d3rang3d Interviews : Omar Khan

Masked serial killers, leaks of toxic chemicals which create flesh eating monstres and zombie types? The first full length horror from Bubonic Studios sounds like a treat we can't miss out on.

Be sure to check out the official site for the film over at www.zibahkhana.com for a trailer of the movie.

We caught up with director Omar Khan for an interview and all of the inside info - and to find out if that severed head really was real......

d3rang3d : Many of our readers won't have got chance to watch the film yet, so can you tell everybody a bit about it?

Omar Khan : the film is in a nutshell a lifelong horror buffs homage to the films that he has grown up worshipping since childhood - a huge thank you to the great directors of years gone by for inspiring and instilling a sense of wonderment that over the years has remained undiminished.....worryingly so at times!

d3rang3d : Pakistan has a thriving movie industry, but isn't exactly reknowned for entries in the modern horror genre - what prompted you to buck the trend and direct a horror movie?

Omar Khan : it was always going to be a horror movie for me - I have been bitten very early in life by the horror bug and the fascination has grown stronger and stronger over the years. Not only was I following my own passion in pursuing the horror genre I also felt that a horror film with a more modern, gritty, unglamorous approach would perhaps stir up the local industry into perhaps considering that there can be movies that entertain that do not rely on song and dance and all those traditional ingredients that are considered essential commodities for success here in south asia. With this film we hoped to set the cat among the pigeons somewhat within the local film scenario.

d3rang3d : Do you think your movie might be the start of a trend, and help to start a wider interest in horror movies amongst Pakistans directors, producers, and film audiences?

Omar Khan : If the movie is a financial success there are bound to be others that will follow in its footsteps, however if the movie sinks without a trace - who knows. however i should mention that horror films have always had a market in south asia and have always been popular with local audiences. However horror movies present different challenges (make up, special effects etc) which are sometimes off-putting enough for producers to opt for more conventional genres and thus not that many horror movies have been produced in Pakistan especially. Also, often horror and sex go hand in hand which makes the genre a particular foe of the local censor boards.

d3rang3d : What's your favourite moment in Zibahkhana? And is there anything you'd go back and change if you could?

Omar Khan : My favourite moment in Zibahkhana is when one of the girls seeking her friend goes searching for him in the Zibahkhana where she disturbs the resident psycho at work.......the moment when he turns, grabs his mace and starts flailing it about - that moment and the shock waves it has tended to create with audiences makes it my favourite moment in the movie. From a writer/director's point of view, judging audience reaction to the moment - THAT moment is my favourite one in the whole movie, if only just.

d3rang3d : Any stories - serious or humorous - that you can share with us from the making of Zibahkhana?

Omar Khan : too many to mention really, but there was the occasion when we completed shooting at the old lady's hut, the next day there were two dead bodies discovered there by the police.........if it had happened earlier, no doubt we would have ended up using the corpses for the film, such was the level of lunacy on set. There was also an occasion when there was a chase scene (on foot) recorded and the crew promised to have seen a child running behind our leading lady who was not part of our team......so..a ghostly child was reported to be prowling the area as well as the various giant monitor lizards, cobras, venomous spiders and so on. It was a relatively incident free shoot, but very intensive, very physically uncomfortable and energy sapping (the monsoon heat) and perhaps too hectic as most of us were literally walking zombies by the end of the shoot and ready to sleep for weeks in order to recover. I once had to flee the set in horror as a battallion of flesh eating maggots once managed to transfer themsleves from the corpse of a cow we had hung up to my shirt and proceeded to bite the hell out of me! the blobs on my back took weeks to heal!

d3rang3d : And anyone among the cast or crew who you would like to single out for a special mention?

Omar Khan : Working with veteran actor Rehan was a special experience and watching an actor who had nor performed for 30 years to click back into action and for the magic to return the way it did was something i will always remember. Rehan also happens to be rather special person, very warm, very approachable and encouraging. The other person who I ought to mention as being key to the film and the experience was DOP Najaf Bilgrami. When I first met him i was warned that he was a moody character and difficult to work with. As it turned out, his moodiness turned out to be a desire for quality and setting himself standards! He turned out to be the pocket hercules on whose energy and drive we were able to go the extra yard. Working with Najaf was a very positive experience and I truly hope that his effort on the film bears him deserved rewards. The main cast were also a very spirited and bright bunch of young people who managed to make a serious dent in my cynical attitude to the youth in general. Other than one or two glaring exceptions, I would happily work with 99% of the same cast and crew anytime in the future if the opportunity arose.

d3rang3d : Is there anything you'd have liked to have been able to do in Zibahkhana but couldn't due to budget constraints or any other reasons?

Omar Khan : Yes, mostly we would have liked to up the level of gore and the death sequences might well have been more elaborate, BUT having said that this was never meant to be anything but a scuzzy, low budget, gritty film where you could sense the dust, smell the rain and feel the grime and to that extent the slicker it would be the less effective it would have been in achieving this objective. I might well have tried to rope in an old faded Lollywood star or two for the side roles if we had the extra cash and also we would have hired equipment that our budget didnt allow us. There were one or two scenes that had to be altered slightly and in retrospect we may have shot the van scenes differently too. But, on the whole we managed to get something close to what had been conceived on paper.

d3rang3d : We've heard plenty of rumours about blood and gore from the local butchers shop - and also an interesting snippet that you wanted to use a real severed head in one scene but the producers objected. Any truth in that?

Omar Khan : The local butchers shop had a field day with our crew returning regularly for all sorts of unmentionable body parts for the more gory sequences. There were two heads we had available to us.....a third was concocted by a master prop maker BUT the head in question...well, we did indeed dispatch our soldiers to the local morgue to come back with something that would "work"......anything can achieved here in Pakistan for a price, including severed heads. Did we use it? can u tell it was real?

d3rang3d : Do you yourself have any further plans to work on more horror project in the future?

Omar Khan : Yes and No....yes in the way that a script has already been whipped up - another horror film naturally with a huge dose of humour and elements quite unexpected from traditional commercial cinema here in Pakistan. Yet, and the follow up to Zibahkhana that we are also working on can only come to fruition once this film is able to recover its costs and in this endeavor we are in talks to hopefully make this happen sooner rather than later. Until then, its back to the ice cream and desserts for me!

d3rang3d : Away from your own work, what movies have really hit the spot for you lately?

Omar Khan : I was completely obliterated by Haute Tension (NOT the american version) which enthralled me and pulverised me like no film had since John Carpenter's Halloween. I found it pretty much made to order as far as personal preference is concerned -- OK, I know many people found the end twist more than a little undigestible but that hardly detracts from the sheer adrenaline pumping, white knuckle experience that the director puts you through during this film. There are scenes that are the old cat and mouse stuff.......typical horror movie stuff that in the hands of most hacks would be unwatchably mundane yet Alexandre Aja display his complete mastery over the horror medium and to me is the most exciting talent on the horror scene leaving the American Brat Pack way behind. Aja's remake of The Hills Have Eyes surpassed the original, a rarity in itself and I for one am drooling in anticipation of his next film.

Other films that i thoroughly enjoyed of late - i enjoyed THEM (Ils) quite a bit. I know purists will scoff but I am a big fan of the Texas Chainsaw remake by Marcus Nispel - it was bloody scary and i thought very entertaining as well. I admit also to squirmingly enjoying Saw and of course the Japanese Ringu contains a now much parodied sequence that will go down as one of THE classics, hair raising scenes of modern horror, but that hardly qualifies as lately does it!? The Video games turned horror movies I have avoided as a rule and the Scream movies - though i did enjoy the first one especially, even that was really not my thing - give me real slasher movies any day.

d3rang3d : And what films/directors/actors from the horror genre -new or old- would you say that you've liked the most?

Omar Khan : I have already mentioned my admiration of Alexandre Aja's mastery over the horror genre as displayed in the two movies I have watched of his. In his Haute Tension was a great genre performance by Cecile De France who since then appeared in the mega flop Around the World in 80 Days and hasnt been heard of since. Haute Tension for me was the most exciting horror movie experience since Halloween way back in 1978. Some people have serious qualms about it but as an exercise in white knuckle slasher tension, there has been nothing to come close to Halloween in years and with Haute Tension, Alexandre Aja displalyed a very rare talent for the horror genre.

From the horror genre, there have been so many favourites, but narrowed down for true hero worship I can think of the following names off the top of my head; Geraldine Page - perhaps an unlikely choice, but her turn as Mrs Marrable in the superb slice of black humour camp that is Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice is one of the most if not the most entertaining performance I have ever seen! I was in awe of Gerladine Page ever after that, but we always refer to her as Mrs. Claire Marrable from Aunt Alice. Then there was Margaret Hamilton. Her performance as the wicked witch of the west is what started for me what was to become a lifetime obsession with all things monstrous. I fell in love and in awe and in trembling fascination of her ever since I watched the movie as a 4 year old - she literally blew me away and I still havent recovered......(cont'd)

Omar Khan (cont'd) : The two giants from the UK, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were pretty much worshipped in our household and still are. Mine is a home where Hammer Horror is held in the highest esteem.

I discovered White Zombie very late in life but it has gone on to become an instant classic for me.....there are others, Blood Freak, Freaks and its star Olga Baclanova are huge icons in my book.

For a few years John Carpenter could do no wrong but then slowly but surely things went horribly wrong and i think the fun must have gone out of it for him quite early on in his career or so it appears. Assault on Precint 13, Halloween and even The Fog are films I consider in the highest bracket.

Tobe Hooper gave us one of the greatest horror experiences of them all and then followed up with Eaten Alive (Death Trap) which I thoroughly enjoyed in retrospect even if I loathed it upon first viewing...and The Funhouse remains one of my favourite movies of all as is Tourist Trap which wasnt directed by Tobe Hooper but bears many similar hallmarks of Hoopers work.

Then we have the rich vein that Brian De Palma struck in the late 70's and early 80's with a string of classy, sexy, bloody, hugely entertaining and often very scary shockers one after the other, aided and abetted by brilliant scores by Pino Donnaggio on his best Herrmann imitation mode...De Palma gave us Sisters (real Herrmann score), Obsession, Blow Out, and especially Carrie and Dressed to Kill and even to some extent Body Double all of which were right up slasher territory and I hugely enjoyed.

How can one not mention Dario Argento who when in form, which sadly is rarely the case these days, once gave us the most spectacular slices of stylized horror. George A Romero's movies are all hugely loved too. I recently had the opportunity of meeting Betsy Palmer who is also right there in the worshipable people bracket as is of course Vincent Price, especially for his roles as Egghead from (the real) Batman, and also a film that ranks among my all time favourite; The Theatre of Blood. The Exorcist was a knockout and still is. The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin one of the unheralded classics of all time with a performance by Joseph Olita that blows away the pretentious posturing of Forrest Whittaker clean out of the ball park! I could go on and on and on.

d3rang3d : Whos your favourite villain from horror through the ages - an individual like Dracula or Freddy Krueger, or a general group like zombies, vampires etc?

Omar Khan : I always found Zombies to be particularly frightening but the villains who made a huge impact on me other than the Wicked Witch of the West are Michael Myers from Halloween's 1 & 2 specifically.....and also Leatherface from the original chainsaw. I also loved Christopher Lee as Hammer's Mummy from 1959. I think there is something about a faceless killer or a masked killer that I seem to find more compelling than a killer whose face can be seen. I also loved Chuck Connor's deranged brother from Tourist Trap.

d3rang3d : It really happens. The dead come back to life (or infected if you prefer) are running around. What do you do? Answers involving guns and beer may increase your chances of survival significantly.

Omar Khan : in a muslim country, you unleash The Burqaman on them with his flailing mace and watch the zombie heads fly! no worries at all, no guns needed and no beer allowed!

d3rang3d : And, finally - the open non question. Your chance to say anything you like about any subject under the sun - thank the fans, cuss the critics, plug your favorite beer. Anything goes, so any final words?

Omar Khan : Long Live Sleaze and Horror!