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The New York Asian Film Festival will be showing the new Pakistani horror flick Hell’s Ground on Tuesday, July 3 at 10:30 pm at the IFC Center. New York-area fans of Asian film, horror movies, and guerilla independent productions will not want to miss this one. Cinema Strikes Back’s correspondents had the chance to watch Hell’s Ground earlier this week, and we can report that the film is a lot of fun, a surprisingly effective horror flick that breathes new life into some of horror’s most tried-and-true plot elements by resetting them in the unfamiliar environs of Pakistan. If I learned one thing from Hell’s Ground, it is that the lush, forbidding jungles of the Pakistani countryside make an ideal setting for zombie mayhem, giving the film a feel that is one part Fulci and one part Fitzcarraldo.

The film concerns a bunch of Islamabad coeds who head out of town in a van for an ilicit weekend trip. The fun comes to an end for the students as they run into a cadre of bloodthirsty zombies and demented village people, including the fearsome, homicidal “Burqa Man.” The film is quite punchy, and is played completely straight for the most part. The gore scenes are particularly well done, with some fine gross-out moments. The film also features a fine musical score that mixes electronica with some really cool, swingin’ Urdu lounge music. (Bring on the soundtrack album!)

To be clear, Hell’s Ground is unlike past South Asian horror films such as Zinda Laash and the works of the Ramsay Brothers, as it features absolutely no musical numbers. The film has far more in common with early 1980s slasher films and gore classics like Texas Chainsaw Massacre (which are a clear influence on the production) that with any of the commercial fare that is churned out of Lollywood, the Pakistani film industry.

Hell’s Ground also marks the initial feature film production for Andy Starke and Pete Tombs, the madmen who have brought us the invaluable Mondo Macabro book and the fine Mondo Macabro line of DVDs. (Check out their website at www.mondomacabrodvd.com) The film’s director, Omar Khan, is the world’s foremost authority on South Asian horror movies (Omar’s quite entertaining website can be found at www.thehotspotonline.com). Omar, Pete and Andy will be attending the screening on Tuesday night, and will be bringing with them a special clip reel featuring some of the most entertaining moments from Lollywood trash cinema. We can’t wait. And CSB readers can look forward to reading our extensive interview with Omar, Pete and Andy about the film and Mondo Macabro.

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Additional Links:
::: The official Subway Cinema NYAFF 2007 website
::: CSB Coverage of NYAFF 2006
::: CSB Coverage of NYAFF 2005
::: Time Magazine Article - A Horror Movie on the Doorstep of the Taliban