Banglow No. 666 (1990)

Banglow No. 666 (1990)
Cast: Disco Shanti, Kapil Dev
Director: P Chandrakumar
Music Director: Annu Malick
Nutshell: South Indian curry masala version of Fright Night – not as bad as it sounds

This badly dubbed South Indian horror flick starts interestingly enough with a pretty intriguing title sequence featuring some weird and promising music. The opening sequences show an amorous young couple frolicking around at every given opportunity. During one such typical night of teenage frolicking, our young hero spots a stranger in the house next door.

Later that night, a seductress arrives in a cab asking for Bungalow No. 666, which happens to be the place the mysterious new neighbour has recently moved. Alas, the next scene gives away the fact that the film is an imitation of Fright Night, virtually scene for scene, including the irritating high pitched laugh of his geeky friend.

However, despite its obvious shameless plagiarism, the movie moves along rapidly. It is still far more watchable than most of the nonsense being turned out in Bollywood in the post-Ramsay era. There isn’t a rubber mask insight. Even the mandatory half dozen scenes of women wearing skimpy outfits being seduced by our fanged villain are tame and dare I say even tasteful compared to the usual Khooni Dracula kind of smut from the North.

The acting, especially of the desi version of Roddy McDowell, is charmingly over the top. Though there are the usual painful doses of comic relief and song and dance, mercifully, one can rely on the Fast Forward button for relief.

While far from being a classic and despite being an out and out rip off, Bungalow No.666 manages to hold its own as one of the least offensive and atrocious horror films of the 90s. Pity, it’s a total rip off though.