Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Kaalo (2010)

What’s missing in my almost collection? Indian movies, lots of Indian movies. So I decided to do something about that and start getting myself everything that sounds, looks and probably is a lot of fun. I started with Wilson Louis 2010 horror movie Kaalo (“First Ever Day Horror”), because I heard good stuff about it from people I trust and the simple story seemed right up my alley!

A bus with the usual suspects: the young horny couple, some disrespectful hoodlums, a silent hero, the comic relief bus-staff, a fancy fashion photographer and his model and an older couple on their way to meet their grandchild. Everyone is kinda happy, until the road they’re travelling on disappears in a big hole (probably leading to hell!) and they are forced to take the road leading thru the deserted village of Kulbhata! It’s deserted for a reason: a big, slimy monster-witch is killing everyone getting close to the place with her big spear! She also has gigantic wings and can crawl underneath the surface of the ground, sucking people beneath and killing them! Will they make it?!

Kaalo is a cheap, quite rough horror movie. But it’s a very entertaining and energy-filled piece of exploitation. The director Wilson Louis takes his inspiration from Evil Dead, Tremors and Jeepers Creepers, which if this was a SyFy Channel production could have been very boring. But the frantic pace, the wacky visual solutions and the non-stop monster action make Kaalo a winner! Just don’t expect big Hollywood-effects. It has some dodgy digital effects, but it’s so colourful and fun that everything is forgiven. I LOVE the monster-witch for example! Green and slimy, with a huge tongue and those wings, armed with a spear! Very violent chick, I tell ya, and she uses her weapon to impale and hit a lot of victims.

I can’t say it’s a gory movie, but it has a lot of goo and blood, and a few graphic stabs here and there. Not bad, could have been more, but I can promise you that when this movie starts you will – especially after the excellent opening (which has a kill that reminded me a lot of The Hills Have Eyes-remake by Alexandre Aja) – never be bored. And yes, its 81 minutes long and has maybe 2-3 minutes of song which I think is a great choice. Horror and monster first, a little bit song on the side.

This movie made my day, and a perfect inspiration to find myself more Indian genre movies!

2 comments:

vaultkeeper said...

Welcome to Bollywood! They have lots of nice and entertaining stuff, both action flicks, horror, thrillers and ripoffs on big budget American movies. Too bad that some Indinan movies are way too long, sometimes it drags on for over 3 hours, with song and dance scenes that lasts for 15 minutes each. I truly recommend the action flick Dhoom 2(which is a standalone sequel to a movie i havent seen), awesome action with shootouts, car chases, incredible stunts, silly slapstick humour and beautiful scenery. Did you also notice the mix of Hindi and English they use in these movies? They do that in all bollywood movies and people in India talk like that for real, so its just natural.

Jack J said...

Hong Kong Chinese people use a lot of English phrases too (which mainlander Chinese don't). It's all got to be with having been "owned" by the British who made all official correspondence take place in English. I suppose you don't just shake off such a strong influence that has taken place thru many many decades.

Oh, and welcome to Bollywood, Fred! It's a fun and colourful world, I'm sure you'll like it here. Have you discovered Lollywood yet? :D