Zibah khana / Hell's Ground | 2007

 

Zibahkhana (Urdu: ذبح خانہ; meaning 'slaughterhouse', also known as Hell's Ground) is a 2007 Pakistani Urdu and English slasher film directed and co-produced by Omar Khan, co-written with Pete Thoms.

Filmed over 30 days, Zibahkhana premiered at the NatFilm Festival in Denmark and was screened at various film festivals including Toronto, New York, London, Neuchâtel, Stockholm, Cape Town, Austin, Philadelphia, Cambridge, Puerto Rico, Sitges, Valencia, Oslo, and Helsinki. The film passed censorship in Pakistan (with 9 seconds cut) and was released as the first HDV and non-35mm feature film in the history of Pakistani cinema.

Late at night, a driver nearly hits a mysterious figure in the dark. After a car accident, he is attacked and killed by that figure.

Five friends skip school to attend a rock concert in Islamabad. The protagonists of this adventure are the stubborn driver Vicki, the poor student Simon, the free-spirited Roxi, the horror movie fan OJ, and the timid Ash.

As they venture into the countryside, they discover ongoing protests related to water supply issues in rural Pakistan.

The five friends stop at a chai house to buy hashish, where a local sage warns them about the surrounding countryside, referring to it as "Hell's Ground." Dismissing the warning, the teenagers continue their adventure. OJ eats space cake and becomes ill, prompting the friends to pull over. While OJ is sick by a stream, he is attacked by an unseen force.

Subsequently, the teenagers are attacked by zombies, and a small zombie enters their van. They manage to escape. While searching for help, they encounter an adult who offers to guide them to safety. The adult claims there is no water in the car and pulls out a severed head from his bag. The teenagers throw him out of the car and run him over.

With the van out of gas, the teenagers become stranded in the jungle. Vicki feels guilty for putting his friends in danger and goes to find help. He discovers a cabin but is attacked and killed by a madman wearing a burqa. Roxi, frightened by the severed head, flees into the jungle and eventually finds Vicki's corpse being butchered by the madman. The madman chases Roxi, who takes refuge in the cabin. A kind old woman takes her in, lamenting the loss of her son to marriage and how a new highway has cut her village off from the world. Seeing Roxi injured, she goes to find her son, a local healer.

Meanwhile, Simon and Ash realize OJ is missing. While searching for him, they find Vicki's keys and flashlight and are chased by the madman. Simon dies, and Ash returns to the van.

While exploring the old woman's cabin, Roxi discovers evidence that the madman is the old woman's daughter and finds her son's skull before leaving the house. In the jungle, the old woman discovers her other son, an adult, dying. Vowing revenge, she instructs her daughter to kill the remaining teenagers. The madman breaks Roxi's neck.

Ash is chased through the forest and eventually fashions a weapon from wire and a stick to kill the madman, ensuring her death by stabbing her heart with a rock.

Victorious, Ash finds OJ at dawn. OJ, now a zombie, attempts to attack her.

The world premiere took place on March 30, 2007, at the NatFilm Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark. The U.S. premiere followed a week later on April 6 at the Philadelphia Film Festival. The film was screened at over 40 international film festivals, particularly horror festivals, winning Best Film at the Riofan Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro and the Fantaspoa Film Festival in Porto Alegre. It also won the Audience Award at the Houston Film Festival and the Best Gore Effects Award at the same festival. The film was commercially released in Pakistan in the third week of December 2007, after a long struggle for censorship approval. It successfully screened for 11 weeks at Cineplex in Rawalpindi, but its release in Karachi and Lahore was cut short due to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto coinciding with the film's release.

India's PVR Pictures secured distribution rights after the film was screened at the Osian Film Festival in Delhi. It was set to release in 14 selected theaters nationwide, but plans were derailed due to deteriorating relations between India and Pakistan following the Mumbai terror attacks. The film's trailer was posted on the PVR website, but the release did not occur.

The film was screened at the Andy Warhol Museum in the U.S. and received accolades at the Trash Film Festival in Tokyo, Japan, in 2008.