What they have come together to do is give birth to a new genre
I will harp on the pacing in a particular sequence just for a moment, though. As one of their group is attacked by a zombie-ish being and begins a strange metamorphosis, there isn´t a palpable sense of urgency in the van. Some lines are thrown about regarding hospitals and help, though we don´t ever feel the tension. It is partly director Khan´s fault: he generally keeps the camera on the van dashboard in order to get a master shot of the group, very rarely going in for close ups or any other angle which would ratchet the tension higher. I would presume the problem was an ultra-low budget and an extremely short shooting schedule (not to mention less than ideal shooting conditions); it just would have been nice to crank the horror element to a feverish pace.
One other note: almost by definition, horror films have to take place at night. It is, therefore, of paramount importance the director and crew take full advantage of shadows, a limited viewing distance and other filming techniques. By and large, Khan doesn´t, opting to shoot straight on or, in other instances, in a theater manner. As in, we get the feeling the scene starts at the moment the camera starts to roll instead of a continuous scene when we´re not watching. These are rookie mistakes and things he will learn with each subsequent production/.
VIDEO:
We have the original 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer here and, to be completely honest, it looks as though it was pulled from an old VHS tape. Colors are diluted, blacks are more generally dark gray and it has a bad case of grain. The look even reminded me of a student film, something to be turned in for credit at film school, not a feature production. Nearly throughout the feature, the edges of the screen are rounded off, giving the effect of looking through a fishbowl. There is no good artistic reason for this, so I assume it has to do with the budget. This becomes a distraction in some scenes-obviously the day ones.
AUDIO:
If the video reminded me of a student film, the English/Urdu 5.1 track is a cousin of various 1960s and 1970s martial arts movies. The score´s volume is entirely too loud, voices and music in the upper echelon comes across as distorted and everything we hear is generally flat. According to Khan, each actor had to dub all their lines in post production. To the tracks credit, I never noticed sync issues. English subtitles are included for non-English dialogue.
EXTRAS:
For Pakistan´s first horror film and one which ran into the censorship board, there is a discernable lack of substantial features here. First up is Khan´s scene-specific commentary, one in which he stops talking for a grand total of perhaps one minute. The man is a fountain of information regarding the film, and quite rightly so. He speaks good English and is never hard to understand, though, by the end, the addition of a producer or cast member would have helped break the monotony. (As with all TLA Releasing discs, the commentary can only be accessed through the Set-Up menu.)
Next up is a feature called "Ice Cream Zombieland Documentary." The "Documentary" part is a bit of a misnomer, considering it runs for a tick of twelve minutes. In essence, we are given a quick recap of the reception at a private screening of "Hell´s Ground" along with some other behind the scene tidbits. A lot of the information is repeated from the commentary. To go along with the "documentary," "Lums Movie Premiere" (6:53) features the first public screening of the film, along with spur of the moment interviews with the actors. There is a brief mention of shooting with high def camera, to the best of my hearing, an idea which floored me based on the transfer.
A music video (4:33) and a couple trailers for other TLA product round out the section.
PARTING THOUGHTS:
Omar Khan, the cast and crew should be applauded for thinking outside the Pakistani film box and reaching to make "Hell´s Ground." It´s not perfect, but then few first films are. Instead what they have come together to do is give birth to a new genre, one which will experience growing pains and setbacks. As a premiere event, Khan could have done much worse than to pay homage to the pillars of the genre.
One other note: almost by definition, horror films have to take place at night. It is, therefore, of paramount importance the director and crew take full advantage of shadows, a limited viewing distance and other filming techniques. By and large, Khan doesn´t, opting to shoot straight on or, in other instances, in a theater manner. As in, we get the feeling the scene starts at the moment the camera starts to roll instead of a continuous scene when we´re not watching. These are rookie mistakes and things he will learn with each subsequent production/.
VIDEO:
We have the original 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer here and, to be completely honest, it looks as though it was pulled from an old VHS tape. Colors are diluted, blacks are more generally dark gray and it has a bad case of grain. The look even reminded me of a student film, something to be turned in for credit at film school, not a feature production. Nearly throughout the feature, the edges of the screen are rounded off, giving the effect of looking through a fishbowl. There is no good artistic reason for this, so I assume it has to do with the budget. This becomes a distraction in some scenes-obviously the day ones.
AUDIO:
If the video reminded me of a student film, the English/Urdu 5.1 track is a cousin of various 1960s and 1970s martial arts movies. The score´s volume is entirely too loud, voices and music in the upper echelon comes across as distorted and everything we hear is generally flat. According to Khan, each actor had to dub all their lines in post production. To the tracks credit, I never noticed sync issues. English subtitles are included for non-English dialogue.
EXTRAS:
For Pakistan´s first horror film and one which ran into the censorship board, there is a discernable lack of substantial features here. First up is Khan´s scene-specific commentary, one in which he stops talking for a grand total of perhaps one minute. The man is a fountain of information regarding the film, and quite rightly so. He speaks good English and is never hard to understand, though, by the end, the addition of a producer or cast member would have helped break the monotony. (As with all TLA Releasing discs, the commentary can only be accessed through the Set-Up menu.)
Next up is a feature called "Ice Cream Zombieland Documentary." The "Documentary" part is a bit of a misnomer, considering it runs for a tick of twelve minutes. In essence, we are given a quick recap of the reception at a private screening of "Hell´s Ground" along with some other behind the scene tidbits. A lot of the information is repeated from the commentary. To go along with the "documentary," "Lums Movie Premiere" (6:53) features the first public screening of the film, along with spur of the moment interviews with the actors. There is a brief mention of shooting with high def camera, to the best of my hearing, an idea which floored me based on the transfer.
A music video (4:33) and a couple trailers for other TLA product round out the section.
PARTING THOUGHTS:
Omar Khan, the cast and crew should be applauded for thinking outside the Pakistani film box and reaching to make "Hell´s Ground." It´s not perfect, but then few first films are. Instead what they have come together to do is give birth to a new genre, one which will experience growing pains and setbacks. As a premiere event, Khan could have done much worse than to pay homage to the pillars of the genre.
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[release]24001[/release]