Nagina (1986)

It's been entirely too long since I've sunk my teeth into some Bollywood horror. I became captivated by because of an incredible image from Nagina. Sridevi with a penetrating icy blue gaze. Her face, those eye, seduced me.

I watched this one sans-subtitles, as I'm often forced to do with these worldly acquisitions but it was surprisingly easy to follow. here's what I gathered. A man soon to be ensnared in an arranged marriage encounters a snake while on a horse drawn stroll with his fiance. The snake takes a liking to him and hitches a ride on the back of the carriage. Soon after a mysterious beautiful woman enters his life. Her beauty puts him under a spell and after a few song and dance numbers, they're in love. He breaks it off with the other girl, which devastates both his and her family. Despite his mother's refusal to give her blessing, he marries her anyway, and everything's going swimmingly until a wicked snake charmer comes to town and informs the mother than Sridevi is actually a shape shifting she-snake and the real reason for marrying her son is to avenge the death of her late snake-husband who was killed as a result of biting him when he was a child. That part kinda lost me. In the end she falls in love despite their interspecies differences.

 This horror fantasy only barely counts as horror at all. The fantasy elements take over and of course the signature Bollywood love story. I've taken issue with this redundancy in the past. The need to interrupt a perfectly interesting narrative for a song (or ten). While I enjoy it in small doses, it's never really in small doses. It's sprinkled generously throughout a 2.5 plus hour long movie. In the West we have the musical genre, but in Bollywood all genres submit to the musical format with no exception. It's something I'll never fully understand, and that's ok. Its not my culture. Perhaps the only reason it's so noticeable to me is because I'm mostly watch Bollywood Horror and the two things never quite seem to match. In 'Nagina', there is ONE musical number that needed to be there and that's Sridevi's exotic snake dance.

She must have broken some records with this one. The choreography is insane. Sridevi in general has a surreal beauty that is truly mesmerizing...

The film is largely carried by the star power of Sridevi. Her face and movement accompanied by masterful photography infuses 'Nagina' with visual saccharine. At times the wide shots and flooding of lights is reminiscent of Suspiria...

And other moments benefit from a lack of color. Shrouded in a cloud of mystery as if it were Black Narcissus...

This wouldn't be a worthy review without noting the wardrobe choices...

And last but not least...

This occurrence.



As mild as it is in the genre, Nagina may be my favorite Bollywood horror to date. It spoke to my aesthetic and was shockingly engaging for a no-subtitles movie. It had a feminine quality that Bandh Darwaza and Purana Mandir didn't share. With the Halloween season upon us I may finally indulge in the seminal, Veerana which has somehow evaded me for all of these years.

I'm getting a later start this year than the last few. Generally my horror marathon is in full swing by the first week in September. And as some of you may have noticed, it's my most active time of year here on Atomic Caravan. I'll try to keep up with that trend and deliver some delectable spooks for your viewing and reading pleasure.

Heungbu and Nolbu (1967)

I'm not even sure how I came to land on this discovery. I fell into some kind of internet worm hole and this was at the other end.

Heungbu and Nolbu is a Korean folk tale about two adult brothers who are left an inheritance from their father. The older bother, Nolbu, is greedy and hateful so he kicks his brother Heungbu and his family out of the estate so he can have all the money and property to himself.

Despite having plenty of his own problems, the kind and benevolent Heungbu saves a defenseless swallow from a snake and mends his broken leg. The swallow is from magical bird land run by a lady bird queen. To thank Heungbu, the swallow gives him an enchanted gourd seed. He and his family work together to build themselves a modest grass hut to live in. They plant the seed and big green gourd grows, when they cut it in half to eat and suddenly prosperous treasures begin to appear all around them.

Heungbu bashes the snake until it's dead and bloody. This is where the children's begins to feel less wholesome.

Queen of the birds.

When Nolbu discovers the good fortune of his brother, he gets jealous and steals a seed to grow his own magical plant. This is where the film takes a turn for the insane.

Nolbu and his wife are first greeted by a vicious tiger...

...that breathes pink smoke.

Then a fire breathing dragon...

And best of all...

Nolbu and his wife are visited by a variety of spooky ghouls.

Including these absolutely amazing and terrifying Japanese-esque Onryo style female ghosts that look like a cyclops Sadako and green-faced Kayako Saeki. This is not the kind of imagery I'm used to from puppet films in the 60's. I could go on about the story, but why? I was really just leading up to this. These images say it all.

I've found very little information about this South Korean gem. There's a live action version from 1959 that seems to be easily confused with this one on the few sites I've unearthed. It has tinges of Jiri Barta's work and elements of the more recent Blood Tea and Red String by Christiane Cegavske. Despite the shades of horror, it's a bit too traditional to be akin to someone like Jan Svankmajer, though I struggle not to mention that fans of his might get some enjoyment out of this. It's a bit slow to start but once the magical elements take shape, it unfolds into a highly entertaining example of Eastern Kiddie Matinee cinema. I watched it without subtitles, but having a basic knowledge of the folk tale, it wasn't hard to follow along. If you're interested in seeing this one, I could only find it streaming on viewster...

Heungbu and Nolbu



This isn't much of a review. I'm not sure how to be critical of a flick like this. This post serves more to spread the words because as far as I know this has no Western audience what-so-ever. On that note, I'll leave you with all the weird-y cute animals from the film...