Mahakaal

"The Monster" (aka "Mahakaal") is a fun and scary film at the same time. Yes, it's a ripoff of "A Nightmare on Elm Street", but it was so much fun for me. And the acting wasn't as bad as I expected. Not Oscar worthy. But fine for an Indian horror film. The music is taken straight from the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" franchise. The thing that really stands out is the role of Johnny Lever. He is funny, clumsy and everything you want from Mr. Lever. The musical numbers also stands out. The comedy stands out. The villian is not the best. A cheep rip-off of Freddy Krueger. In this film called Shakaal. But overall it's a great pile of entertainment. I definitely recommend this title!

Troubled by her recurring nightmares, a woman and her friends find themselves targeted by a deformed killer that exists only in their dream world who was originally killed years ago by their parents and forces them to deal with the killer in order to stop his deadly rampage.

This turned out to be quite the impressive and enjoyable effort. What gives this one a lot of its impact is the fact that it's so close to the original film that it allows for plenty of fun to come from these familiar elements. Once she enters the dream world, those scenes are incredibly fun as the extended opening dream of her running through the abandoned boiler room where she continually runs into the strange figure despite all the different attempts to run away gives this a strong, stylish opening as well as sets the stage for the dreams to follow. The following night, where her friend is also involved when the two of them are chased around the strange bunker is just as crazy and frantic detailing their encounters in the cobweb-riddled structures is a fantastic sequence, while the big attack at the hotel makes a strong reference to the original's strong opening sequence as well as helps itself to some censorship- imposed changes that allow for a chilling sequence. The later hallucination at the school following her dead friend into his hideout actually comes off far better in this variation with the encounter featuring the body resurrected to fight her before running into the killer for a lengthy sequence, while the jail encounter works far better here by incorporating the elements of local cinema into the attack by using poisonous snakes to add that extra level of tension to the sequence. Even the flashback sequence explaining the killers' resurrection is a rather enjoyable affair with the brawl inside the sacrificial temple and the subsequent search for the burial spot that really serves this one incredibly well by keeping the pace going to fill the engorged running time as well as give this the kind of chilling set-pieces needed to really make this one quite fun. Even the finale, where it features his attempts at getting to the family before their big confrontation with him gives this a lot of fun qualities and really let the good qualities of her possession take the forefront here. As well as offering that kind of film, the fact that it employs so many elements from Indian cinema makes for a rather enjoyable immersion, from the song-and-dance routines that offer some enjoyable pop tunes to the goofy comedic relief from the pop- obsessed classmate that even manages to crack some hilarious meta-jokes here that add to the fun. The closeness to the story in terms of how it plays out makes this one so easy to get into based on being able to recognize the plot-points and beats quite easily while allowing for the different side-tangents that bring about the different local antics that add a flavor to the film such as the goofy wordplay, dance routines and even several martial arts sequences. Now, in the end, these do end up leading the film to a few small problems in that this does feel it's length because of its tangents and side points, as the need for the constant rape attempts by the gang aren't needed not only because they add nothing to the film but also because the censorship dictates due to the country of origin mean it won't play with them anyway. That also has an effect on rendering a lot of the kills bloodless when they shouldn't, but overall these are all that's wrong with it.

Rated Unrated/PG-13: Violence and Attempted Rapes.

Mahakaal (The Monster) is an Indian take/ripoff of the Nightmare on Elm Street Movie.

The movie stars the quite beautiful Archana Puran Singh as Anita who gets tormented by the evil demon Shakaal, who was buried alive by her father after he had killed sacrificed several children, one being Anita's sister. Shakaal attacks Anita and her closest ones throughout the movie. Anita and her gang tries to avoid him by going on field trips and by doing a few musical numbers where they sing and dance.

The movie is made by the Ramsay brothers who might have the "honour" of being the horror kings of India. It's actually a quite decent movie visually with some colorful and creepy looking scenes. The creepiness goes quickly away however thanks to a lot of comic reliefs (and i mean A lot) and effects which are a little to simple and not so effective. They also rip off the famous soundbits from the American Freddy movies which is a good addition to this one. It also rips off a scene from Day of the Dead and a good murder scene from Nightmare on Elm Street Part III.

I wish the movie had been shorter though. Running a little over to hours is way to long for a movie like this. And there is plenty of scenes which could have been cut out. Everything including the "comic relief guy" played by Johnny Lever would have been nice since he isn't funny or have anything to add to this movie. I guess that would have made the movie 20 minutes shorter and also a much better experience. Take away the subplot with the bad dude who wants Anita as well and you got a movie that is about 80 minutes long which would be an even bigger improvement. If others feel like me then I'm sure we'll see some fanedits in the future.

There's also a problem with Hindu-Freddy. He does not speak (although he laughs a lot) or really do anything very frightening. Freddy's charisma in the American movies is one of it's biggest assets and I'm quite surprised the Ramseys didn't use that in this one. The mullet on Hindu-Freddy however gives him a little plus.

The movie was actually started on in 1988, but was put on hold when another Indian take on the Freddy movies came along called Khooni Murdaa.

Although it has it's fun parts and funny dance numbers I'd only recommend it to the ones who are curious and want to laugh at a Freddy ripoff movie. See it for the nice visual nightmare scenes and try to ignore Johnny Lever and enjoy Mahakaal.

The movie is available on a Mondo Macabre DVD which was released in the summer of '09. Support Mondo Macabre who continues to put out weird and unknown Asian cult movies! Enjoy.

The beginning years of the 90s were most traumatic for the B-horror genre of Bollywood. Attempts were made to return the audience to the old school of horror but these attempts only fueled the sense of hate among the audience for the Ramsays, who were once liked by the horror buffs for their originality. I really don't understand what went wrong with the Ramsay brothers that they failed to maintain their originality in the early 90s. They tried to make their film as shocking as possible with a limited budget in hand. The resulting films, which were usually rip-offs of highly successful American films, failed to do any good to them as they all turned into a big fiasco. Previously, The Ramsays used to copy few jack-in-the-box scenes from certain Hollywood films but as the time went by, they said yes to complete plagiarism. Films like 'Aakhri Cheekh' and 'Mahakal aka The Monster' are the living examples of plagiarism which never helped the Ramsays reclaim their lost position in Bollywood.

'Mahakal' is 'A Nightmare on Elm Street - 1984' rip-off but those who've already seen this Wes Craven masterpiece will be left with frowning faces once they have watched this piece of trash. The main storyline comes concurrent with ANOES with few exceptions where Ramsays have tried to improve it. Ha ha, they thought they were improving the original version but we know what they came up with. If anyone of the Ramsays is reading my review then please note that by making 'Mahakal' you've only insulted yourself and not Wes Craven. Wes Craven made a masterpiece which was hellish and freaky in every sense and was packed with guts and gore. Including dance numbers and infantile comedy doesn't give 'Mahakal' an advantage over ANOES.

Archana Puran Singh who along with Navjot Singh Siddhu has been criticized by many for her meaningless laughter plays the lead part in 'Mahakal'. She often dreams of a man with long steel fangs who attacks her in dreams. Archana usually wakes up with cuts and bruises she gets during her struggle with the monster in her dreams. Her family and friends try to console her, but Archana is the destined prey of this monster who won't leave her unless she has been laid to rest forever.

I guess this part clearly coincides with the original ANOES but whatever has been trashed out apart from the above plot is clearly an additive and a foolish contribution to the original version. If they want to make a rip-off they should first learn to create an effect on the viewers. I don't say that films need a good budget to be effective. Films like 'Gehrayee', 'Raat', 'Red Rose' etc. didn't have a heavy budget but their effect can be felt till date. All you need is a good plot, good actors and expert direction. I won't recommend 'Mahakal' to anyone who has already watched the original A Nightmare On Elm Street', because 'Mahakal' is simply a comedy of errors.

Mahakaal is a low budget horror film from Bollywood. The Directors Ramsays have made two great movies in the eighties. Purana Mandir and Veerana are example of amazing cinema for Indian horror. Mahakaal is a copy of A nightmare on Elm street part 1, 2, 3, 4 and even 5. It has elements and death scenes from all 5 sequels of the Freddy movies. The monster is a cheap version on Freddy Kruger. The star cast are all unknown B Grade actors. Only one actor that I love in this film Johnny Lever. This is a complete poor show all the way and will not appeal to anybody. Bad acting and bad directing and the audience are getting bored of cheap horror.