Pakistani exploitation films? Anyone seen "Zibahkhana"?

IFC Center
NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2007 (June 22 – July
Ladies and gentlemen! The New York Asian Film Festival is back for year six and this time we’ve got some money! John Woo Presents STRANGLEHOLD, the videogame sequel to HARD BOILED, starring Chow Yun-fat’s Tequila character, is the presenting sponsor of our festival and what are we doing with that cash:
- a night of Pakistani exploitation
- we’re bringing over special guests
- outdoor screening? you’ll see!
- 15th anniversary screening of HARD BOILED, the world’s most influential action flick
- more movie!
- better movies!
Just look at some of our titles:
HELL’S GROUND (aka ZIBAHKHANA) – (2007, Pakistan) A gang of teenagers heads out into the countryside to see a rock concert but their detour around a political protest takes them into giant marijuana fields where midget zombies and other, less savory, characters dwell. It’s THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE meets the Taliban.

http://www.subwaycinema.com

The trailer for Zibahkhana:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TJKfOT0j1Q

The full lineup is now listed at:
http://www.subwaycinema.com

Tix go on sale on Friday, June 8. I will be there for ZIBAHKHANA, most likely in the front row!

This is tonight! Will report back on how it was.

No Indian films, but one from Pakistan: Hell's Ground. I think I saw the trailer on YouTube.com some time ago; it looked OK, but not like anything too exciting.

Unfortunately, ZIBAHKHANA (aka HELL'S GROUND) was somewhat of a disappointment. After Mark from Subway gave a great intro (incl. using the tagline from the trailer, "Pakistani extreme horror film!") as well as the Mondo Macabro producers and director (trivia DVD giveaways are always cool), they rolled an exceptional 20 minute reel of classic 70's and 80's Lollywood horror/action footage. I may email them to convince them to post it on Youtube or something. My jaw was aghast at this footage and I'm not easily shocked by anything. The film itself was a letdown. While director Omar Khan obviously has his heart in the right place (he mentioned about how the IFC theater years ago screened BASKET CASE when it was the Waverly), the execution was somewhat amateurish and not funny/scary. I'll give the film pointers for trying to add slight traces of political commentary (a scene with people protesting societal ills was added) as well as having some good scenery shots. But the in-joke of having one of the characters actually wathcing a Mondo Macabro DVD was somewhat shameless....and that is before the film's "zombies" take over. I couldn't help but think of George A. Romero, and you shouldn't do that because it instantly made the proceedings look terrible. That took nearly an hour for them to show up too before a HIGH TENSION style finale. Zzzzzzzzz....oh well. Fun night though, it was just too bad that the film wasn't better.