Dak Bangla (1987)
Cast: Marc Zuber, Swapna, Ranjeet, Rajendranath, Sujit Kumar, Preeti Ganguly, Mazhar Khan
Director: Keshu Ramsay
Nutshell:  An undead fury is unleashed from the bowels of the Dak Bangla, causing a dreadful bloodbath
Review by Omar Khan

 

Dak Bangla was a switch-up for the Ramsay Brothers, as the old Tulsi & Shyam team handed over the directorial reins to Keshu this time. The change had a rejuvenating effect, with the horror and gore turned up a couple of notches to delicious levels.

Another welcome change was that the horrors are introduced very early in the film, from the very first scene, when a young amorous couple are romancing in bed and are interrupted by strange sounds. When they investigate, they are suddenly attacked by a burly, imposing figure, seemingly wrapped like a mummy, that bursts through the floor and ravages them. The woman makes a run for it but doesn't manage to escape.

In the very next scene, Marc Zuber takes on a new job as the manager of the Dak Bangla, and his lovely wife travels into the wilderness, far from Bombay, only to arrive at the sprawling Dak Bangla and find it seemingly empty. There is food on the table, so they were clearly expected, and the next day a shifty, shady character played by Ranjeet appears. He has a shapeshifting hunchback and is apparently the caretaker.

Zuber's young and attractive sister is starting her holidays from college and decides to spend her vacation at the Dak Bangla. She arrives with her boyfriend in tow, and they settle into their room. Zuber's wife has a nightmare in which she experiences a horrible attack in the room down the corridor, with blood splattering over a painting of Swapna. Later, she and Zuber enter the room and are shocked to find the bloodstained painting actually there, leaving them bewildered and shaken.

Swapna too has dreams and premonitions that suggest she is somehow tied to the Dak Bangla, perhaps through a previous life.

Things become clearer when we flash back to the past, to the old Dak Bangla's Maharaja sending his beloved daughter on a journey through the forest. She stops during the trip to soak in the countryside and wanders all alone into a murky, dishevelled temple, where a shadowy figure assails her.

It's a figure we have already seen practising black magic and making sacrifices to his evil stone god. He proves his devotion by thrusting his arm into a fire until it starts to melt and wither most grotesquely, but when he removes it from the flames it is miraculously restored to full health. The magician is delighted that his evil god, Ozo, has accepted his sacrifice, and that the Evil Entity has granted him special powers.

Sadly for him, he is about to be taught a brutal lesson by the Maharaja for daring to make a move on his daughter. The Evil Magician's arms, legs and head are chopped off, and his remains are left to rot in a pit below the Dak Bangla forevermore.

Things don't quite work out that way.

Later in the movie, the dismembered, rotting corpse is stitched back together and rises from the depths to embark on a murderous rampage against anyone it can lay its hands on.

The Mummy of Ozo is thus unleashed and begins its rampage of death and destruction. It possesses immense strength as well as a set of what look like gills on its forehead that unleash death rays, causing fires and hideous injuries to its victims. The creature does change its appearance a little during the course of its rampage, initially looking somewhat emaciated, but later, with its lips sewn up and its bandages oozing slime and dripping away a little like The Incredible Melting Man, it looks suitably ghastly. The gills exuding death rays are a bonus!

It impales Sujit Kumar, though by the looks of it the impaling itself has been censored. It crushes another victim's head with brute force, squashing him to death. It pulls, mangles, crushes and sets fire to its victims and oozes acidic slime all over them just to make sure. It's all deliciously graphic and much more so than in any previous Ramsay movie.

Dak Bangla, like all Bollywood horror movies, meanders and flags in pace when there are songs and comedy sequences to contend with. Yet, generally, there is enough of a sprinkling of horror throughout the proceedings to keep things from becoming too slow. The last twenty minutes more than make up for the occasional lulls as the film races towards a barnstorming conclusion.

The film has enough gore, goop and madcap violence to elevate it into one of the Ramsay Brothers' stronger efforts, and credit to the family for letting Keshu Ramsay take on the responsibility for this slice of lurid mayhem. He turns in a surprisingly nasty and thoroughly enjoyable piece of hokum.