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.
