Tears of Kali

As the description says, it is three segments about a mysterious cult. A "reporter" with a hidden agenda manages to get the "inner demon" of Elizabeth (Jandris Irena-Heliana) released in the first segment with almost deadly consequences.

The demon attack, and the bizarre suicide, barely compensated for the low budget look of the film.

I have never seen anger management therapy the way this cult practices it. A man who wanted to jump out of his skin was literally forced to remove his skin. It won't help in this life, but it will make him better in the next.

I am not really sure about the third segment. It was just strange.

Three horror stories based on members of a transgressive Hindu cult that return home but changed in some way. In the first story our former cult member is now in an insane asylum and is visited by a reported who wants to find out about what went on at the cult. Somewhat slow going as story is told in flashbacks while the two sit on chairs and face each other. Reporter is particularly interested in what lead to the death of the participants. What seemed rather boring suddenly turns very exciting with a surprising twist in the story. Things get quite bloody.

Second story has a violent young criminal visiting a psychiatrist for mandatory therapy. The patient seems to have some type of agenda but the psychiatrist is up to the task. Again, things slow down a bit and get weird. Then there's a strange twist in the story that is very well written and surprising.

Final story deals with spiritual healer who claims to be able to remove the persons illness from them with his hands. One of the patients is a former cult member, so the successful healing gets more complicated. Again, we are surprised by a twist. Has a pretty gory scene in there.

There some nice female full frontal nudity as well as male full frontal nudity for some reason. I found the stories to be very well written and the director succeeds entirely in setting up each story with its surprising twist and the gory aftermath.

Note: review of the German DVD.

one of the best low budget movies from Germany! is this is the dark side of new age? if you believe in esoteric, please don't watch this movie! it blows all your positive fantasies away. this movie shows that beyond the peaceful façade of spiritual soul searching lies a world of extreme transgressions and terror. i hope there will be a 35 mm copy soon! Andreas Marschall's first film is just the beginning of a new area, making movies with a few euros! i'm waiting for the second hit!

The main drawback with 'Tears of Kali' is its obviously low budget. Despite its best efforts, the film occasionally ends up just looking cheap and comical. Having said that, however, the blood and gore FX are done *exceptionally* well. And, in the end, the cheap 'home video' feel of the film doesn't matter because it works well on other levels. A series of interconnected story lines is used very effectively to build up an intriguingly incomplete picture of the origins and activities of the occult group at the centre of the movie. The idea of this group, and the stories, rumours, and legends that surround them, is what really appealed to me about the film. It's an idea which struck me as similar to Clive Barker's 'Hellraiser' concept, insofar as the mythology surrounding it is powerful enough to be extended in any of a number of ways, possibly across different media (films, comics, novels, etc). Not that I'm advocating the production of 'Tears of Kali' sequels, accompanying graphic novels, and tie-in action figures! Let's face it, most of the Hellraiser sequels are worthless (unless viewed solely for cheese-value). Just because an idea has the scope and potency to be extended doesn't mean it should be extended (except in the viewer's imagination). The only point I want to make is that the central concept of 'Tears of Kali' lends the movie an extremely powerful edge, and this overcomes the otherwise cheap 'home video' atmosphere.

"Tears of Kali" is the debut film of German writer/director Andreas Marshall. I know him from the surprisingly good 2011 neo-Giallo "Masks", but this is quite different. "Tears of Kali" is a horror anthology, and although far from flawless and often suffering from the shortage of budget, I have to award it with a couple of extra good grades. Why? Because it is genuinely macabre and unpleasant to watch, and - being a horror fanatic - you just got to appreciate that! How often do we not complain that horror movies aren't frightening enough? Well, here you have a film with the potential to truly freak you out with its eerie stories, depraved characters, and nauseating gore.

The omnibus doesn't have a real wraparound story, but all three segments are connected to a spiritual cult in India named after its founder (and über-nutcase) Eriksson. In the pre-credits opening sequence we already witness how a naked girl cuts her own eyes out in a filthy room full of dead bodies, so this isn't exactly the joyful sunshine-and-rainbows kind of cult. "Tears of Kali" comes recommended, but only to people with strong stomachs and nerves.

In the first story, a suspiciously behaving reporter receives permission to interview a former cult-member at the sanitarium, and it naturally goes quite wrong. In the second story, a troubled young man needs to see a psychiatrist to help him deal with his drug abuse and rage attacks. The shrink is a disciple of the Eriksson cult, though, and his methods turn out rather barbaric. In the third and last story, a fraudulent healer and his faithful wife/assistant actually succeed in exorcising a demon from the mind of a female patient (and Eriksson pupil) for once, but the demon is now loose in the healer's basement and looking for a host. Segment #2 is my absolute favorite, because of the psychopathic shrink and the deeply uncomfortable atmosphere in this story.