Zibahkhana

This film makes interesting viewing, primarily for its novelty value of a horror film coming out of Islamabad. The story, as you would have read in the numerous other reviews is about a group of teenagers who on their way to a rock concert lose their way and end up encountering zombies and being chased by a mace wielding freak. The gore factor in the film put me off, there's plenty of raw flesh and blood at display here, some of the shots would cringe any sane, humane individual. Apparently, the director takes great pride in this disgusting quality of the film. However, to instill fear in the audience requires much more than probing, poking and twisting of human flesh, intestines etc. And thats where the film doesn't work -- it grosses you out rather than actually scaring you.

However, the film does hold your attention in parts, and the acting by the ensemble overall is pretty good. The actor playing the Christian kid and Roshanie Ejaz deserve special mention. Rubiya Chaudry is clearly playing herself here and her comfort level shows on screen. Some of the photography is pretty decent too. However, there was no need for the theatrical vignettes into the family lives of the characters. Towards the end, you do root and feel for Roshanie's character and the credit for that goes entirely to the actor's performance and screen presence as the screen writing here is rank amateurish. Well, the makers probably didn't feel the need to have a taught script given most of Zibahkhana is a zombie-attack or an extended chase sequence.

On the whole, this isn't bad if you enjoy watching dead corpses, rotting remains of animals and take pleasure in the more disgusting aspects of this world. Next time, we hope that OAK would use a decent scriptwriter, many of which are to be found in the underutilized Pakistan showbiz scene. And yeah, we need to see more of Rubya and Roshanie.

A BIG THANKS to Mr. Omar Ali Khan for making Zibahkhana. I was fortunate enough to find it on YouTube.

The tale is fairly simple at heart. A group of students (heavily resembling die-hard punk and rock fans) go out to attend a music concert. They happen to take a detour but are seriously misguided and end up at a place that is more or less like a zombie land. The dwellers have hideously deformed bodies due to constant consumption of water from a nearby pool that's polluted by chemicals. They manage to save themselves and get caught up in something even worse. But wait! There is something that puts 'Zibahkhana' miles ahead of the other flicks of the slapstick genre....IT'S SCARY!

Based on my observations, I have following things to say.

The movie is gruesome to the core.

The movie has all the elements of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, Dawn of the Dead, Cabin Fever and is a perfect slasher that uses the same staple to induce horror that Halloween and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre used. Fear of the unknown.

The film is heavily inspired by the heavy rock era of 70s. Its common for the youngsters to get stoned and find themselves miles away from their destination. Alone in the dark!

It builds tension step by step and divulges itself to be one of the best horror movies to find place in heart and mind for a long-long time.

'Zibahkhana' is capable enough to ensue cult-following. Believe me, that's the impression I've got.

It is quite an indigenous creation, hailing directly from Pakistan and I am sure in course of time we will have many good flicks like Zibahkhana from innovative Pakistani directors.

I think that the Indian scare whimper directors like R.K. Khanna, R. Mittal, K.I. Sheikh, Jeetendra Chawda etc. should learn something from this movie, because B-grade horror is almost dead in India and is looking for a messiah to revive it once again.

The story is nothing great. Teens heading to a music festival get a little known "shortcut", a very cliché way of putting the victims on their way to slaughter. The evil characters kill for the sake of killing, with no reason and no big explanation. The teen group runs, the monster pursuits. The group split to make the monster's work easier. All in all, it's a simple, basic horror movie.

It's more like a showcase to display the filmmaker's makeup and gore-making abilities. It may be a Pakistan novelty, but considering worldwide horror movie history, it's pretty common. Many unexplained, cliché elements claims for a low grade, a 5, just in the middle. Not exactly bad, but only worth watching if you really have a good deal of time spare.

For once the advert on the sleeve of the DVD is correct, the bloodiest flick coming out of Pakistan. I enjoyed it from the beginning until the end. Even as it is spoken in Pakistanese and here and there some English it was watchable.

The story of course we have seen a thousand times. 5 friends want to go to a concert without the agreement of their parents but they never arrive at the concert. They arrive in zombieland and not only that, a creepy killer is also on the lose.

I can't say anything negative about Zibahkhana which in fact means 'slaughterhouse'. The acting was rather good, editing was okay. naturally the director looked to the classic horrors to know what to do. It worked out fine. Maybe it's a bit funny to see the deranged killer walking in a burkha. But why you kept looking is the use of some nasty gory shots. It's strange to see for a conservative country that such kind of flick could be made. Guess it was banned over there.

It do has a proper release nowadays all over Europe with subtitles in a few languages. A bit of a no- brainer but recommended for the horror buffs and even the gorehounds.

Gore 3/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 4/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

I ended watching this movie on a spur of the moment decision. I learned it was the world premier showing, and the director introduced the movie before the started.

This movie sports all that one can expect from a movie in its genre. Hapless teenagers looking for fun. Slasher zombies and your masked insane killer.

What it also contains are poor camera work, poor acting, stereotypical one-sided characters and an simple yet unbelievable plot. It also tries adding a few political themes on pollution and the degenerate behavior of the Pakistani youth. These factors makes the movie a comedy rather than a horror movie, and actually makes the movie watchable. I give it a 5 because it was good fun, for me nothing more.