A Brief History of Bollywood Horror Movies

Bollywood has dabbled with the horror genre and has come up with some pretty good movies through the decades. From making unique movies, to depending on gore and risque sequences to finally understanding what horror is all about; the scream market in India has definitely matured. Here is a brief history of Bollywood Horror movies.

The first Indian horror movie was made by Kamal Amrohi, and starred Ashok Kumar and Madhubala. Named 'Mahal', which can be translated into 'Palace' in English, the movie was based on reincarnation - a concept that is well entrenched into the Indian mindset. This movie is supposed to be ground breaking one for Bollywood and is known to have launched many a career. Ashok Kumar, Madhubala and the singer Lata Mangeshkar owe much of their superstardom to Mahal.

The sixties and the seventies saw some pretty good Bollywood horror movies, and most of them spoke about reincarnation, haunted houses etc. This genre was studded with superhit movies like Gumnaam (without a name), Bees Saal Baad (Twenty Years Hence) and of course, Madhumati.

All this changed with Rajkumar Kohli's Nagin (The Female Snake) in 1976, which once again changed the very concept of Bollywood horror movies. This star studded movie was a box office hit, which made way for Jaani Dushman (Nemesis) by Rajkumar Kohli.

The horror genre became slapstick and a lucrative one, and the intelligent stories like Madhumati and Bees Saal Baad were replaced with template movies, wherein a couple or a group of youngsters would have to camp in a old mansion, only to find that it is haunted. This was the staple of Ramsay Brothers, who made quite a few movies on the premise. The Ramsay Brothers were the staple of the horror genre for at least a decade, and many of their movies, like Veerana (The Desolate Area), Purana Mandir (Old Temple) and Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche (Beneath the Ground) have a cult following even today in the DVD market.

However, the Indian audience became mature enough to reject slapstick and risqu by the nineties, and the Ramsay brand of horror had a dwindling following - and it was then that a little known director named Ram Gopal Varma changed the way Bollywood horror movies were made. His Raat (The Night) was one of the few Indian horror movies that did not have the by now cliched paper mache makeup, or the squirting of blood, etc. His 'Raat' was one of the few atmosphere horror movies and is still considered to be one of the best horror movies ever made.

Ram Gopal Varma later on made several movies in the horror and crime genre and has achieved mixed success in his movies. However, even today, people consider him to be a horror film maker first and a crime saga maker second.

The horror film genre has been around in Bollywood since the past three decades now. The entire concept has been commented upon in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer, Om Shanti Om.

6 Business Lessons We Can All Learn From Horror Movies

It's Halloween time, which means it's the perfect time to fire up some great horror movies. But did you know that you can learn a lot of business lessons from watching the stupid things characters in horror movies do? If not, then keep reading! Here are 6 business lessons we can all learn from horror movies:

1) Be Nice!

You know who occasionally screws everyone over by lying, cheating, or stealing? The jerk. You know what often sets off latent psychic powers in a person who goes off and kills lots of people, good and bad? The jerk. You know who always dies by the end? The jerk.

Don't be a jerk! Be nice. Guess who lives in "Carrie." The one girl who was nice to Carrie. Guess who dies. Everyone else. Especially John Travolta and Nancy Allen. They were jerks.

The Business Lesson: Customer Service Matters Be nice, be polite, and be accommodating, even when you want to flip someone off. Chances are that you being mean won't cause someone to incinerate a high school prom, but it can certainly cause you to lose customers and develop a bad reputation.

2) Understand the Enemy!

Let's face it: A lot of horror movie villains are supernatural. They take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. Sadly, many of the "protagonists" in these movies make the mistake of assuming the villain is simply human. This kind of assumptive thinking is what leads to a person getting their head punched off by Jason in "Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan." (Seriously. The guy boxes Jason for a while, gets tired, and then Jason punches his head clear off his neck!)

A little competitive analysis would have taught this dude a simple lesson: You can't win a boxing match with Jason!

The Business Lesson: Know Your Competition Most of us won't face supernatural competitors who can't be killed (hopefully), yet we can all fall into the trap of making assumptions about the competition. Or worse, not paying attention at all to what others are doing. Focusing your attention on yourself and letting go of things you can't control is a great way to succeed, but it's important to have some idea of what your competitors are doing so that you can adapt as needed.

3) Finish the Job!

This may be my biggest pet peeve in horror movies. The hero gets in a good shot. The bad guy is down. What does the hero do? He/she either slumps down in an exhausted heap or starts to walk away. Inevitably, the villain gets up and the chase starts all over.

I find myself wanting to yell at the screen, "keep going! Press your advantage! Finish the job!" How many horror movies would have ended far better for everyone involved if the victim had simply whacked the villain in the head when they were down?

The Business Lesson: Press Your Advantage Too many individuals and businesses try to "coast" when they start to see some success. You can never coast! When things are going your way, keep pushing to take things to the next level. You don't need to be a workaholic, but keep pressing until the job is really finished.

4) Think Big Picture!
In many horror movies, there is one jackass who messes up priorities in a way that gets people killed. Short term profits seem to often outweigh long term safety.

Let's keep the beaches open even though there's a shark around!
Let's build on an ancient Indian Burial Ground but not tell anyone!
Let's try to sneak an alien embryo back to Earth inside some live people so we can sell them!

This kind of short term thinking rarely leads to long term success. In many cases, it leads to the short-term death of the greedy character. For sustainable success, you have to think long term!

The Business Lesson: Think Long Term It can be tempting, especially in tough economic times, to try some crazy things to make a quick buck. Things that have very little to do with your current brand and offering. The problem is that even if those things work, they can dilute your brand, confuse your prospects, and split your efforts. Short term tactics are fine, but make sure they fit into your long term, big picture strategy.

5) Be Prepared!

This is why so few horror movies feature boy scouts as victims. A common horror movie cliche is the bit of technology that won't work at a critical moment. The key offenders? Cars and cell phones...

Why is it that people will drive off to a remote location with a bad car. Even if you don't know that you will be chased by a homicidal maniac, would you really want to drive out to the middle of nowhere in a car that has a bad habit of not starting?

Similarly, why rely on a cell phone that gets spotty coverage in the middle of Philadelphia if you are going to be in the middle of a South American jungle? And let's not even get into how many characters die simply because they didn't charge their cell phone battery.

Fix the car, get a better phone, pack supplies, and be prepared! It might save your life.

The Business Lesson: Preparation Matters While there's no need to be perfect before you start, you should be prepared for some of the challenges and obstacles you will face. Going into a sales call? Prep for the objections you know you will hear every time. Planning an event? Double check and make sure everyone is on top of their task. Giving a speech? Practice what you will say and bring a back up copy of your presentation and handouts.

You obviously can't prepare for everything, but you are just flat out setting yourself up for failure if you don't take a little time to set yourself up for success.

6) Check References!

If you were going to have someone move in with you, wouldn't you want to know a little bit about their history and mental stability? If you were hiring a nanny to help with your baby, wouldn't you want to know if they were...um...psychotic...?

And yet, time after time, movie characters allow people into their lives without really knowing anything about them. Then they are shocked and appalled when the person turns out to be a whackado.

By the way, the latest horror movie trend is to have a group of people (usually people in their early twenties) drop everything to travel to a remote location with some person they barely know. I know movies try to convince us that young people are stupid, but are they really this stupid??

The Business Lesson: You have to trust the people you do business with, so I am not advocating that you set up 24 hour surveillance on your employees. But doing your due diligence is a must. Check references and make sure you know what you are getting into - especially if you are going to be allowing a person around sensitive information or precious things.

There you have it - six business lessons from the crazy world of horror movies. The next time you are watching some hapless teen get chased down by a homicidal maniac, ask yourself, "is there something I can learn from this to make my business better?" You just may surprise yourself with the answer.

Annoying Horror Movie Cliches

If you're an ardent horror movie fan, you've probably encountered them from time to time. I am talking about those annoying horror cliches, which always seem to destroy the credibility of a film by virtue of their ridiculous, unrealistic scenarios.

Here are some of the more common horror cliches which, I'll bet, have made you roll your eyes and shake your head in utter disbelief many a time:

1. Don't Go In That House Alone - I have seen this irritating cliche played out, time and time again, in all kinds of horror movies, especially in the teen-slasher productions. You get a stupid boy or girl, who know damn well that there is a crazed, masked killer stalking the house - and yet suddenly develop a most ludicrous surge of courage and venture into the house, on their own, to confront the killer or monster, in the lame hope that they will overpower it and kill it. The culmination of this silly endeavour is that the person usually ends up being slaughtered themselves.

2. Why Do They Always Get In The Car? - The protagonist is being chased by the psycho killer or bloodthirsty monster. They spot a vacant car. What do they do? They only get into it and stupidly attempt to start it up. In real life, if you were in a similarly perilous situation, with a maniac or creature chasing you, your nerves would be racing that much and your heart would be beating so fast that the last thing you would feel capable of doing would be to stop and try to get into a car, thereby giving your pursuer some extra time to catch up with you. Instead, you would just keep on running and running into the woods, as fast as your legs would carry you. And isn't it amazing how their hand never trembles a bit as they fiddle around with the ignition?

3. There Is Always An Expert In The Group - You can guarantee that whenever there is a group of people who encounter a creature such as a vampire or werewolf, there will ALWAYS be at least one self-proclaimed "expert" among them who knows how to deal with the creature, be it with a stake or silver bullet.

4. Don't Step Over The Dead Body - Isn't it just so unrealistic and crazy when the hero kills the monster or maniac they've been fighting with - or THINKS they have. And then - foolishly failing to make hundred per cent sure that their enemy is dead - they step over the dead body... and then their ankle is grabbed by the apparently still living monster! For heaven's sake, when you whack a monster over the head with a club or whatever, just make sure the thing really IS dead, will you? Strewth!

5. There's A Ghost In My House, But I Am Not Moving Out - I have seen this pathetic cliche played out in hundreds of spooky movies. The story basically features a young couple that move into a house... and start experiencing a succession of strange incidents, which seem to suggest that they have a resident ghost. But what do they? They stay in the house, despite the acceleration of paranormal incidents they encounter, and usually summon either a medium or an exorcist. More ridiculous, even when their helper doesn't manage to clear their home of the entity completely, they STILL stay in the house, and you might get the husband uttering something like, "No, honey, we've got to STAY here and confront this thing. It is NOT going to drive us out of our dream home." Lord, give me strength!

6. Run Upstairs Instead Of Out The Front Door - This cliche really annoys me. The victim is being chased all around the house by a psycho killer. And what do they do? Instead of running out through the front door, they dash upstairs, stupidly rendering themselves utterly trapped up top as their pursuer creeps up the stairs, closing in on them for the kill.

7. The Cat Jump Scare - Seen this cliche repeated so many times in horror movies over they years that I have now just given up all hope that they will EVER scrap it. You know the one I mean: the cat suddenly jumps out at you and scares you witless.

So there you have it: some of the worst horror cliches I have ever had the misfortune to see. I'll bet all of you can think of many, many more to add to that list. I certainly can.

Come on, all you horror movie writers - start making horror stories realistic and original, instead of relying on the same old tired cliches to get a cheap scare out of cinema goers.

Top Ten Horror Movies Of A Kindle Horror Book Writer

As a published author of Kindle paranormal and horror books, and as a huge fan of horror movies, I would like to list my all time top ten horror movies. As there are some real classics here, I am sure that some of these movies will also feature highly in the top ten lists of many other horror fans.

1. Frankenstein (1931) - The granddaddy of them all: Frankenstein's Monster, played by the great Boris Karloff. This was the film that got me hooked on horror movies when I first saw it as a kid. Nobody has been able to play Frankenstein's creation quite like Karloff did, as he brought a remarkable sense of pathos to the role. I love everything about this movie, from Colin Clive's ecstatically crazed tones of "It's alive! Alive!" to the fiery finale in the old windmill. The ultimate Universal horror movie, and a true classic.

2. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) - It's not often that a sequel to a popular movie lives up to the first. The Bride of Frankenstein was one of those pleasing exceptions. In fact, many cinema buffs regard this second film in the Karloff Frankenstein trilogy as being even better than the previous one. Again, Universal work their special movie monster magic here, as Dr Frankenstein is forced to create a mate for his creature - with disastrous results. Elsa Lanchester is brilliant as the Bride, as is Ernest Thesiger who plays the devious Dr Pretorius. This is also the movie where the monster learns to speak, albeit with a very limited vocabulary. Again, like the first film, a true horror classic.

3. Dracula (1958) - The movie that led me to becoming a BIG fan of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Seeing the Hammer Dracula for the very first time, with those terrifying blood-red eyes, razor-sharp fangs and hissing visage made the old black-and-white Dracula movies same so tame by comparison. The definitive Hammer horror movie, and one that should be in every horror fan's DVD collection. Christopher Lee is the best Dracula ever, a fact attested to when the studio had him coming back again and again in a new sequel. Nobody can play Dracula as brilliantly as Christopher Lee can, and I don't think anybody ever will.

4. The Wolf Man (1941) - Universal added a third movie monster to their chamber of celluloid horrors in the form of the Wolf Man, and although, unlike Frankenstein's monster and Dracula, this creature was not taken directly from a novel (it was from a Curt Siodmak script), it still proved to be every bit as terrifying and awesome as the other two. Lon Chaney Jr. played the cursed lycanthrope Lawrence Talbot magnificently, and his character's exploits were wonderfully enhanced by the atmosphere of fog-shrouded forests, creepy gypsy clans and brilliant musical score. And, of course, Jack Pierce did a brilliant job with the Wolf Man makeup.

5. Psycho (1960) - Famous for its notorious shower scene, Psycho (based on Robert Bloch's novel) is the King of the Slasher Films. Horror moves away from the fantasy world of monsters like The Wolf Man and Frankenstein and into a more close-to-real-life setting, namely a secluded motel run by a seemingly shy, inoffensive young man by the name of Norman Bates. But that initial impression is soon shattered when he dons his mother's clothes and goes on a demented killing spree. Psycho is truly one of Hitchcock's greatest movies.

6. Tales From The Crypt (1972) - You can't beat a good horror portmanteau movie, and of all the films of that type I have seen over the years, I found Tales From The Crypt to be the most enjoyable. Every story is brilliant, especially the one involving Joan Collins and the crazed Santa Claus, and that includes the framing story. Ralph Richardson is also fantastic as the Crypt Keeper. Thank you so much, Amicus, for bringing us masterpiece of portmanteau horror.

7. Halloween (1978) - This John Carpenter movie really proved that you can still scare viewers half to death with a good slasher story without resorting to excessive blood and gore. Masked Michael Myers - also known as "The Shape" - relentlessly stalks Jamie Lee Curtis through darkened streets and houses amid a creepy Halloween atmosphere. Donald Pleasance presents a memorable performance here too as Dr Loomis, who pursues his former patient Myers determinedly and fearlessly throughout the movie. A true horror classic.

8. Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968) - For me, this movie just embodied everything that was wonderful about Hammer: vibrantly lush settings, beautiful heroines (in this case, the lovely Veronica Carlson), great storyline, and, of course, the wonderful Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, who is revived from a watery grave by the spilling of the blood of a priest, whom he later makes his servant. I especially enjoyed the part where Paul, Maria's boyfriend, stakes Dracula in his coffin, but being an atheist can't recite the holy ritual necessary to ensure complete destruction of the evil vampire. I never get tired of watching this movie, it's that good.

9. Friday The 13th (1980) - An as yet hockey-mask-devoid Jason Voorhees makes his terrifying debut in this gory shocker from 1980. Although I did go on to enjoy all the sequels, the very first Friday The 13th movie will always be my special favourite, mainly because of the aura of mystery that surrounded the Voorhees character.

10. The Wicker Man (1973) - I cannot utter enough superlatives to describe this fantastic cult movie. Truly, one of the most unusual and original films that I have ever seen. Edward Woodward is superb in the role of Police Sergeant Neil Howie, who comes to the remote Hebridean island of Summerisle in search of a missing girl who the locals claim never existed. Being a devout Christian, Howie is disgusted to find that the islanders practise a weird form of Celtic paganism, including open copulation. Christopher Lee is also brilliant as Lord Summerisle, whose devious intentions lead Howie into a trap, culminating in one of the most horrific, heart-wrenching climaxes in horror movie history. The Wicker Man ranks not only in my all time horror movie top ten, but also in my all time top ten films ever.

2013 Top Ten Horror Movies

World War Z
The film earned $540 million worldwide gross sales. Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, who travelled the world to find the cause and cure of a zombie pandemic that is spreading quickly around the globe. With little time to do the task, the possibility of human extinction is totally in his hand.
The Conjuring
This low budget phenomenal film gained $318 million gross sales. Couple Ed and Lorraine Warren are paranormal investigators. They were invited by the Perron family to investigate a dark spirit that is haunting their house.
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
The fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel was given another theatrical chance, but not totally based on a story that we all knew. The film is a horror-action movie, which really makes the title very interesting. The film gained $225.7 million gross sales.
Insidious Chapter 2
This second movie of the title has also succeeded in capturing the interest of the people. This chapter has earned $161.5 million sales.
Mama
Another small budget movie has managed to earn $146.4 million in return. The film is about two sisters whose mother's spirit still protects them.
Evil dead
The film gross sale reached $97.5 Million. With a production budget of $17 Million, the film really puts scares in the mind of the viewers. It was a reboot of the 1981 film with the same title.
The Purge
This movie only has $3 million production budget but managed to earn $89.3 Million gross sales. The nature of human violence is portrayed in this film. It has a good story and characters.
Carrie
This is a remake of the 1976 classic horror movie. It's a story of a young girl whose psychic power has been developed and released as she matures. Unfortunately, the power has been used for vengeance as a group of teenagers bullied and ridiculed
Carrie. The movie bags $84.8 Million gross sales.
Texas Chainsaw 3D
This Texas Chainsaw franchise has earned $47.2 Million gross sales. The chainsaw wielding murderer once more excites and thrills people.
Dark Skies
This movie has earned $26.4 million gross sales. It is sci-fi horror film with a good plot and true scares.
These are the horror films that successfully hit the box office meter. They are all entertaining and worth the watch.