Amavas Ki Raat (1990)

Mohan Bhakri was a director who used to mix and match hit horror films from the west to develop his “own” concoctions, and clearly ideas were in short supply by 1990 when Amavas ki Raat hit the screens.

In the opening scene, rotund Shammi Ji is babbling some chants exhorting Agni Devta to make an appearance, and when some twigs catch fire, she is overjoyed. Her saffron-robed Tantrik companion then informs her that through her dedicated effort, she has now acquired official tantrikhood. At the same time, he hands Shammi a letter from her younger sister, explaining how she married a beast and is now in abject despair, carrying a baby to make matters worse. Shammi goes off to find and help her sister, but it’s too late. Sunanda, Shammi’s sister, heavily pregnant, sobs a few times before passing away on the footpath where she was found.

Shammi swears to bear her dead sister’s child through her magical powers after which her Tantrik buddy gets mighty pissed off, telling her that the Tantrik’s powers must not be used to interfere with such matters and to do so would be an insult to the league.

Shammi, confident of her ability, goes ahead and manages to bring the dead woman’s child into the world alive. Triumphantly she raises the child to the dark skies promising that he will carry out revenge on behalf of her sister against those who torment women. Sadly for her, the child grows up to become the “Amavas ki Raat” killer who strikes relentlessly every time it is that night. He didn’t heed her advice too well because though he was supposed to protect women against ravaging men, he seems to be butchering women at will.

Amavas Ki Raat (1990)Kiran Kumar is the cop hot on the killer’s trail, and eventually, they manage to trap the marauding psycho killer and kill him. Yet, somehow the murders continue unabated; something fishy is going on. Mohan Bhakri has cooked up a concoction of a few different horror genres to create his hybrid. It’s Jack the Ripper meets Jason meets a Zombie film with Dracula overtones without the bloodsucking and a healthy dash of local Tantrik sorcery to complete the intriguing cocktail. This film is very clichéd indeed with every scare and shock being utterly predictable consistently. But clearly, the ideas had begun to dry up quite severely for Bhakri by the time 1990 came about.

There is also a good amount of time “lost” to the usual putrid comedy antics by Jagdeep and Rakesh Bedi that include a song about chickens and pigeons!

Kiran Kumar does such an earnest job that one reckons there is bound to be something in his closet waiting to reveal itself by the last reel. Huma Khan and friends provide a saucy dance or two along the way. Manek Irani is cast in the vital role of the killer and comes off very poorly indeed. The poor fellow was a stuntman who started getting a few lines in films during the ’80s and became reasonably popular as a second or third villain or henchman.

If memory serves me correctly, he was killed in the early 90’s during some stunt work. Due to Bhakri’s utterly uninspired direction, Manek Irani appears as anything but menacing in this film. He tries his hardest to look deranged and dangerous but manages to only look like a total Pratt bounding around with a less than menacing grin on his face.

There is little gore, and the suspense that is so crucial to this slasher film is missing. The orchestrated shocks, which usually play an essential part in a slasher film, are also hopelessly stale and thus predictable. The only bits which manage to stay in mind longer than the rest are the scenes with the demented Shammi Ji ranting and raving in her Tantrik outfit.

Otherwise, it’s a rather stale sort of film with little spark, no spice and the hairy monsters from the Haveli Taekhana are rather missed because the Jason-like psycho killer in this instant just doesn’t cut it! It’s hardly surprising that the wheels of the horror boom were just about to fall off with films like these, leaving a very stale taste aftertaste – Very soon, audiences had had enough. Mildly entertaining.