Hell's Ground (2007)

I find the typical Texas Chainsaw Massacre-scenario quite boring nowadays, after seeing hundreds of versions of it during the years. Hell's Ground is virtually a remake of TCM, plot-twist after plot-twist. I don't mind it, but it would have been fun to see something more unique from Pakistan than just another inofficial remake. But it's not a bad movie, it's just a bit too generic.

The ususal gang of young hot people is going on a road trip to see "the hottest rock band in Pakistan", but ends up out in Redneckistan instead. A place the locals call the Hell's Ground, because it's cursed. And ain't it so! The first thing they do is to meet some hungry zombies who bites one of the guys and he's starting to slowly transform into a green slime-gurgling vegetable! A while later they pick up a hitcher who acts strange and pulls out a decapitated head from his bag, so they throw him out and accidentally run him over with their Scooby-van. Not long after that the van breaks down and the only place to ask for help is a... slaughterhouse! You can guess the rest...

Forget the story, because you seen it so many times before. Just enjoy the local take on this story instead, with Islamic mysticism, cool folklore and a nice soundtrack of cool Pakistanian music. The colors are bright and strong, and the smoke machine is in heavy use. On with the fish-eye and freaky angles, weird actors and cool shabby locations. This is what Hell's Ground is all about. Rovdyr, the Norwegian backwoods-slasher is boring just because it's hard to tell it's Norweigan (except the language of course), but here you can see and feel that it's a Pakistanian movie. From culture references in music and the casting of some old-timers, to the clothes and colors. It's a rugged movie, but rugged in that wonderful grindhouse-way that we all love.

One thing that was a bit confusing was the mix between shaky English and whatever local language they talk. I heard English is fairly common in Pakistan, but it's just makes it harder to follow the dialogue when the subtitles is switching on and off during the movie.

But I should stop complaining. It has a bloody gore (not in any huge amounts though), a fun cast, an awesome killer! Yes, the killer! I love him! Dressed in a white burqua, splattered with blood and wielding a huge spiked metal-ball on a chain! One of the best and creepiest killers I've seen for a long time, up there together with the inspiration himself, Leatherface.

A must for fans of world wide cult cinema!