Haiwan (1986)
Cast:  Gauthami, Silk Smita, Disco Shanti, Anuradha
Director:  V. Prabhakar
Nutshell:  John Carpenter’s Halloween skewed with The Incredible Iron Melting and then given the most bizarre South Indian masala treatment resulting in delirium.
reviewed by: Omar Ali Khan

Some scientists perform an experiment on a corpse that goes horribly awry and, in a hot minute, you have a bizarre hybrid of Michael Myers, The Incredible Melting Man and a touch of Iron Man thrown in for good measure: a crazed zombie prowler running amok on a murderous rampage. Boldly defying every conceivable attempt to kill him—being shot half a dozen times, torched, drowned, smashed and pulverised—our unstoppable fiend simply keeps bouncing back for more.

After finally being flattened by a celestial bolt of power, it appears that his reign of terror may at last be over. Naturally, it isn't. Before long he is once again roaming the forest, attacking and slaughtering anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path.

His next intended victims are an amorous couple eagerly anticipating an evening of carnal entertainment. First, however, the husband is dispatched to tend the chickens and check on the cows while wifey slips into something a little more comfortable. Sadly, the chargrilled, melting-man lookalike has other ideas, and any romantic plans are swiftly scuppered as the unfortunate couple are dispatched in quick and suitably brutal succession.

Apparently, the police are now on the trail of the killer, although he remains several steps ahead of them as he continues menacing an ever-growing procession of fresh victims.

Then, just eighteen minutes into the movie, the "Intermission" card suddenly appears like a major spanner in the works. From this point onwards the film descends into something approaching complete unintelligibility, which, oddly enough, adds a welcome layer of entertainment to what is already a decidedly shoddy affair.

Potential victims continue appearing from nowhere, only to be hunted down by our relentless zombie menace, who simply refuses to stay dead no matter how often he is apparently killed.

The producers of the VCD release must have been operating on an extraordinarily tight budget because the film has clearly been butchered to squeeze onto a single disc, which neatly explains the astonishingly premature arrival of the interval.

In its VCD incarnation, Haiwan is little more than a succession of stalking and attack sequences held together by the flimsiest excuse for a plot. There is remarkably little dialogue, with the film instead relying on an endless parade of random characters screaming in terror while the zombie lumbers after them. The attempts at shock and gore are fairly lame, but the film remains strangely entertaining, if only because you find yourself trying to keep count of the number of times the monster is killed before inevitably springing back to life once again.

Eventually, it takes a very special weapon—along the lines of one perfected by the legendary Dr Cassandra Spellcraft—to bring the undead menace down for good, accompanied by dazzling special effects that essentially amount to a barrage of "pew, pew, zap!" as the Alvino Ray Gun goes about its business.

Haiwan is an absolute shambles from beginning to end, yet remains weirdly compelling in spite of itself. Besides, any film boasting the truly mind-blowing cast of Silk Smitha, Disco Shanti and Anuradha is already worth the price of admission.