Any discussion of "Hell´s Ground" should begin and end in the same place. As touted in the press materials and on the back cover synopsis, it is Pakistan´s first horror film. Yes, you read that right. Pakistan. As such, the film is one giant homage to other thriller´s, from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to "Psycho" and just about everything in between. It is filled with the standard horror film clichés-all by design, mind you-and directed by the owner of an ice cream shop. In that vein, then, how much can we reasonably expect from the finished product? Maybe its simply not rational to expect great things from the 78 minute production and, yet, as the vanguard of a new kind of Pakistani theater experience, should it be held to American standards?
Tell me if any of this sounds familiar: a group of teens lie to their parents regarding their whereabouts as they travel to a concert. Along the way, their beat up van runs out of gas, they meet scary backwoods characters and, ultimately, find themselves on the run from a creepy psycho. In the end, the kids are nothing for than fodder for the killer, who cuts their bodies into various pieces for amusement. Oh yeah, one character ends up having to put an end to the sadism once and for all. But not before one last scare…
I lost count at the horror clichés in the last paragraph. And that was my overriding thought from the first frame of "Hell´s Ground" (also known as "Zibahkhana"): clichéd and unoriginal. It wasn´t until the solo commentary track with producer/director Omar Ali Khan did I realize this is what he was going for. See, in Pakistan, films are generally geared toward an older, more traditional demographic, featuring conservatively safe topics. This is a revelation to the Pakistani youth, all of whom identified with the teens here, the good girl, the dope fiend, the Christian boy, and so on. By intending to make a slasher flick in the tradition of American productions, Khan turned the Pakistani film industry on its head.
But it didn´t come without cost. Several times in the commentary, Khan mentions the censorship board cut various segments of the film and, astonishingly, let sequences go because (as he theorizes) the split second change between English and Urdu-a language spoken in Pakistan and India. Based on what made the final cut, I´m left to wonder what scenes were excised and not included on the DVD?
At any rate, even though it feels derivative and the script has a perverse need to try to explain everything by the end, I can´t in good conscience tear the movie apart. It´s the first of its kind, produced by people with little or no film experience in a country where the material most likely didn´t go over very well. Would it be right to haggle over plot minutiae in "Metropolis" or critique "The Jazz Singer"? No, it might be best instead to point to where the story gets it right and no so right to serve as an outline for next time.
And I do hope there is a next time for Khan; he has a love of film, a willingness to put himself out on a limb and a deft way of combining reality with pure fantasy. Several times in the film, especially early on, we get glimpses of the real Pakistan, a place where fashion shows happen in close proximity to contaminated water supplies. Even the opening titles are superimposed over scenes of a city street, allowing us to get an idea of where the movie takes place. The script doesn´t pander to those of us not familiar with the country. It dives right into the characters and situations, daring us to keep up and figure it out as we go along. There might have been a pull to load the beginning with needless exposition for an international audience; by not doing so, Khan and co-writer Pete Tombs demonstrate they respect the viewers.
The cast of unknowns do their jobs as respectably as they can, all things considered. When was the last time an actor or actress in an American horror film was nominated for an Oscar? Generally, the genre doesn´t lend itself to anything but running, screaming and, well, dying. And that´s what the actors do here. If anything, they all have careers in the genre; I wouldn´t doubt they are celebrities in Pakistan, which will translate into work for the foreseeable future.
By giving us time with the characters in the first half of the movie before introducing the scare elements, "Hell´s Ground" allows them to begin to form well rounded people, not just pawns to be killed. Don´t me wrong: in the end, there isn´t any compassion or empathy for them, only a bloodlust from the audience wanting to see death and carnage. That is the implicit promise films in the genre make to the viewer, isn´t it? By the end everyone will be dead? By necessity, that makes them pawns in the final analysis. We can see it happening step by step: the moment the group separates, we know nothing good is going to happen.
I will harp on the pacing in a particular sequence just for a moment, though. As one of their group is attacked by a zombie-ish being and begins a strange metamorphosis, there isn´t a palpable sense of urgency in the van. Some lines are thrown about regarding hospitals and help, though we don´t ever feel the tension. It is partly director Khan´s fault: he generally keeps the camera on the van dashboard in order to get a master shot of the group, very rarely going in for close ups or any other angle which would ratchet the tension higher. I would presume the problem was an ultra-low budget and an extremely short shooting schedule (not to mention less than ideal shooting conditions); it just would have been nice to crank the horror element to a feverish pace.
One other note: almost by definition, horror films have to take place at night. It is, therefore, of paramount importance the director and crew take full advantage of shadows, a limited viewing distance and other filming techniques. By and large, Khan doesn´t, opting to shoot straight on or, in other instances, in a theater manner. As in, we get the feeling the scene starts at the moment the camera starts to roll instead of a continuous scene when we´re not watching. These are rookie mistakes and things he will learn with each subsequent production/.
VIDEO:
We have the original 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer here and, to be completely honest, it looks as though it was pulled from an old VHS tape. Colors are diluted, blacks are more generally dark gray and it has a bad case of grain. The look even reminded me of a student film, something to be turned in for credit at film school, not a feature production. Nearly throughout the feature, the edges of the screen are rounded off, giving the effect of looking through a fishbowl. There is no good artistic reason for this, so I assume it has to do with the budget. This becomes a distraction in some scenes-obviously the day ones.
AUDIO:
If the video reminded me of a student film, the English/Urdu 5.1 track is a cousin of various 1960s and 1970s martial arts movies. The score´s volume is entirely too loud, voices and music in the upper echelon comes across as distorted and everything we hear is generally flat. According to Khan, each actor had to dub all their lines in post production. To the tracks credit, I never noticed sync issues. English subtitles are included for non-English dialogue.
EXTRAS:
For Pakistan´s first horror film and one which ran into the censorship board, there is a discernable lack of substantial features here. First up is Khan´s scene-specific commentary, one in which he stops talking for a grand total of perhaps one minute. The man is a fountain of information regarding the film, and quite rightly so. He speaks good English and is never hard to understand, though, by the end, the addition of a producer or cast member would have helped break the monotony. (As with all TLA Releasing discs, the commentary can only be accessed through the Set-Up menu.)
Next up is a feature called "Ice Cream Zombieland Documentary." The "Documentary" part is a bit of a misnomer, considering it runs for a tick of twelve minutes. In essence, we are given a quick recap of the reception at a private screening of "Hell´s Ground" along with some other behind the scene tidbits. A lot of the information is repeated from the commentary. To go along with the "documentary," "Lums Movie Premiere" (6:53) features the first public screening of the film, along with spur of the moment interviews with the actors. There is a brief mention of shooting with high def camera, to the best of my hearing, an idea which floored me based on the transfer.
A music video (4:33) and a couple trailers for other TLA product round out the section.
PARTING THOUGHTS:
Omar Khan, the cast and crew should be applauded for thinking outside the Pakistani film box and reaching to make "Hell´s Ground." It´s not perfect, but then few first films are. Instead what they have come together to do is give birth to a new genre, one which will experience growing pains and setbacks. As a premiere event, Khan could have done much worse than to pay homage to the pillars of the genre.