Zinda Laash (1967) Online

Historically this was Pakistan's first venture into the terror film genre and we came mighty close to losing this film before it was discovered (in some "rusty old cans", according to the brave film buff who found it) in a vault.

The plot borrows heavily from Hammer's HORROR OF Dracula, in fact there are times when the music even has a noticeable similarity to James Bernard's score. There are some classical themes thrown in as well, notice "The Barber of Seville" playing during the car chase scene) and some other cues which are . . .well . . . eccentric to say the least. Early in the film when someone is driving to the vampires mansion you can recognise strains of "La Cucaracha" on the soundtrack. The lighting and the sets reminded me more of the vampire films coming out of Mexico in the late 50's. The vampire's vast home might have suited Count Frankenhausen or Count Lavud quite well. This time though the vampire is created via scientific means. A doctor who believes he has discovered the elixir of eternal life takes one swallow and turns into a vampire! Well, that is eternal life of a sort, right?

Oh and there are songs in the film too, in fact it was beginning to remind me of the Mexican film CRY OF THE BEWITCHED (1965) with the plot stopping . . .er . . ."dead" in its tracks so characters could sing. This is not to say the characterisations were not believable, they certainly are. The hero, our Van Helsing character, has a very hard time convincing anyone there is a vampire stalking victims until our bloodsucking villain strikes very close to home, claiming the sister of a man who refused to believe vampires were real.

Okay, now remember this film was done in Pakistan in the mid-60's so don't expect gore or nudity or anything like that; although there is a great man vs. vampire fight scene near the end. By all means do not miss an opportunity to see this film.

Here is an oddity if ever there was one: A 'Dracula' film from Pakistan, one of the few horror films ever attempted in the country, and certainly the first and most famous. In this variation on Stoker's novel, the count is actually a scientist (quasi-mad, perhaps) seeking the elixir of life, a potion that would defy death. But from here on, all similarities to The Fountain end, when the good doc (Professor Tabani to you, dear) not only succeeds in making the life-up soda, he proceeds to drink it himself (Hugh Jackman should have sought this guy's help)! No terminally ill wife to bother with, in fact no family or servants either, except for a full-figured lady assistant, who discovers the professor's inert body behind a sofa. For whatever improbable reason, the scientist had left a note saying that if he was to be found dead, his body should be put into the coffin down in the basement of his isolated mansion. And so it goes. Interestingly, the word Dracula is never used in the film, and people refer to the vampire as "khabees rooh", which literally translates as "evil spirit".

This was not a big-budget affair, and it is therefore quite heartening to see how much they managed to pull off on meager resources. The film retains a lot of Stoker's original plot, despite a contemporary setting, and the inclusion of some silly musical interludes. Some of the direction is…er…wooden, as is some of the acting. But there are also eerie, suspenseful scenes, and good lighting and set design, evoking a Gothic and creepy atmosphere (in black and white).

There are a couple of odd 'fade-outs' at the most inappropriate moments, but I suspect this was done at the behest of the censor board, who were initially aghast at the mere idea of a local horror film. They only passed the film after the producer-hero and director promised that they'd never ever make such a film again. And sure enough, they never did, despite the film becoming an unexpected hit. Even more surprising is that for an industry steeped in plagiarism, nobody else jumped on the bandwagon, either.

Not really scary (but not suitable for young children, either), the film is nonetheless reasonably engrossing and one of the more unique takes on the familiar tale. Horror and cult fans should definitely check it out.

I like a good vampire movie now and again, and "Zinda Laash" is easily one of the most fun and bizarre examples of the genre that I've come across.

As other commentators on this site have noted, this is very clearly based on the 1950s British film version of Dracula, which was released in the U.S. as "Horror of Dracula." At times, "Zinda Laash" is almost a scene-for-scene remake of the British film, with even some of the same music cues re-used. (I could less charitably say "stolen!") I didn't mind this derivativeness too much, though; in fact, it was like a wacky bonus sometimes.

Despite being unoriginal in terms of plot, "Zinda Laash" still feels unique because it's got very bizarre (to a U.S. viewer) touches that clearly come from the Pakistani culture. For example, several scenes are suddenly interrupted by great song-and-dance numbers. The song lyrics are often weirdly fascinating, and the dances strangely sexy. I know these musical numbers slow down the plot, but I found them to be great fun nonetheless.

It's also interesting to see a version of Dracula that's largely secular - certainly there's no Christian iconography in evidence, which is logical of course, considering that this was produced for a mostly Muslim audience.

Another weird touch I should note is that some elements come directly from Bram Stoker's novel, not "Horror of Dracula." I don't want to spoil anything, but you might notice these faithful little inclusions during the scene when Dr. Aqil meets Dracula's bride. So, the film-makers obviously read the book in addition to ripping off the British film version! I like a bit of fidelity to the source novel.

Of course, most people would laugh this stuff off the screen today for seeming hokey. But actually, the photography is moody, the locations are well-chosen, and the hokey parts really just enhance the film's charm for me. What can I say? I got a charge out of it...

*MAYBE CONTAINS SPOILERS* I liked it a lot. Simply said, this movie is great; is like a Hammer movie with Pakistani dances and a special taste... I am fed up of these boring movies concerning Dracula without adding anything else... In black and white, i have to admit that crew members really did a quite good work; there are some shots that seem taken from German silent expressionistic cinema; the movie shows you too how professor Tabani turns into an undead... In fact, this guy was trying to find eternal live using a formula made by him..., drinking it causes him to dead..., but he returns form the grave as a vampire...; so, he found what he was looking for..., although with some differences... Mr Rehan plays Dracula As good as Lee does... So you may think that European and Eastern people are not so different... Check it out..., DVD release in very good...quite good photography too... I dislike the music but i found dances weird and bizarre; they remember you that you are in a eastern movie!... So if you wanna see something really different..., watch it.

This was one of the films I watched over Christmas via Mondo Macabro's exemplary SE DVD. I had never heard of the film before it was announced for release but I was immediately intrigued by it, and even more so after watching the trailer which had been made available online.

Well, now that I've watched it, I'd say it's a pretty hard one to classify and even more so to recommend: it's more than just a horror film (at the time only the second ever produced in Pakistan) and, frankly, not for all tastes. It follows the basic plot line of Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' novel but obviously substituting locations, names, time periods, etc. During the Audio Commentary, Pakistani film critic Omar Khan repeatedly says that while the film-makers were doing their utmost to emulate the style of both the Universal and Hammer films – which is very fairly captured, in my opinion, via several atmospheric sequences (especially those set in the vampire's mansion) and a shock moment or two (the first screen appearance of Stoker's notorious baby-feeding scene, a lady vampire is repeatedly stabbed in the presence of a little girl), what came out of it most distinctly perhaps was their basic lack of confidence in how to tackle the material at hand.

This is clearly evident in their making the vampire a 'Professor' (shades of Jekyll & Hyde) rather than a Count, for instance, but especially in its bizarre soundtrack comprised of unauthorized lifts from James Bernard's Hammer Dracula scores, cues from popular (but, in this case, wholly inappropriate) classical and contemporary tunes and – most surprisingly (for a Western audience, at least) – musical numbers that come out of nowhere and go on for minutes at a stretch, thus effectively stopping the film dead in its tracks! The actors involved (some of whom were highly respected in their country) are adequate under the circumstances but, for obvious reasons, cannot hope to compete in the horror stakes with the more 'professional' approach of the genre stars we know so well. The final obliteration of the vampire at the climax, however, is quite nimbly made and highly effective.

The DVD transfer was as good as could be expected (the main offender is some jittering around the half-way mark). The extras are surprisingly plentiful and very interesting: we've got an Audio Commentary, a three-part Documentary on South Asian horror films (featuring excerpts from a number of unbelievably tacky and campy recent genre efforts), a shorter Documentary about the making of the film proper (comprised of interviews with surviving cast and crew), the trailer I mentioned earlier (more a promo for the DVD), a poster/stills gallery, and there's even an Easter Egg highlighting an unused song originally written for the film that we were mercifully spared from.

In the end, THE LIVING CORPSE is a goofy but agreeable – and oddly endearing – film, one of three 'revisionist' takes on the Dracula 'legend' I received on the very same day incidentally; having recently watched Jess Franco's VAMPYROS LESBOS (1970), I look forward now to checking out the last one of them – Paul Morrissey's BLOOD FOR Dracula (1974)!

This is exactly the type of stuff you expect the good people over at Mondo Macabro to release under their formidable DVD-label: Obscure, horror-themed curiosities from all over the globe! These movies aren't necessarily good, but definitely unique in some way and they at least always feature aspects that appeal to avid cult collectors. This particular oddity, for example, is a Pakistani vampire movie (how many of those do you know?) and it's one of the only horror films ever to be heavily censored not because of the horrific subject matter but because the female characters act & dress too provocatively! The Mondo Macabro DVD restores all the cut footage in which the women dance "too" sensually, although sometimes you wish it hadn't because these parts are overlong, dreary and serve absolutely no purpose. The story introduces Rehan (interesting how some of these actors have last names and others don't) as an overly ambitious scientist striving to become immortal. He develops an elixir that does the job, but the side effects involve an allergy to daylight, pointy teeth and the incontrollable hunger for human blood. In short, the poor man transforms into a vampire (although he doesn't seem to mind) and nobody in a large area around his mansion is longer safe, especially not when he sets his mind to drinking the blood of Dr. Aqil's beautiful fiancée. The first half of the story is involving and occasionally even atmospheric & suspenseful, but then it turns into a dull family drama with hardly any noteworthy moments, apart from the virulent man vs. vampire showdown in the end. The popular title "Dracula in Pakistan" is obviously the best choice for marketing purposes, but "The Living Corpse" is of course far more accurate since there's no actual blood relation between Professor Tabani and the legendary count of Bram Stoker's novel. The film does try really hard to be reminiscent to "Dracula", however. The main star, Rehan, could easily pass for Christopher Lee's brother from another (Pakistani) mother, the "brides" also look familiar and the script even bluntly copies famous quotes that are irreversibly linked to the original Dracula ("Children of the Night … What music they make"). In fact, the absolute most suitable title for this movie would be "The Pakistani Vampire Musical". There really are a LOT of musical interludes. Some of the songs are truly misfit (La Cucaracha in a horror film?), others are sexy (the bride's dance to a song that sounds like "The Shadows") and just plain goofy (the women's overlong beach song), but they practically all are redundant and exclusively added to stretch the running time. "The Living Corpse" is a curious find for people with a wide interest in global cult cinema, but not necessarily fundamental viewing for horror fanatics.

"The Living Corpse" or "Dracula in Pakistan" is a definitely example of films that are so bad that watching them becomes a good experience. Pakistani version of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" shot in Lahore, "The Living Corpse" haphazardly follows the plot of the famous novel, with an original contribution almost 30 years before Coppola's version: the film explains the origin of the vampire (here called "Professor Tabani") in a pre-credits sequence in which a mad scientist ingests the product of his investigations to find the elixir of eternal life, with the terrible consequence that he becomes the "living corpse" of the title, with an inexhaustible thirst for blood. To his haunted house does not arrive Jonathan Harker, but a curious colleague who, before being sucked by the prof, watches the sexy dance of the vampire's bride to of a pop version of "In a Persian Market" (by British composer Albert William Ketelbey). This is one of the prevailing characteristics of this movie that, like almost all the films made in the zone, includes songs along the plot. Although Prof. Tabani does not sing, the band and dancer of the local bar do, a young woman in love bursts into song in the field and there is a hilarious selection of foreign themes: the credits run to the chords of "Granada" by Mexican songwriter Agustín Lara, a car crosses the landscape to the anonymous Spanish tune "La Cucaracha", and a terror sequence is edited using "Allá en el Rancho Grande" by Mexican Lorenzo Barcelata, without forgetting the fragments of classical works and the use of James Bernard's music for Terence Fisher's "Dracula". In fact, sound engineers can smile while frowning at the soundtrack in which songs come and go at the slightest provocation, where the sound effects are repeated in chain or where the foley has nothing to do with the image: while two men run after the vampire upon soil, the corresponding sound is of a wood floor. However, all this, even if it is pathetic, adds up instead of subtracting the overall effect of astonishment and mockery, although the plot turns a little too serious with the arrival of the curious scientist's young brother, who decides to exterminate the vampire and seeks advice from a Dr. Van Helsing of sorts, who owns the local and bar. Seeing the credits in English and the frequent use of English words, "The Living Corpse" reminded me of some Ibero-American films with anglophile aspirations (made by posh filmmakers and publicists who even gobble up bilingual food) that in a few decades will be seen as this concoction that unintentionally ended up being a joke.

Just when you though it safe to visit Pakistan, out of the crypt flaps this obscure adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. Scientist tries to develop a potion to defy death and make him immortal (shades of Jekyll and Hyde) which succeeds only in turning him into a vampire.

There are a certain amount of atmospherics and lighting, creep nighttime cemetery walk, well done sets, as we enter the Count's sprawling abode, and we're introduced to him flowingly walk down large staircase toward protagonist. It is interesting to see how Bram Stoker's Dracula translates to Pakistani culture, and in Urdu, sixty years after it was written, but this long-thought lost and only recently rediscovered version suffers most from terrible acting, and cannot decide if it wants to be an adaptation of its original source novel, or a surreal horror, or a musical. Maybe that had something to do with Pakistani censors? The cast is bland, their acting is even worse. Nasreen (female vampire dancer) veers wildly from sensual, to silly. Dracula has an impressive look here in the form of actor Rehan, tall and darkly mysterious, but like most of the rest of the cast, Rehan has little acting capabilities. My Urdu is a bit rusty, so I cannot comment on how well or poorly the dialogue translates into Urdi from English.

This film is interesting, a curio, but nothing to really get one's hopes up about locating.

A vampire flick coming from Pakistan, go figure that one out. Zinda Laash did had a reputation. This flick was supposed to be lost forever but as with so many lost flick suddenly someone popped up with a bad copy. It's now restored and is in fact watchable. On the other hand while being screened at movie theaters a woman got a heart attack so it really became a well sought flick.

It's loosely based on Bram Stoker's story, it do has a girl being bitten by Dracula and it do has the famous sentence about the children of the night but that's it. typical for those kind of flicks it do has a few songs in it were they do dance on. There's no blood to mention, well, maybe one shot where the girl do has blood running from her mouth but it's done really cheesy. It's just added with make-up.

It takes around 100 minutes and that's too long for such a lame flick. If you want to see how Pakistan made a horror then this is a perfect example. You will see how they do things to avoid blood and nudity. And the acting was really unbelievable bad. Just watch the fighting at the end, baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad acting. And also see the audio equipment making shadows on the wall. Only for the geeks of bad flicks. But coming from Pakistan worth entering your collection just for the sake to say, I have a Pakistanese flick, although there are better ones.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

For proof positive that the fearsome vampire scourge continues into modern times and is truly international in scope, one need look no further than the 1967 Pakistani film "Zinda Laash," otherwise known as "The Living Corpse" (and, less imaginatively, "Dracula in Pakistan"). Infamous for having received the first "X" rating for a Lollywood film (and no, that is NOT a typo; apparently, that is the accepted name for the Lahore film industry), as well as for giving one poor woman a heart attack (!) during an early screening, the film is nevertheless little known today, a state of affairs that this great-looking DVD from Mondo Macabro will hopefully correct. Though based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula," the film branches off into original directions and is certainly a unique experience. In it, a scientist named Prof. Tabani (played by an actor only billed as Rehan; many of the film's actors also sport one-name handles) swallows his new elixir, hoping that it will confer upon him immortality. The good news is that Tabani's formula does indeed work; the bad news is that it transforms him into a fanged neck nosher, with a decided aversion to sunlight! And when members of two nearby families become victims of the transformed doctor, several of their survivors decide to put an end to his nocturnal depredations....

Although certainly not the best and surely not the scariest vampire movie to ever flap out of the crypt, "Zinda Laash" does have much to offer, even to the jaded Western viewer. The picture boasts some striking images and occasionally stunning B&W cinematography, with inspired use of light and shadow. Though never graphically violent or sexually provocative (Western viewers will certainly conclude that this is the most unjustly given "X" rating in film history!), the picture does feature a thrilling conclusion and numerous instances of strangeness. Among the assorted bits of weirdness on display are a superklutzy seduction dance by a lusty/ravenous vampiress (actress' name: Nasreen); one brother seeking for another by calling out "Dr. Aquil" (such formality!); Shabnam's initial DAYTIME seduction (how'd that happen?!?!?!); and a nighttime cemetery walk taken by the now-vampiric Shabnam (actress' name: Deeba) and her cute little niece. And then there are those musical numbers, five in all, including one with a dozen young gals extolling the beauty of the weather as they picnic by a river that looks like a toxic dump! And though some of the film's background music, provided by Tassadaque Hussain, is quite eerie and effective, at times it can be quite inane (as when it breaks into "La Cucaracha"!). Director Khwaja Sarfraz, however, brings his film in with some style and imagination, although many scenes drag on for too long (the picture could/should easily be 15 minutes shorter) and his lack of budget is quite evident. Yet, for all this, his film remains a striking achievement. And don't even get me started on what a package this DVD is! Filled with copious extras, including two documentaries on South Asian horror and the film itself, a trailer, in-depth text articles, stills and more, the disc is yet another remarkable offering from the highly generous and enterprising folks at Mondo Macabro....

This Isn't as Bad As i thought it would be,But the fact that it's only a Pakistani version of Bram stoker's novel:Dracula,Rehan Pulls off an Amazing Performance,Though i thought it could've been better by editing out all the shocking stuff people refer to.

I don't Really Know Why Everybody Says:It's A Rip-off,Give It a chance,This Might Be because It was banned ON it's very first Premier,The first time i saw it was back in Pakistan,which I even thought It Would be awful,Due to the way how people Reacted to it in 1967,Overall,The fighting Sequences Needed to be Improved A little bit Back then.....

Mad scientist Professor Tabani drinks a potion he has brewed up in his laboratory but is turned into a blood craving vampire instead.When Dr.Aqil pays a visit Tabani sees a picture of Aqil's wife Shabnam and,after turning Aqil into a vampire,heads for Shabnam to make her his bride.Aqil's brother discovers the grave of the vampire and his brother at Tabani's castle and kills his brother with a knife to free his soul.Tabani succeeds in putting the bite on Shabnam and once turned she tries to lure her young niece away.Aqil's brother races against time to put a stop to the vampire curse."Zinda Laash" almost put me to sleep.The plot is extremely slow but more or less follows Bram Stoker's famous novel.The suspense is completely absent as is the gore and nudity.The film is only recommended for curious horror fans that want to see the second horror film made in Pakistan(after "Madman" from 1964).

I have been through so many Trash movies that I'm really hardboiled but this one ... Argh! You know you have a problem when you see a few editing mistakes in the first minute of this "movie". The actor here who plays Dracula is probably the most ridiculous Dracula in movie history. The other "actors" are not better.

But the real horror here are the very bad music and dancing scenes who make absolutely no sense and do not even fit into the other scenes. Like in later so-called "Bollywood-Films" there are a lot of these scenes to make the movie much longer.

At the end you will have the most laughable and ridiculous fight scene ever shown in film history. (Well, a stunt coordinator wasn't in the budget, they spent to much on the senseless music and dance scenes.) You see that the actors never hit each other, fall on a table and cry "Argh" and "Ough" - like kids who play action scenes.

There are a lot of bad Vampire movies out there but this is really the worst I have ever seen. Don't waste your time with this "movie"!