Mondo Macabro DVD has been doing a great job over the last few years releasing weird, wild and bizarre movies from around the world. Here in their first film production they have teamed up with Bubonic Films to make Pakistan’s first gore movie. Cult horror enthusiast and Director, Omar Ali Kahn infuses a great mix of American horror with the countries own attributes and has created a very good directorial debut that received a very warm welcome in his homeland.

Amidst political protest and a mysterious disease that’s threatening the countryside, a group of 5 pot smoking twenty-something’s load up in a psychedelic van and head for a rock show. To make up time they take a short cut on a bad stretch of road into sticks on to Hell’s Ground where they encounter plague stricken gore faced zombies [along the lines of Fulci’s “Zombie”], a freaky dude with a decapitated head and run out of gas. If only they would have listened to the warnings of the old man at the tea stand who said “You are on the road to hell my children”. On a trivial note: The old man who goes by Rehan played Dracula in the Dracula in Pakistan feature “Zinda Laash” also available on Mondo Macabro.

Now things go from bad to worse when they go looking for help and find a freaky old lady and her son, a new slasher hero in the form of a Burqa wearing maniac Butcher, who live life the “Chainsaw” kind of way. So what we have is a fun return/homage to the 80’s style drawing obvious inspiration from the likes of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, zombie and slasher films and even tidbits of films like “Hostel”, While the story is thin and really offers nothing new, Omar Kahn gets it everything right with the atmosphere and gory violence.

Creepy night scenes with a full moon, foggy terrain, birds feet and weird shit hanging in the trees and the gore strewn house of the mother and Burqa Butcher whose weapon of choice is a big spiked metal ball on a chain. Good suspense for the most part, and plenty of juicy bloody gore in the latter half. I’m also happy to report there are no sing and dance numbers that are usually found in Pakistani movies like “Zinda Laash – The Living Corpse” ‘67. The doomed twenty-something’s listen to some of the annoying tunes on the radio but it doesn’t last long as it’s on to the horror show. Which all moves along at a good clip in its rather short 78 minute running time. So why not give Pakistan’s first gore film a chance. I like it a lot and it’s a welcome addition to my collection.

Not sure why it was released on TLA Danger After Dark DVD, but here it is in an excellent 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Print with 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound. Rounded out with a couple nifty Xtras: Commentary with Director Omar Kahn, Ice Cream Zombieland Documentary; which features the directors Ice Cream shop and all around cool hangout place decorated with movie posters, LUMS Premiere featuring Interviews and Speeches from the Pakistan Premiere, Zuj Music Promo and the Original Trailer.