Mondo Macabro has returned with another installment in their Bollywood Horror Collection. Like the previous DVD collections, volume three maintains a focus on Tulsi and Shyam Ramsay, who are sibling purveyors of horror films that merge Western genre tropes with Indian sensibilities. Mahakaal (The Monster) and Tahkhana (The Dungeon) display the elements that made the Ramsay brothers innovators in Indian cinema.
Mahakaal (The Monster) is a thorough Nightmare on Elm Street knock-off from 1993. It isn't necessary to recount the story as it will be familiar to many viewers: a putty-faced, blade-wearing child killer invades the dreams of young college students. There is little attempt to disguise the origins of the material as whole scenes and musical cues are directly lifted from the original movie. Mahakaal places more emphasis on atmosphere, which is created through heavy use of Argento-style gel lighting and smoke effects, than coherence. Multiple shaggy musical numbers, innocuous sexual content, the broad comedy of Johnny Lever, pervasive jump cuts, and visual non-sequiturs keep the energy level high but at 145 minutes, this loosely structured movie heavily lags in spots.
Tahkhana (The Dungeon) was released in 1986. It shares various elements with Mahakaal, including PG-rated sex, musical cues and possibly even sets. The biggest difference between the two films, however, is that Tahkana is better. In Takhana a dying man gifts the family treasure, which is located in the titular dungeon, to his good son while disinheriting his other son, who is a black magician. The angst-ridden evil brother digs up the grave of a furry Golem-like demon made from sacrificial soil. He then kidnaps his brother's kids so they can be sacrificed to resurrect the demon. His plan is thwarted, and he ends up locked in the dungeon with the dormant demon. The film fast forwards 20 years where the next generation of the family are tasked with recovering the treasure. The black magician, who somehow manages to survive in the dungeon, sacrifices himself to give the demon life. This, as one might imagine, causes the treasure hunters many problems. Whereas Mahakaal feels like a pastiche, Tahkhana is a more coherent synthesis of ideas. This can be attributed to, at least in part, Tahkhana's shorter 125 minute running time, its lack of comedic asides and the presence of a single, drug-oriented musical number, which is nicely integrated into the film. The film's blend of archetypal B-movie elements such as haunted houses, an unstoppable monster, and a missing treasure is both familiar and fun.
Both films in this set have been digitally remastered and are presented in full-frame. Given their age, the films are relatively defect free clean with vivid colors. Hindi language audio tracks are provided as are English subtitles. Disc two features an excellent Mondo Macabro documentary on South Asian films, including Bollywood horror and Pakistani action. Tahkhana is the highlight of volume 3 of Mondo Macabro's Bollywood Horror Collection but overall, this two-disc set provides an overwhelming 5 hours of rare mind-warping content.