Midget Pakistani zombies in time for Halloween

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Just in time for Halloween, SM commeter “Red Snapper” left a link on our News Tab to a new Pakistani zombie flick titled “Zibahkhana” (Hell’s Ground). From the movie’s website:

Five urban, contemporary Pakistani students plan to drive out of the city for an open air rock. On the way they cross some angry demonstrating victims of turbid, diseased water along the way and arrive in an area inhabited by a clan time and technology has long forgotten. Two worlds collide as the city youths take a fatal turn and land up in a quagmire shrouded in evil where the only fight is the one to survive. [Link]

Does anyone know what an “open air rock” is? If so, our next LA meet-up should be an open air rock too. Variety has more on the flick:

“Zibahkhana” (Hell’s Ground) might not be Pakistan’s first horror movie, but it’s almost certainly the first featuring midget zombies and produced by an ice cream mogul.

A co-production between U.K.-based video label Mondo Macabro and Pakistani production company Bubonic Films, “Zibahkhana” is directed by first-timer Omar Khan, a Pakistani film historian and the owner of a chain of ice cream shops in Lahore. Producer is Pete Tombs, an expert on Asian horror and exploitation movies whose Mondo Macabro video label has released such titles as Indonesia’s “Lady Terminator” and “Virgins From Hell…”

“We don’t have songs or comedy sequences, none of the prerequisites of the South Asian film,” says director Omar Khan. “It’s a complete ripping up of what’s expected from local productions…” [Link]

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p>Well thank God for that last promise! Bollywood’s attempts at adding song and dance sequences to horror flicks have failed miserably.

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p>If these film-makers are smart they will slip some incisive social commentary into this film in much the same way that the makers of Battlestar Galactica use a sci-fi vehicle to launch a devastating commentary on the Iraq war. For example, take a look once again at the synopsis of the movie I quoted at the top of the post:

Two worlds collide as the city youths take a fatal turn and land up in a quagmire shrouded in evil where the only fight is the one to survive.

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p>Sounds like parts of the Pakistani/Afghan border to me. But enough serious talk. Let’s take a look at some of the movie production stills shall we?

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This is my guess as to the part played by each actor based only upon this still picture. That is one wicked Mystery Machine in the background.

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If this is a picture of the “fun-loving” girl after she’s been bitten, then I totally wouldn’t mind being un-dead.

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If I ever saw this auntie in the woods I’d shit myself.

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p>Will we ever get a chance to see this film in the States? You are more likely to see it here than in Pakistan:

Producers are almost certain “Zibahkhana” will not be approved for domestic release by Pakistan’s censor board. Nevertheless, both producer and director believe in the marketability of their project.

“We have a dwarf zombie,” says Tombs.

“They are definitely the first Muslim zombies,” Khan adds.

And it seems like everyone wants to see what Muslim zombies look like. “Zibahkhana” has been invited to submit to Sundance, with entry fees waived. [Link]

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For those of you thirsty for more, check out my previous post on Lollywood horror flicks.

42 thoughts on “Midget Pakistani zombies in time for Halloween”

  3. Can you imagine this film at Sundance? That’ll show them that southasian cinema is more than Ray and Bollywood! 🙂

  5. I totally second Saheli’s suggestion for a SM movie night! This movie looks very…scary…though perhaps not for the same reasons the filmmaker/ice cream mogul suggests.

    By the way, does anyone know which Lahori ice cream shops this guy owns?

  6. Does this remind anyone of Scooby Doo?! Five Young people (OK so Scooby was 4 young people and a talking dog…) in a funky painted van…..facing zombies?

  7. but itÂ’s almost certainly the first featuring midget zombies

    There’s probably a short chapter dealing with them in this book

  9. Dude, that was Tollywood’s failed attempt not Bollywood’s. I couldn’t stop laughing after watching that video. Apart from Telugu, it has bits of Hindi (“goli maar”) and English (“Killer”). Awesome, awesome. Most awesome!

  10. Ahh so its finally out. Saw the ads for auditions while i was in Islamabad. Too bad, it’ll probably won’t be available in Australia. Ismat, the guy owns the hotspot in Islamabad and Lahore, heard bout it?

  12. its just a zero budget horror film, i dont believe there is any pretence at reinventing the wheel or any socio-political statement involved. open air rock……just a typo, not a huge folly?

  13. We call them little people, ok?

    Not dwarfs! Not midgets! Not circus freaks! Not carnies with cabbage hands! But vertically challenged special little people. Who just happen to be the walking dead.

    I hope this movie answers Philip K. Dick’s question: Do Muslim zombies dream of undead virgins?

  15. I’m in love with the actress in pink with the white belt.

    I am hyped to see this movie — I hope they have some scenes when the zombies speak Urdu or Punjabi. Hurry up and put the trailer online, Omar Khan!

  16. If I ever saw this auntie in the woods IÂ’d shit myself.

    Hey, I thought you went hunting out in the wild…or maybe that was just exploring scenic parks (?)…

    …either way if there was an animal that needed to be shot that’d be it.

    I love the fact that there was time for a ‘hot girl near a tree’ shot in a midget zombie horror flick, ah Bollywood tropes, you never fail me 🙂

  18. Whats wid da van? Fuck high art films we need more pakistani horror films (even though we have a real one in da form of Musharraf’s government) Midgets? this is a sly Romerio touch referring to the intellectual qualities of some of my brethren. Maybe gotta dig out my Manic Mullahs film synopsis…

  22. Speaking of movies, check out that ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING film that’s just been released here in the states. Entirely filmed in Jodhpur Rajasthan. It tells the story of Esther from the Torah (old testament of Bible).

  23. Dude, that was Tollywood’s failed attempt not Bollywood’s. I couldn’t stop laughing after watching that video. Apart from Telugu, it has bits of Hindi (“goli maar”) and English (“Killer”). Awesome, awesome. Most awesome!

    I had seen the movie looong time ago. It is not an horror movie or the song has anything to do with the story of the movie. It is one of the many fantasy sequences that Indian movies have. Yes, it is a fantasy sequence totally copied from the Michael Jackson’s video.

  25. If this product of Lollywood is definitely for reals, then I must get my hands on it NOW! It’s like my people’s very own “Shaun of the Dead”. A true work of art. At long last.

    I’ll do a showing in my apartment. I don’t care. It just better make it Stateside. I need to see this Muslim midget zombie with my own eyes.

    And BTW, has anyone ever seen this extremely lame 80’s Bollywood flick called Purana Mandhir? I saw it when I was around 11. Completely lame, yet so awesome.

  28. the film was shot/produced in Islamabad and isn’t really “Lollywood” at all that is if Lollywood refers to the films shot in the Studio’s of Lahore.

  31. Abhi: “BollywoodÂ’s attempts at adding song and dance sequences to horror flicks have failed miserably.”

    I know you meant that in jest (due to the link), but there have been some amazing song/dance filled horror films. Think Bees Saal Baad or similar movies of that era. (e.g. Gumnaam -from Ten Little Niggers/Agatha Christie. That book has a different title now).

  32. ..and Ramsay brothers movies are so bad that they’re darn good. Especially, when you see them with friends from school/college after sharing a rather large bottle of Old Monk, neat, in the theatre. ;-P

  36. Zibahkhana features severed heads, eyes being gouged out, impalings, hanging crows, transvestites, drugs, Rock ‘n Roll, safe-sex, cross-dressing maniacs, Islamic zombies, Adnan Sami having a blood-bath, cannibalism, nubile young women, gushing blood………no politics, no intellectual statements, no pseudo religious undercurrents….just a rollicking EC Comic book style horror-fest of the most gratuitious kind. Will have a World Premiere in the early new year.

  37. The ice cream mogul may have put out the cash for this movie and thus taking all the credit. I however have heard from inside sources…and I mean inside sources that most of the movie was actually directed by the assistant director. He is the actor Adarash.

  38. one day actor Adarash will direct a good film, might even be a a horror film, might even be a great filmfar, far better than lowly Zibahkhana.

    Clearly the Ice Cream Mogul knows nothing about horror films. On the ohter hand Adarash, as all the inside sources know, is a well known authority on the subject……….just look at his CV, full of horror related work!

    For a man who professes his favourite all time film to be LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL……….its only natural that he would direct a film called ZIBAHKHANA

    incidentally did your sources also inform you that a man called NAEEM KHAN actually served for a longer period of time on the shoot of Zibahkhana than actor Adarash?

    And incidentally when and if you watch the film……..guess what the best bits are???? they all happen to be when actor Adarash was conspicously sitting miles away in Karachi. dont believe me….watch the movie, then ask your sources, or infact, why not decide yourself and leave the sources out of it.

    Omar Ali Khan is a known parasite…..his entire Hot Spot parlour is a copycat from The Hard Rock Cafe and even the script was in fact, as sources will inform you, written by Actor Adarash. in fact Omar Ali Khan had nothing to do with Zibahkhana at all….any one who knows him knows that he knows nothing about film and absolutely zilch about Horror movies………ask your sources, they will confirm that as abosolute fact.

    Actor Adarash on the other hand………….as our sources tell us an as wel all know, one day great things will come from this blossoming talent.

  39. and guess what my insiders tell me………Actor Adarash was asked to leave the shoot – ask your insiders exactly why that was.

    Check with your sources what the date was when Actor Adarash left the shoot and till when the shoot went on and also how long the reshooting was?

    you might also ask your sources which of the two assistant directors was with the zibahkhana shoot for longer….Actor Adarash or Naeem Khan from Lahore?

    Your sources might also inform you that who out of Mr and Mrs Actor Adarash is the one who is really interested and knowledgable about horror movies? Mr or Mrs Actor Adarash?

  40. I love Actor Adarash…………

    everyone knows he is the director/writer of ZIBAHKHANA.

    my sources tell me actor Adarash also directed THE DEPARTED while that loser Martin Scorsese just paid the cash for it and is basking in all the glory!

    real talent never gets its due…..but one day Actor Adarash will rise up and show the world what true talent is……sources have confirmed it is due to happen very soon.

  41. Oh my god, the undead have risen. Their shambling mindless decay will take over the flesh tinted right bar.

  42. Is this movie available at Amazon.com or anywhere on the Internet? I do find it odd that all US and UK films are available on opening day at DVD shops across Pakistan, and this film has not yet made it to the DVD shops in Pindi. People want to buy it!!!!