Slasher Films in the Pakistani Cinema

Pakistan is a developing farming that has been struggling for decades in its some eras, ranging from business to the cinema. Despite the tussle, it has managed to develop its scoot and goggle box industry rapidly. Lollywood is a term that was coined back in the xx-four hours to glamorously describe the cinema kitchen-gardening of Pakistan. Though, as we completely know, in resemblance to Bollywood and Hollywood, Lollywood, in majority has not been much popular. Nevertheless, upon profoundly ob military service the television receiver industry of Pakistan, whizz learns that it is much more refined and efficacious in contrast to the burgeon forth sector.Particularly, in the present times, the drama or television industry, as you may call it, is flourishing not just topically but all nigh the globe, make out to more Pakistanis and providing them with twenty four hours of fruitful entertainment. Pakistani Cinema has touched upon a admixture of genres which predominantly r evolve around documentaries, dramas, thrillers, horror, romance and action. This paper will, however, depict and think upon a subgenre of horror films slasher films in Pakistan.A slasher film is preeminently defined as a horror film which involves the routine of an unearthly weapon such as an axe by a psychopathic slaughterer who chiefly pertains to aggressively slaying a number of dupes. These movies follow specific cinematic techniques where close-ups and special effects ar utilised in a material form of ways, primarily representing women as cozy objects. The conception of covering the lowest fe manful child rescuing herself is the foremost ideology a slasher film ordinarily focuses on.Over the years, Lollywood has managed to accomplish the 2 most successful horror films victimisation the true slasher and compositionline techniques Zinda Laash (genus genus Dracula in Pakistan/The Living Corpse) and Zibah Khana (Hells res publica) produced in 1967 and 2007 respectiv ely. It is interesting to know that the recent production Hells Ground makes continuous relations with the thirty year ageing film Zinda Laash. However, the 2 devour excessive amount of differences in regard to the slasher film techniques and gender based critique which will be discussed in this essay. Dracula in Pakistan was filmed in the late 60s however, when released, it sprang a exhibitioner of fear amongst the Pakistanis. According to (The Indian let out, 2012), a cleaning lady from the audience was pain by a heart feeler. It was in both(prenominal) case the first movie produced in Pakistan to be categorized as X-rated along with creationness screened at two international film festivals. (IMDB) Zinda Laash is fancyed as a plagiarized production an illuminance of Hammers Classic Dracula. (The HotSpot Online) The plot begins with a scientist Dr.Tabani accomplishing his try out experiment to gain immortality followed by the foundation of his assistant a curvy char cleaning woman who discovers the dead physical structure of the scientist and decides to store it in a coffin. To her astonishment, the re primary(prenominal)s postdates to life and she is his first victim. The story continues with a somnolent traveller, Dr. Aqil who does not consider the rumors of the existence of the immortals to be true, entering the mansion of the Khabees Rooh. Though, he soon discovers the verity and chooses to end the cycle of plague, but is evidently futile.The film further revolves around a Dr. Aqils wife-to-be Shabnam, who is also a victim of Dr. Tabani and how immortality fails her appallingly. As deaden Zinda Laash exponent have been in the 60s, it most certainly isnt disturbing in relation to the modern day standards. One might find it rigorously monotonous but humorous at the equivalent time as it depicts alluring and peculiar moves by women. Zinda Laash strongly caters to the manful Gaze throughout the hundred minutes of its run time fro m the introduction to the climax and the conclusion.Throughout the course, the audience construes a range of dance numbers by either one or galore(postnominal) women. The initial portrayal of the sexual practice of women instigates when the assistant is lured by her dead boss in the nerve center of the aristocratic hours. The woman is line uped in a knee length dark gown with revealed skin and cleavage identifying her as a sex object. For being a Pakistani production of the 60s era, the cinematic techniques capturing the body of the woman can definitely be labeled as obscene. The attack demonstrates sensuality in the facial expressions of the woman with the sluggish movement of familiarity betwixt the victim and the attacker pouring a sense of sexual tension amongst the audience. Followed by the frightening shrieks of the woman, violence against women is highlighted significantly a woman is powerless in front of a man. Later, as the separatey traveller come throughs and a djusts comfortably at the mansion after a warm satisfying by Dr. Tabani, one notices Dr. Aqil setting a word picture frame of his lovemaking fiancee he truly misses. Dr.Tabani enters his room to ensure comfort and malignly admires the photo by calling it Khoobsurat. It is enigmatically bizarre how Dr. Tabani ignores to make Dr. Aqil his next victim who is right there and instead wishes to suck blood out of a woman. Malevolent thoughts instantly stutter through the attackers passport about the woman further enhancing the violence against women. As the wickedness gets drear and murky, one notices Dr. Aqil being effortlessly distracted by the giggles of a woman the vampire bride. He gets up to follow the chuckles his facial expressions visibly shit his urge for sexual desire.Discovering the origin of the chortles, Dr. Aqil finds a mysterious female, saltation with sonsie sensuality (The HotSpot Online) dressed in a lightly seamed white dress to attract him towards her. There is undeniably a intension attached to the actions of the woman in this scene she uses her sexual urge to fulfill her affect to feed upon the man for survival. The man finally submits himself to her and is attacked by the vampire bride. This explains how the righteousness of Islam fears the power of female sexual attraction over men.Imam Ghazalis edition is also highlighted during this part of the film female aggression is tuned outwards and she sexually entices men. Captivatingly, this occurrence is intermittent by Dr. Tabani the vampire, who pushes the woman once again showing the physical power of man over woman. Wretchedly, Dr. Aqil is masticated and is fated to earn immortality. Nonetheless, forwards fronting his destiny, he tries to put an end to the outrageous veracity by using a knife as the weapon of destruction, but fails terribly. Incongruously, a dance number is presented right after Dr.Aqil becomes a casualty of immortality. This dance succession is similar to the many others shown during the film at odd intervals. This particular succession comprised of a woman dancing dressed in a half(prenominal) sleeve top and pants in front of a agitate of men in majority. Vulgarity strikes not only in her uniform this time, but in the movement of her physique in sync with the call option lyrics which were chanted by a man as he do hand gestures pointing towards the dancer Udhar Jawani, Idhar Nasha. The lyrics clearly indicate the drunken men savour the jawaani of the female performing.The theme of sexuality is reinforced with the entrance of Dr. Aqils buddy as he is interrupted with another dance number, this time comprising of many women dancing for their own entertainment instead of one woman dancing to entertain a crowd. This dance comprises of Dr. Aqils fiancee, Shabnam dressed in salwar kameez the national dress of Pakistan, dancing with her friends. However, the fitting of the clothing catered to the male paying concern once again. The shi rts ar of normal length but tremendously body-hugging from the hip, because outlining he body shape. These women also wore perfectly winged eyeliners and hair through with(p) gracefully, further emphasizing the gender socializing of women how they are required to dress up. The theme of men giving in for the sexuality of women is reversed when Shabnam desperately waits for Dr. Tabani to suck her blood. On his arrival, Shabnam lies down on her bed in an inviting office outlining her curvaceous body and reveals her neck women objectification. one time again, sexual tension is construct as Dr. Tabani goes close to her neck and feeds on her.The difference between the former attacks and this once is that Shabnam was willingly permitting Dr. Tabani feed on her she felt pleasure. The moving-picture show below shows her exact position on the bed. (The HotSpot Online) There is also a female child in the narrative who Shabnam intends to feed on. The examination here evolves as to w hy there was not a male child instead of a female child named cross? Baby constantly made relations with Shabnam throughout the course of the film, for example, she teased Shabnam by snatching Dr. Aqils photograph from her hand and ran away.The film comes towards a climax where the family discovers the Dracula Shabnam who intended to trick Baby and suck her blood out. Shabnams brother confronts her as she convinces him to hug her she decides to feed on him. This plot comes to an end when Aqils brother acts as the macho man and pushes Shabnam away and stabs her to death by a dagger. Patriarchy is promoted via this prospect as well. Nonetheless, a dance season is a must input at the pinnacle this time a female wearing a sequin dress entertaining a group of men by dancing. Most importantly, we notice that the dupatta in many of these dance numbers is eliminated.The movie further progresses with the development of an aim to wipe out the immortals by Shabnams brother and Dr. Aqils bro ther. Zibah Khaana or Hells Ground, on the other hand, follows a completely different narrative with underlining non-homogeneous subjects such as Gender Roles, Social Concerns and Pakistani Culture. It truly depicts the use of slasher film techniques like showing the world from the eyeball of the attacker and use of the net female child notion. It is an Urdu-English slasher film directed by Omar Khan in only 30 days and has won many awards at exact Festivals around the Globe. Wikipedia) Zibah Khaana is a journey of five teenage friends who decide to determine a short subjugate through a place cognize as Dozakh Pur to attend a rock concert. On their way, they face many difficulties such as the toxic water, snake gods, a daunting hitchhiker, a charm and a man dressed in a burkha with an ancient high-pitched weapon which makes the movie a modern gore flick. The diversity in characters chosen makes the film even more exhilarating. The movie begins with a male child having an accident upon seeing a Burkha Man standing in the middle of the road with a medieval weapon.However, the first victim is massacred with a spade, in comparison to Zinda Laash, where the first victim was a woman attacked by fangs. In the case of Hells Ground, woman objectification is hardly given any attention. The film sets the surroundings of Pakistan by showing detailed shots about the purification of Pakistan daily activities. Gender socialization is highlighted when Roxy, a modern American young woman is introduced and specifically asks her maid for a pink colored shirt to wear as she has to spend the night at her friend Ayeshas endure.Pakistani culture is further located emphasize upon when the maid reacts in astonishment to Roxy, being a girl and spending the night at a friends house. Next, a low class Christian boy, Simon is presented with his parents where the father uses abusive wrangle to write down his son. In relation to Zinda Laash, here we experience that the w ife Simons develop s emollients back to her husband in support of her child. Patriarchy is not laid stress upon it does exist but not to a critical result in the modern day and this is what Zibah Khaana probably aimed to demonstrate.As the introduction progresses, the audience meets the last-place Girl, Ayesha. Her first appearance in a traditional shalwar kameez serving her fret tea immediately clicks she is different from the previous two characters introduced. Once more, the Pakistani Culture and Gender Bias are tinted when Ayesha seeks permission from her mother to go on a school get down for the night. Receiving a indecisive reaction from her mother and commentary upon how her father would be against this act if he were alive, instantaneously converses with the Pakistani audience as to how girls should not be let out for the night.It emphasizes upon traditional beliefs on gender socialization girls should spend the night at their own house and not elsewhere. However, ther e are a lot of modern families in todays time who are also against girls spending the night elsewhere. In the Pakistani society, it is definitely considered as indecent. Inevitably, Ayesha lies to stay out for the night to go to a rock concert. However, her socialization restricts her from doing things that she has been taught are wrong for example later in the film all her friends smoke hashish, but she doesnt.Ayesha also wears an Allah Hu Akbar necklace throughout the course of the film. We also observe, upon exiting the house Ayesha gets rid of her books and grabs a pair of jeans and t-shirt to permute later for the trip Ayesha belongs to a local ordinary family. Later, when she changes her attire from a traditional one to modern, her friends are surprised. Roxy, Ayesha, Simon and another boy OJ meet at the ice cream parlor, Hot Spot and wait for the last character of the film Vicky to arrive with transport. He brings a van with old fashioned Pakistani standoff Film Paintings, one of which consisted of a plump woman posing.Pointing out the sexuality in the old times OJ instantly reacts to the painting of the woman as sexy. This shows that young boys are easily drawn towards sexuality with being vindicated about their desires. The friends continue to head out and on their way are disturbed by a group of transgenders while waiting for the employment signal to go green. An effective use of queer theory has been utilise as the reaction of the teenagers is shown. Transgenders are a huge part of the Pakistani society and are treated with disgrace.They are usually perceived as infuriating while they beg at the traffic signals the reaction of Vicky and the body language of the transgenders have clearly been captured. As the transgenders approached and touched Vicky, his facial expressions disturbed upon irritation and repulsion. Youth culture has been shown via sarcastic conversations amongst the five friends. Roxy is an American-Pakistani modern girl who d id not hesitate to smoke hashish in comparison to the concluding Girl, Ayesha who denies the offer and feels uncomfortable. Roxy and OJ have a conversation about the socio-economic situation of Pakistan.This was cockeyed to observe as women in the earlier day were not include in such conversations, and today we see a positive change in the role of women. In Roxys imaginary world, she cant wait to get out of this sticky shithole. Use of abusive language by both the genders has been highlighted, which serves as a change in the norm of our society as all such instances are censored by the censor board of Pakistan. Hells Ground, was however, successful in mirroring the world. From zombies, a freaky hitchhiker and a witch to the serial killer in a burkha, Zibah Khana covers it all.Generally, older women are always associated with darkness, magic and evil. Hells lay down uses the same ideology and uses an unusual strange woman in the story who is involved in the village killings. The hitchhiker and the main(prenominal) psychopathic killer Burkhaman which the teenagers come across are the old womans children. Earlier in the film, the teenagers have managed to escape from the creepy hitchhiker by throwing him out of the van and stifling him in the process. Motherly instincts are shown when the mother finds her injured son and commands the Burkhaman to cut them up into botis. The old woman also continuously addressed the Burkhaman as her daughter further highlighting the use of queer theory. The Burkhaman is in reality a man, but is continuously referred as a female this is because the old woman always wanted a daughter but neer had one. I believe, the use of such a dogma is an indirect quotation to the LGBT community in Pakistan. Throughout the film, the serial killer being the main lead dust silent. According to my analogy, it has been done purposely to lay stress upon the fact that society wants the LGBT community to remain silent and act as the underdog of the society.Being a slasher film, the plot revolves around The Final Girl throughout. Before the zombie attacks, she senses incongruity but chooses to ignore and stays determined. This is the most ideal scheme used in the production of slasher films. Her psychological turmoil is continuously tested till the very end where she saves herself. In completion, Ayesha is the only individual go forth who has not been successfully victimized. Slasher films intend to show women in terror, and Zibah Khana explicitly follows this rule. It shows both the women, Roxy and Ayesha, in terror, running for their lives and screaming.The only difference is that Ayesha is the final girl and remains determined to save herself. Another stratagem used in Zibah Khana is the annihilation of all the irrelevant characters one by one leaving the Final Girl as the last victim. This is to build tension amongst the audience to experience the reversal of gender roles. When Ayesha faces the Burkhaman, she fights back for herself and saves herself by getting hold of a spade and a stone, and smashes the head of the man dressed in a Burkha. There is no man to rescue her she is her own hero. A private side of the innocent girl is shown she makes sure to kill the attacker.Typically, in slasher films, the Final Girl is given intense strength and masculinity all of a sudden with the urge to protect her rather than being dependent upon a man to save the day. There are many differences we observe between the two films. Firstly, we notice that the first victim in Zinda Laash is a woman where she is shown as a sexual object. However, in Zibah Khana, the first victim is a boy OJ. Secondly, Zibah Khana adopts the technique of showing the world from the attackers eyes to its fullest whereas Zinda Laash hardly makes use of it.Thirdly, another distinctive feature of a slasher film is to show women in terror building the tension and finally reaching the climax. Zibah Khana renders this trepidation to a gr eat extent in comparison to Zinda Laash, where the women popular opinion fear is shown minimally in comparison to Zibah Khana. Lastly, the concept of Final Girl is completely ignored in Zinda Laash, assuming that Shabnam was the main girl who was expect to save herself and not enter the realm of death that too by being stabbed by a man. Zibah Khana, on the other hand, stresses all the attention on the Final Girl, Ayesha.In the end she is the only survivor. Horror film is a genre which has come a long way in the Pakistani Cinema. It started off with showing women as sex objects to the girl becoming the main lead and surviving on her own terms. To conclude, I absolutely adjudge with Omar Khan, the director of Zibah Khana as he claims, Horror is at its most effective when it taps into real fears. Our real fears are connected to things that are metier politically and difficult to discuss. (Telegraph, UK, 2007) 3286 Words Bibliography (n. d. ). Retrieved November 27, 2012, from IMDB http//www. imdb. om/title/tt0360232/trivia Telegraph, UK. (2007, August 11). Retrieved celestial latitude 4, 2012, from http//www. telegraph. co. uk/culture/film/starsandstories/3667146/Zibahkhana-Beware-zombies-wearing-saris. html The Indian Express. (2012, July 2). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from The Indian Express http//www. indianexpress. com/news/be-scared-very-scared/969038/0 The HotSpot Online. (n. d. ). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http//www. thehotspotonline. com/moviespot/bolly/reviews/xyz/zindalaash. htm Wikipedia. (n. d. ). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Zibahkhana