October 3rd

Purana Mandir (1984) directed by Shyam Ramsay & Tulsi Ramsay
I rented this because I'd read it was India's best horror movie.  If that's true, I can't say I plan on renting any more from that country.  I guess I was hoping this movie would be wilder.  Sure, it has a lot of cool stuff in it -- super-strong Anand kicking ass, a sword fight, Bijli catching fish in her teeth, a guy with no arms dreaming of stomping the hands of the guy who cut them off -- but it was spread too thin over the 143 minute runtime.  The movie needed a serious editing job; there was lots of fat in the story that did not need to be there.  I'd've appreciated maybe five or ten minute's worth of Suman screaming to be cut, at least.  The goofy songs can stay, of course.  My largest complaint, though, is that this is barely even a horror movie.  Samri, the demon everyone fears, barely does anything at all in the limited time he's on screen.  I think he manages to kill four or five people or so.  Other than that, he sort of runs around looking like Phil Hartman as Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer growling and jumping at people.  Not counting Suman's constant screaming at random things, that's about all the horror there is in this one.  Despite this, I kind of liked the characters and story of the film, anyway.  An interesting way to spend 2.5 hours. (6/10)