The Living Corpse

Zinda Laash (The Living Corpse) is the first vampire film produced in Pakistan.

Being based on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, it has similar themes to other Nosferatu-type flicks...mainly the 1950's Dracula film from Britain.

It was considered a lost film, before a degraded copy was discovered, and restored into the version we have today.

The plot revolves around a mad scientist, who is trying to formulate the elixir of life.

When he believe he successfully concocts it, he uses himself as a guinea pig, and consumes it.

But it effectively just renders him a vampire.

Immediately turning his assistant, as well.

Some time later an investigator shows up to see if the house is haunted, like the townsfolk claim.

He is met by the doctor, who instantly becomes infatuated with his girlfriend.

The doctor's assistant, meanwhile, tries to seduce him...and the man ends up being bitten by her.

Now, his brother is trying to figure out what happened to him.

As his girlfriend- who is being kept from his disappearance- starts being courted by the vampire doctor.

Becoming bitten, herself.

Now she too is a vampire.

And the man's brother is left trying to convince the girl's family that this is all the work of such a creature.

However, as a scientific rationalist, her brother finds it all very hard to believe...and, thus, demands explicit evidence.

In fact, he accuses the man's brother of being affected by evil, when he suggests they must pierce her heart, in order to drain the tainted blood, so that they can save her soul.

He remains in denial even after a child is found drained of blood, and his own daughter claims she is being seduced toward oblivion by her thought-to-be dead aunt.

Chocking it all up to his daughter's own wild fantasies.

Fortunately for him, his brother in law intervenes right before he and his daughter are about to be turned. themselves.

Now, no longer your typical doubting thomas...he is a true believer.

And the two men set off, together, in order to try and kill the doctor, so as to break the curse, and save humanity.

But while they're out hunting...the doctor get's to his wife.

So, the mission becomes an extra urgent matter.

As they must not only survive long enough to outwit the demonic doctor...but do so before he get's the opportunity to turn his wife into a vampire, as well.

The ending is actually a lot more action packed than I was expecting it to be.

Though the conclusion is pretty standard.

What stands out the most, is the soundtrack...in the most hilariously awesome way.

It goes from what you'd typically find in a Hollywood flick, to more traditional Pakistani pop tunes (that transition, at times, into modern swing), to old time songs you'd expect to hear in a slapstick film, to tribal African rhythms, epic orchestral pieces, and even some 8-bit funk music that seems like it would be more at home in an NES game.

I'm not sure if some of this was added during the restoration, for the tv broadcast...or if it's actually part of the original soundtrack.

But, damn, is it ever all over the place.

Some of it is clearly out of place- and seems to have been overlaid after the fact.

As you can imagine, on top of being a mystery-thriller horror, the film does have a bunch of musical segments, as well.

They act like interjected music videos- that don't do much for the plot- rather than they do pander to an audience that might not have been interested in the film otherwise.

Although these sequences are drawn out, they are spaced out far enough, so as to not become overbearing on the pace of the film.

When all is said and done, it's pretty basic in it's production values, though it has an appropriate atmosphere and manages to keep your attention throughout.

And, honestly, it's nice to see something like this coming from a culture you wouldn't generally expect it from.

5 out of 10.

A vampire flick coming from Pakistan, go figure that one out. Zinda Laash did had a reputation. This flick was supposed to be lost forever but as with so many lost flick suddenly someone popped up with a bad copy. It's now restored and is in fact watchable. On the other hand while being screened at movie theaters a woman got a heart attack so it really became a well sought flick.

It's loosely based on Bram Stoker's story, it do has a girl being bitten by Dracula and it do has the famous sentence about the children of the night but that's it. typical for those kind of flicks it do has a few songs in it were they do dance on. There's no blood to mention, well, maybe one shot where the girl do has blood running from her mouth but it's done really cheesy. It's just added with make-up.

It takes around 100 minutes and that's too long for such a lame flick. If you want to see how Pakistan made a horror then this is a perfect example. You will see how they do things to avoid blood and nudity. And the acting was really unbelievable bad. Just watch the fighting at the end, baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad acting. And also see the audio equipment making shadows on the wall. Only for the geeks of bad flicks. But coming from Pakistan worth entering your collection just for the sake to say, I have a Pakistanese flick, although there are better ones.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

This Isn't as Bad As i thought it would be,But the fact that it's only a Pakistani version of Bram stoker's novel:Dracula,Rehan Pulls off an Amazing Performance,Though i thought it could've been better by editing out all the shocking stuff people refer to.

I don't Really Know Why Everybody Says:It's A Rip-off,Give It a chance,This Might Be because It was banned ON it's very first Premier,The first time i saw it was back in Pakistan,which I even thought It Would be awful,Due to the way how people Reacted to it in 1967,Overall,The fighting Sequences Needed to be Improved A little bit Back then.....

Historically this was Pakistan's first venture into the terror film genre and we came mighty close to losing this film before it was discovered (in some "rusty old cans", according to the brave film buff who found it) in a vault.

The plot borrows heavily from Hammer's HORROR OF Dracula, in fact there are times when the music even has a noticeable similarity to James Bernard's score. There are some classical themes thrown in as well, notice "The Barber of Seville" playing during the car chase scene) and some other cues which are . . .well . . . eccentric to say the least. Early in the film when someone is driving to the vampires mansion you can recognise strains of "La Cucaracha" on the soundtrack. The lighting and the sets reminded me more of the vampire films coming out of Mexico in the late 50's. The vampire's vast home might have suited Count Frankenhausen or Count Lavud quite well. This time though the vampire is created via scientific means. A doctor who believes he has discovered the elixir of eternal life takes one swallow and turns into a vampire! Well, that is eternal life of a sort, right?

Oh and there are songs in the film too, in fact it was beginning to remind me of the Mexican film CRY OF THE BEWITCHED (1965) with the plot stopping . . .er . . ."dead" in its tracks so characters could sing. This is not to say the characterisations were not believable, they certainly are. The hero, our Van Helsing character, has a very hard time convincing anyone there is a vampire stalking victims until our bloodsucking villain strikes very close to home, claiming the sister of a man who refused to believe vampires were real.

Okay, now remember this film was done in Pakistan in the mid-60's so don't expect gore or nudity or anything like that; although there is a great man vs. vampire fight scene near the end. By all means do not miss an opportunity to see this film.

I like a good vampire movie now and again, and "Zinda Laash" is easily one of the most fun and bizarre examples of the genre that I've come across.

As other commentators on this site have noted, this is very clearly based on the 1950s British film version of Dracula, which was released in the U.S. as "Horror of Dracula." At times, "Zinda Laash" is almost a scene-for-scene remake of the British film, with even some of the same music cues re-used. (I could less charitably say "stolen!") I didn't mind this derivativeness too much, though; in fact, it was like a wacky bonus sometimes.

Despite being unoriginal in terms of plot, "Zinda Laash" still feels unique because it's got very bizarre (to a U.S. viewer) touches that clearly come from the Pakistani culture. For example, several scenes are suddenly interrupted by great song-and-dance numbers. The song lyrics are often weirdly fascinating, and the dances strangely sexy. I know these musical numbers slow down the plot, but I found them to be great fun nonetheless.

It's also interesting to see a version of Dracula that's largely secular - certainly there's no Christian iconography in evidence, which is logical of course, considering that this was produced for a mostly Muslim audience.

Another weird touch I should note is that some elements come directly from Bram Stoker's novel, not "Horror of Dracula." I don't want to spoil anything, but you might notice these faithful little inclusions during the scene when Dr. Aqil meets Dracula's bride. So, the film-makers obviously read the book in addition to ripping off the British film version! I like a bit of fidelity to the source novel.

Of course, most people would laugh this stuff off the screen today for seeming hokey. But actually, the photography is moody, the locations are well-chosen, and the hokey parts really just enhance the film's charm for me. What can I say? I got a charge out of it...