Phir Wahi Raat (1980) (India)

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A gorgeous young woman named Asha is referred to the handsome psychiatrist Dr. Vijay (her boyfriend) after she is plagued with nightmares involving a woman attacking and choking her to death. Dr. Vijay is not happy he is learning of his lover’s problems from outside sources and playfully scolds her before offering his expertise. A hypnotism session proves successful in alleviating Asha’s spirits concerning the crippling nightmares by confronting her past traumas. Her boyfriend believes that she can be cured with a little more help. The hostel where Asha resides (the trauma confrontation flashback shows how she became an orphan thanks to a crazy aunt murdering her mother) is getting pressure from some of the other awful girls’ parents about kicking Asha out so their kids can get some god damn sleep. Asha overhears one especially awful mother raising a stink and gets all weepy. Instead of going to bed that night, she waits for her loyal roommate to fall asleep, leaves the hostel and catches a taxi out to the train station. She falls asleep in the back seat and has a nightmare about returning to her old home and being attacked by that same creepy-ass woman. But it’s all a dream! She wakes up with a start and is immediately chased through the foggy streets by someone clad in black. She makes it to her lover’s house and collapses at his front door. He opens it to find her roommate/bff Shobha is the mysterious figure in black and it was all a misunderstanding on the part of the mentally exhausted Asha. The next day the two girls are expelled from the hostel/college for breaking the rules by leaving the premises at night. So, Vijay takes the girls out to Asha’s old family mansion in the middle of nowhere for some R&R… the same home which features in her nightmares. The housekeeper and his teenage daughter are on hand and the young girl may not have the best intentions when it comes to Asha’s man and the cabinet full of Asha’s mother’s expensive jewelry. The appearance of another sinister woman walking the halls (not her insane aunt) after hours has Asha fearing for her life and she’s right to do so because something sinister is afoot. Asha’s cousin arrives rocking a stellar helmet of hair to go along with his pervert mustache and neckerchief and, after a renowned psychiatrist pronounces Asha to be perfectly fine, they decide it’s time to celebrate. Coincidentally it’s Asha’s birthday, so a big shindig is thrown. That nightmare lady shows up and when she approaches Asha in a seemingly warm embrace, Asha plunges the cake-cutting knife into her. It’s revealed she’s the cousin’s wife and she’s pronounced dead immediately. As the paramedics remove Asha to take her to the psych ward, she’s terrified to see the supposedly dead woman watching her depart. The scheme is revealed and betrayal is the name of the game. All is not lost, and it’s up to our hero to get to the bottom of things and save the woman he loves. We then veer far off course as we follow the “comedic” exploits of a poor innkeeper (played by Jagdeep because we’re a little too before the time of Johnny Lever) who is Shobna’s brother-in-law as he intercepts a letter meant for his wife and sees a way to use the information in said letter to his advantage. He fails miserably because of course he does… it’s fucking Jagdeep. His arrival certainly brings everything to a halt and it really blows because the thing was near perfect up to his entrance… but that’s India for ya. Just roll with it. Anyways, there’s some murder, some singing and eventually the tormentors become the tormented. Atmospheric to high hell and carrying an air of almost accidental superiority to most of the trash horror I’ve watched from the area, it’s an impressive introduction (for me, at least) to the mature thrills Indian cinema offers. Even without the garbage aesthetic I so dearly love, it just further cements my admiration for the cinematic output of the area. I’m not saying that everything else I’ve reviewed is trash, I’m just saying that the mix of psychological and supernatural horror here plays well with the almost Bavaesque scene composition and throws out more than the man-in-a-monster-mask shenanigans I’ve grown accustomed to. Damn shame that the second half Jagdeep bullshit brings the momentum to a dead stop and the film never really recovers after revealing what’s going on and losing its possible supernatural thread. Things get a little back on track during its shootout climax which probably inspired the finale of Scarface. I have no proof but I’ll pass it on as fact.