Shaitaan is a Hindi-language Indian horror film that’s a different kind of Bollywood picture than I’m used to. Though, granted, I’ve only ever seen one other Indian horror film… everything else has been action flicks and romances. But this film is darker, meaner, and more atmospheric than I’m used to from the region.

The film is about a family of four on vacation who run into a friendly guy with a little too much interest in their teenage daughter. Turns out he’s got the power to control her mind and all he needs is her parents to give her to him for life.

The film looks good, the family is fun and relatable, the actors are good, and the villain pretty reprehensible (he puts his muddy shoes on their coffee table… the disrespect!). The scenario is interesting and makes me wonder if its based on Indian folklore (it has a bit of European pied piper to it so it).

Unfortunately, for about a full hour the story gets stuck in a rut. For a while, it’s not a bad rut though. The bad guy manipulates the parents by making the daughter do what he wants… sometimes embarrassing, sometimes dangerous, sometimes deadly. And they repeat this formula a little too long. Thankfully it’s well performed and usually interesting… but there’s only so much you can do with five characters in a single house.

And then, out of the blue, surprise blazing evil ritual! In an eye-popping sequence, the flick goes full gothic nightmare with imagery straight out of an 80s metal album cover (Shout! Shout! Shout at Shaitaan!). It’s accompanied by a devil-horn-throwing Bollywood song growled menacingly to images of flames and writhing girls (I wondered if Torgo was about to hobble into frame). It’s pretty goddamn badass.

It’s such a freaky, eye-popping sequence, it redeems the first half of the film. It’s never bad but certainly could have picked up the pacing and gotten to the cool part sooner. But its well and well acted and that goes a long way.

Score: 83