By late 80's the charm of horror films was at moribund. Directors had milked away most of the plots at different time frames, which made most of the movies almost predictable. Most of the films sailed in the same boat and were sheer clones of one another. Khooni Mahal was released in 1987 and to be honest, that wasn't the kind of movie I was looking for. First of all there is a dumb monster locked up in a grave for many years, who suddenly rises up (for no apparent reason) and goes on a killing spree. This was intended to be more dangerous and vicious than Samuel Doe of se7en. Unfortunately Mohan Bhakri is not as good of a storyteller as he claims to be.
The films starts with a wealthy Jagirdar of a turf Jagira who is taken over by a mysterious evil spirit on one stormy no moon night and soon turns to a monster with long fangs, unkempt hair and shaggy nails. He instantly kills two of his lady servants and forgets everything in the morning. The deaths remain a mystery. A month later, on a same no moon stormy night, Jagira transforms again to a monster and this time goes to the village, kills a village belle and is soon subdued by the angry mob. The angry villagers drive him off and make him fall into a newly dug pit which is then filled up again. The evil spirit warns the villagers of the dire consequences and is all set to exact revenge on anyone who passes by the turf.
The story cuts to 20 years after the preceding events, where we see a couple (Satish Kaul and Anu Dhawan) caught amidst rain taking asylum at Jagira's haunted palace. Jagira emerges from his grave and kills the couple. After few more years, we see a group of over-aged college students who are out for fun but happen to witness a murder by a pack of 3 armed roughnecks. A chase ensues and the students take asylum at Jagira's manor. The punks find the students and are about to shoot them when the tables turn and soon the vagabonds are tied to the trees outside the manor. They somehow free themselves and now desperately want to settle scores with the students. They soon come face to face with a dreadful Jagira, who kills them after inflicting severe injuries.
Back into the manor, we see Jagdeep and Huma Khan (runaway lovers) and rest of the folks getting intimate. One by one they are killed by Jagira and lose all hopes of survival. One of the buddies tries going out of the manor to fetch some help but is soon killed by Jagira. Finally Raj (Raj Kiran) and Reena (Shoma Anand) are left to face a raging Jagira.
The movie seems very much inspired by Tom DeSimone's 'Hell Night', that made its entry in the early 80s (perhaps 1981) during the slasher boom. Bhakri has shamelessly copied various scenes without applying a pinch of his own logic. So thumbs down to those who thought Bhakri is actually a film director. He is no better than a roadside juggler, who has limited tricks to show.
Despite sleazy, cheap, and churned out make-up effects, there are some scenes that are truly shocking. Jagira, limping away seems to have no qualms with any of the cheap staged acts, which have well insulted the monster at places. These acts are so cheap that a true evil would shoot himself and would never want to be reborn as an evil for the next 100 lives. Well if you really want to know what's so funny about it, then how would you like if you see someone riding on a monster, just the way someone rides a horse? Or how would you like if you see the monster wearing latest design shoes and using it to kick butts? How would you like if you see a monster of immense strength fighting like a fearing boxer? All these elements make it an entirely boring movie. Nadeem Shravan have not created a single hummable song. Quite exhausting so 4/10.
