VEERANA: VENGEANCE OF THE VAMPIRE (1988)
Label: Mondo Macabro
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 140 Minutes 40 Seconds
Audio: Hindi DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:)
Director: Tulsi & Shyam Ramsay
Cast: Jasmin. Hemant Birje, Sahila Chaddha, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Strap in and buckle up, we're headed into the land of Bollywood horror my friends, batshit insanity is sure to follow, we are watching Veerana: Vengeance of the Vampire, a film that comes across as a loose Bollywood version of Michael Dugan's sleazy demon-possession flick Mausoleum (1983), and is notable for being the first bollywood film with a female antagonist! Directed by the Ramsay Brothers, Tulsi and Shyam (Purana Mandir, Mahakaal), The Kings of Bollywood Horror, we have a young attractive young woman named Jasmin, played by the mysterious and mononymous actress Jasmin, who is unaware that years earlier her father Mahendra Pratap (Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Mahakaal) and his younger brother Sameer (Vijayendra Ghatge, Bandh Darwaza) were responsible for killing the evil-witch Nakita in the region. The witch's evil-sorcerer Baba (Rajesh Vivek, Kafan) however has not forgotten, and all these years later he intercepts her and Sameer, seemingly killing him and then hypnotizing and kidnapping Jasmin, leading her to the witch's tomb where they keep her sarcophagus, there she becomes possessed by the spirit of the long-dead witch. Baba then infiltrates the family's home pretending to be Jasmin's rescuer, her father is grateful for her return and rewards Baba by making him her protector/servant. Her family begins to notice that Jasmin's acting a bit different, but are unaware that she is now possessed by the spirit of the dead witch, intermittently transforming into a grotesque witch-hag seductress who lures men, lures to the dead witch's secluded and cobwebbed covered mansion, seducing and killing them. Now, Jasmin is quite a gorgeous woman with a lovely figure and she has the expressive, hypnotic eyes, it's easy to see why the men are so easily lured to their doom. Meanwhile, the witch-cult leader Baba and his followers await the next moonless night to perform a ritual to raise the evil witch from her tomb to permanently inhabit Jasmin's body.
The arrival of Jasmin's cousin Sahila (Sahila Chadha, Sailaab) throws a wrench into Baba's evil doing, so he sends a hulking assassin to intercept and kill her before her arrival, however, the heroic Hemant (Tahkhana) arrives and thwarts the attempt on her life. Also arriving is film-nerd Hitchcock (Satish Shah, Purana Mandir), which adds a fun meta element to the proceedings. I love how Jasmin is luring men into her thrall, seducing them and then turning into that grotesque hag-witch, the make-up effects are pretty solid with burnt skin, creepy oversized red eyes and a set of gnarly teeth.
While watching this for the first time I kept having this weird bit of deja vu, I eventually realized that the horny seductions, grotesque transformation and garish Bava-esque lighting was reminding me of the very film I took the name of the blog from, 1983's Mausoleum. I don't think that the similarities are a coincidence, there are too many scenes that just feel copped, and while it's not quite as horny, and there are no demon-titties chomping away on victims (no nudity at all in fact), it has a strong flavor of that film, especially the whole seducing men and turning into a demonic looking witch bathed in eerie green and red lighting effects, and visits to the tombs.
It's a wild Bollywood flick, and even at over two hours in length I was never bored, there's some terrific set pieces and set design, I loved the garish colors, the kills are terrifically staged if not exactly blood baths, the bollywood musical numbers are fun, especially the bubble-bath number, and the look of the hag-witch is pretty gnarly, and when she's not transformed into the witch Jasmin herself is an alluring woman for sure.
Audio/Video: Veerana: Vengeance of the Vampire (1988) gets a region-free Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro, framed in 1.37:1 fullscreen. This is sourced from a 4K scan of the OCN, but there is a disclaimer that the original elements were not stored properly and there was some damage that was not able to be full restored. That however does not prove too problematic, the image is generally terrific looking with vivid colors and pleasing depth and clarity, film grain is present throughout, textures and details in the close-ups impress, and the garish colored lighting has a nice blush to it.
Audio comes by way of Hindi DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with newly translated optional English subtitles, the track is generally quite clean and crisp, some age-related related hiss does creep in but I found it to be very minor. Dialogue is delivered without issue, the atmospheric synth score by Bappi Lahiri's has some nice range to ti, and the Bollywood musical numbers sounds pleasing as well, zero complaints.
Special features are somewhat slim but appreciated, we get
a 6-min Introduction to the film by writer Tim Paxton who gets into the Ramsay Bros. filmography, there blending of folklore and broader genre influences, and the censorship of the film, plus we get the 4-min Original Trailer. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork.
Special Features:
- Introduction to the film by writer Tim Paxton (6:24)
- Original Trailer (3:56)
Screenshots from the Mondo Macabro Blu-ray:
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