REVIEW - The Living Corpse aka Zinda Laash aka Dracula in Pakastan (1967)

What we have here is a Pakistani version of Bram Stoker’s DRACULA. The film has a certain reputation as being the first movie in Pakistan to be given an X rating and because a woman reportedly had a heart attack in the movie theater due to the film’s being so provocative. At the time it was made, it was only the second horror movie to be made in Pakistan. The film begins as a sort of riff on DR JECKYL AND MISTER HYDE with Dr. Tabani looking for the “Elixir of Life” which he not only finds, but ingests. Of course, the good doctor drops dead and soon awakes as a creature that is more similar to what we think of as Dracula. From here, we get pretty much what you would expect. As one watches this film, it’s important to remember two things… 1) the film was made in 1967 and 2) as I’ve said, it was made in Pakistan. As a result, yes…. The film’s dance sequences (yes, dance sequences – this is Pakistan… which is right next to India… y’know, Bollywood) are pretty racy given the time and location and – because it’s a vampire film – there’s an aspect of sexuality to it all… which I’m sure the religious factions of Pakistan were not happy about. The music… is pretty groovy by and large, very 60s dance pop. But yeah… other than that, it sticks pretty much to the Stoker playbook. The guy who plays Dracula, Rehan, does his best Christopher Lee impression and is actually not bad in the role. The film ends up – undoubtedly because of the conventions of Pakistani cinema – being very melodramatic and over-wrought, but still kind of endearing (in a really odd way). Soon though… the oddity of the film wears thin and, by the third reel, the whole thing begins to overstay its welcome (the film runs 103 minutes). So, at the end of the day, THE LIVING CORPSE serves more as an anthropological document than an effective horror film. It serves to show how a fledgling film industry and a – let’s admit it – rather repressed country does its own take on a horror archetype. THE LIVING CORPSE has its moments, but…I’d recommended it mostly for “world horror” fans (which I am) and those interested in riffs on the Dracula legend.

Rating: 3 out of 5

~ Thom Carnell