Jason goes to the Hypnodrome and sees "Hell's Ground"

Aka "ZIBAHKHANA", the first gore splatter film from Pakistan. Dennis Harvey has an excellent write-up in the SF Bay Guardian.

Dead Channels presents the "White Hot 'N' Warped Wednesdays", every other Wednesday at the Hypnodrome. Last Wednesday was a real treat. As I said above, it's a splatter gore film from Pakistan. Check that, it's the splatter gore film from Pakistan.

As a horror movie, it's all over the place. The gang of road-tripping (and sometimes just plain tripping) teenagers run into not just zombies, or crazy vampires, or a creepy old man, or a burqa-clad mace-wielding psycho--they run into all of the above and more.

If it was just about the story, it would be an effective horror adventure in and of itself. But the fact that it's Pakistani is important for more than just a footnote or trivia. It is in fact an interesting cultural document that shows a Pakistan that's much more complex than what we see on the news. Just showing that Pakistani kids smoke pot, have posters of American movies, speak English, etc. goes a long way towards bridging cultural bonds--not to mention that they made a horror movie with homages to American horror movie classics (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Evil Dead movies, Night of the Living Dead, etc.). Hell, the fact that there are drag queens walking the streets in Islamabad makes me think the world's gonna be okay.

And that was my White Hot 'n Warped Wednesday. In two weeks (July 16th) check out "The Room" and then two weeks after that the menstrual horror-comedy "Period". Check out Dead Channels for more information.