Guest House (1981)
Cast:  Vijayendra, Premnath, Prem Kishen, Mac Mohan, Rajendranath, Padmini Kapila, Sujit Kumar, Komilla Wirk
Director:  Shayam & Tulsi Ramsay
Nutshell:  A filthy limb resurfaces from the dead to exact horrific revenge.

 

Vijayendra is the owner of a struggling guest house in Mahabaleshwar, where his employees are all scoundrels trying to sponge as much as they can from a rotten situation. Nobody ever checks in, and money is very tight indeed.

One night, to their surprise, an imposing, stern and serious-looking older man shows up and takes a room under the name of Father Christopher. He asks for a room as far away from any other residents as possible and tells the staff that he is expecting a lady visitor who should be shown directly to him. He also demands that four candles be delivered to his room.

Mrs DaCosta, an attractive young woman, arrives and is taken to Father Christopher's room. Christopher conducts a séance and summons the spirit of Mrs DaCosta's dearly departed husband. She needs to know whether he is happy in the afterlife and whether he holds any grudges against her. It all works out rather well, and Mrs DaCosta leaves, extremely grateful to Christopher for allaying her fears. She rewards him with wads of cash, which he reluctantly accepts.

One of the four stooges witnesses the transaction and decides to murder Christopher and relieve him of all that cash. He smothers Christopher to death with a pillow, and the four of them then drive into the forest to bury the corpse. Father Christopher, played by Premnath, is a burly figure, and it takes all the strength the four can summon to drag his body out and dispose of it. Each one of them is dazzled by the glittering ring adorning the dead preacher's finger, but Christopher is hastily laid to rest, and they return to distribute his loot.

Meanwhile, in the city, Vijayendra and his wife, along with his young and beautiful sister, decide to make a trip to the guest house to check on things and take a break. Oddly enough, a newlywed couple moves in to occupy a room for a nine-month stay. Narendranath, an aspiring horror movie writer, is there to provide some light entertainment amidst the dark deeds.

After a promising premise, the film flounders for an hour or so with the usual musical numbers, romance and Narendranath's infantile antics. Then things start to get interesting.

Sujit has a debt to pay to a local goon and returns to Christopher's grave to try to prise the fancy ring from the dead man's Hand. Unable to remove it, he resorts to extreme measures, chopping off the entire Hand and whisking it away so that he can remove the ring. Once he has done so, he disposes of the severed limb nearby in a shallow grave.

Now the plot thickens and becomes fascinating as Christopher's severed Hand comes alive and starts stalking its tormentors. It slithers and crawls around in search of revenge, pouncing on its victims relentlessly and horrifyingly.

The second hour of the film picks up pace dramatically and barely flags. The vile limb crawls and slithers around in the most unlikely places in its quest for vengeance. After the film's dull midsection, the Ramsays ramp up the horrors and keep things moving right through to the conclusion. It's thoroughly enjoyable, amusing and horrifying in equal measure.

However, the fact that Vijayendra happily wears Christopher's stolen ring to the end remains a bit of a mystery. Perhaps, had there been a sequel, Christopher's Hand could have returned for its ring!

Most of the cast perform their roles with spirit, especially the four villains, along with Premnath as Christopher. But ultimately it is the Hand that steals the show and is an absolute joy to behold.

Despite its uneven pacing, the second half of Guest House is great fun and more than makes up for the dull bits that precede it. Once the severed Hand starts crawling around, the Ramsays are back on familiar ground, and the film comes wonderfully alive.

On the whole, pretty entertaining and satisfying. A job well done.