Tahkhana: The Dungeon / Purani Haveli: The Monster Wakes

TAHKHANA: THE DUNGEON - Two sisters, separated as children, share the secret of a hidden treasure. Years later, their secret falls into the hands of a bunch of sleazy adventurers who are determined to claim the riches for themselves. What none of them know is that the treasure is guarded by a hideous monster, animated by the blood of a vengeful black magician.
 
The film unites much of the cast of PURANA MANDIR and is like a classic gothic novel, with its use of secret passages, lockets, hidden treasure, lost siblings etc., etc. There is no lengthy comic sub-plot and the film, at two hours, is of reasonably modest length for a Bollywood movie. Much of the action takes place underground, in the dungeon of the title. This allows for some tense set pieces and a claustrophobic atmosphere that mark this one out from the more familiar Ramsay fare.
 
PURANI HAVELI: THE MONSTER WAKES - A girl takes a group of her friends to visit an old mansion in the country, owned by her family. Unbeknown to any of them, the mansion is haunted by an evil entity. Many years before, the monster was trapped inside the mansion by an elderly man who now acts as its guardian. When he is killed, the evil is released and all who come near the mansion are its potential victims.
 
Another hit for the Ramsays, PURANI HAVELI contains some of their most intense horror scenes. The final, almost dialog free, twenty five minutes is a tour de force. The evil monster rivals the one in PURANA MANDIR, and the giant, horned suit of armour that seems to have a life of its own is another great addition to the Ramsays’ familiar horror props.
 
Unusually for a Ramsay film, the evil is finally thwarted not by the use of the familiar “AUM” symbol, but by Christian iconography.
 
The Ramsay’s films are essentially monster movies and the evil walking corpse in TAHKHANA is a spectacular beast, with an interesting back story and a highly dramatic demise.