveries are not intended to be serious (which
is a good thing, considering the cast is not made up of professional
actors); a zombie dwarf munches on intestines and hops into the
van to terrorize; artwork of Maula Jat is on the
side of their Toyota/Mazda van (the vehicle bears both insignias);
and a burqa-clad maniac runs around wielding a gigantic mace (Leatherface’s
distant cousin, no doubt). There’s even a bit of a Green
message thrown in for those of you who pretend to care about such
things. Oh, and one can’t forget to mention the groovy
music borrowed from other Lollywood films!
 Watching Hell’s Ground, it’s very
clear that director Khan wasn’t out to make the most controversial
film ever released in Pakistan (and it’s amazing that the
country allowed the film to be released at all) - rather,
this is a man who loves his horror films and is sharing his love
of them with us (it’s also apparent that Khan has infinitely
more talent than some of the other so-called horror filmmakers!)
and for that alone, I salute Hell’s Ground and
its makers.
Plus, the chicks are cute.
 Presentation
Despite its low-budget origins, TLA has done a fine job
of bringing Hell’s Ground to DVD. The
anamorphic 1.78:1 picture looks about as good as it can get and
the 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound (the characters speak both
Urdu and English alternately) sounds fine. English subtitles
are provided.
Extras
The first of many plentiful Special Features for Hell’s
Ground include Director Khan (go ahead, do your Shatner
impersonation…you know you want to) delivering
an informative Audio Commentary (in English). Also included
is some footage from the Pakistani Premiere at LUMS Business College
(6:53) which interviews several members of the cast and crew (damn,
these chicks are hot…did I mention that yet?); a mini documentary
about the making and release of the film entitled Ice Cream
Zombieland: A Secret Cinema Of Islamabad (12:05); a ZUJ
Music Promo (4:33); the original Trailer (3:58); and several
additional Previews for other TLA releases: Evil (1:05), Pistoleros (2:17), Storm (2:09),
and Living And The Dead (1:52).
The Bottom Line
I look forward to Khan’s future Lollywood work (and his inevitable
Hollywood debut…which will probably flop thanks to some unimaginative
producers with Thalberg Syndrome and shitty domestic distributors
that will no doubt cut and re-edit his work). Enjoy.
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