Editorials
‘Kaun?’ is a Twisty Cult Classic in Indian Horror [Horrors Elsewhere]
Horrors Elsewhere is a recurring column that spotlights a variety of movies from all around the globe, particularly those not from the United States. Fears may not be universal, but one thing is for sure — a scream is understood, always and everywhere.
India saw less and less horror movies being made in the 1990s. The main reason being they no longer turned a profit like they used to in previous years, but filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma was never one to follow the herd. RGV, who is often referred to by only his initials, played a significant role in the shaping of modern Indian horror. One of the most critically acclaimed horror movies from the ’90s was in fact one of his, Raat. And throughout the decade, RGV did his best to keep the genre’s spirit alive with his other films like Govinda Govinda and Deyyam. It was at the start of 1999 when audiences feasted their eyes on an RGV movie destined to become a cult hit. The indelible performances, the nightmarish imagery, and a shocking plot turn are all why Kaun? continues to haunt Indian viewers today.
Kaun? (or “Who?”) has an evergreen setup; a woman living on her own fears for her life as a storm brews outside and a killer lurks nearby. The nameless protagonist, played by Urmila Matondkar, is already on edge after hearing about a series of recent murders on the news. So when a stranger named Sameer Purnavale (Manoj Bajpayee) rings the doorbell and asks for Mr. Malhotra, the single woman says he is at the wrong house. Instead of going on his way though, Sameer continues to come back and pester the woman.
Matondkar’s character tolerates her obnoxious visitor longer than anyone else would in the same situation; she goes as far to make him a sandwich as well as leave the curtain open so he can watch television with her. Not even a lie about her husband being asleep upstairs is enough to deter Sameer. Instead, he tells the woman he saw her husband awake and moving around in the window, and he would like to talk to him. Caught in her own lie and fearful of someone else being in the house — could it be the killer all over the news? — the protagonist lets Sameer come inside. She soon regrets her mistake.
What immediately jumps out about Kaun? is its shorter runtime; it is under 100 minutes in length. On average, a typical Bollywood picture can be as long as two hours or more. RGV instead opts for a more streamlined narrative that lacks the bells and whistles of other Indian films, namely those famous musical numbers emblazoned by filmi songs and striking choreography. RGV follows in the footsteps of songless thriller Ittefaq and keeps the tone relatively tense without any creative interruptions. Indian audiences have come to expect these colorful song and dance routines in every movie regardless of genre, so not having them seems unsound. Meanwhile, other viewers not accustomed to Bollywood productions might better appreciate the straight storytelling.
The biggest performances of Kaun? are equally overstated and persuasive. Bajpayee unnerves at every corner of his unhinged portrayal. His sustained use of “ma’am” raises hairs and does nothing to ease his victim. Meanwhile, the wide-eyed lead is caught in a reactionary position for nearly two-thirds of the film before she starts to assume a more assertive role akin to the “final girls” of traditional slasher movies. Her logic, or lack thereof, will certainly raise questions. Bringing in a third character, a stony cop named Inspector Quresh (Sushant Singh), adds to the growing tension because now the protagonist has doubts about both of these men’s intentions.
Even though the entirety of Kaun? takes place inside a house, it manages to escape the tedium of other “bottle” stories. Movement is a big reason why the viewer stays engaged in spite of the single location. The camera never sits still for long, nor does it linger on anything or anyone too much in scenes. The woman’s large and bright home gradually transforms into something less inhabitable to better match the increasing peril at hand. As the rain batters the exterior, the inside darkens in both tone and appearance. It is in the third act where this effect reaches its summit; the comfort seen earlier is now far and gone, and it has since been replaced with utter consternation.
Without giving anything away, the conclusion of Kaun? is a daring feat. Audiences have come to expect these stories to end one way or another, but they are in for a surprise; they will be swept away by this outcome. It is no wonder the movie has become a cult favorite all these years later. Tales of a similar class — women endangered by both male aggressors and their own unshakable paranoia — would never think to go down this road because such a decision is dicey. RGV and screenwriter Anurag Kashyap have invested so much work in their characters’ designs and personalities, so an ending as unanticipated as this one may leave a sour taste in the mouth. On the other hand, those more twisted of viewers will feel rewarded; maybe even invigorated by what unfolds in those final twenty minutes.
Kaun? is unorthodox in the rich and lively world of Bolly-horror; its story is less regionally unique and more universally appealing. And although the movie runs the risk of being an average, imperiled-woman thriller merely dressed up in new clothes, the finale’s audacity is guaranteed to leave a lasting impression. Kaun? manages to wring out some new flavor from a much traveled story.
Due to a complex series of anthropological mishaps, the Wayans Brothers are a huge deal in Brazil. Around these parts, White Chicks is considered a national treasure by a lot of people, so it stands to reason that Brazilian audiences would continue to accompany the Wayans’ comedic output long after North America had stopped taking them seriously as comedic titans.
This is the only reason why I originally watched Michael Tiddes and Marlon Wayans’ 2013 horror spoof A Haunted House – appropriately known as “Paranormal Inactivity” in South America – despite having abandoned this kind of movie shortly after the excellent Scary Movie 3. However, to my complete and utter amazement, I found myself mostly enjoying this unhinged parody of Found Footage films almost as much as the iconic spoofs that spear-headed the genre during the 2000s. And with Paramount having recently announced a reboot of the Scary Movie franchise, I think this is the perfect time to revisit the divisive humor of A Haunted House and maybe figure out why this kind of film hasn’t been popular in a long time.
Before we had memes and internet personalities to make fun of movie tropes for free on the internet, parody movies had been entertaining audiences with meta-humor since the very dawn of cinema. And since the genre attracted large audiences without the need for a serious budget, it made sense for studios to encourage parodies of their own productions – which is precisely what happened with Miramax when they commissioned a parody of the Scream franchise, the original Scary Movie.
The unprecedented success of the spoof (especially overseas) led to a series of sequels, spin-offs and rip-offs that came along throughout the 2000s. While some of these were still quite funny (I have a soft spot for 2008’s Superhero Movie), they ended up flooding the market much like the Guitar Hero games that plagued video game stores during that same timeframe.
You could really confuse someone by editing this scene into Paranormal Activity.
Of course, that didn’t stop Tiddes and Marlon Wayans from wanting to make another spoof meant to lampoon a sub-genre that had been mostly overlooked by the Scary Movie series – namely the second wave of Found Footage films inspired by Paranormal Activity. Wayans actually had an easier time than usual funding the picture due to the project’s Found Footage presentation, with the format allowing for a lower budget without compromising box office appeal.
In the finished film, we’re presented with supposedly real footage recovered from the home of Malcom Johnson (Wayans). The recordings themselves depict a series of unexplainable events that begin to plague his home when Kisha Davis (Essence Atkins) decides to move in, with the couple slowly realizing that the difficulties of a shared life are no match for demonic shenanigans.
In practice, this means that viewers are subjected to a series of familiar scares subverted by wacky hijinks, with the flick featuring everything from a humorous recreation of the iconic fan-camera from Paranormal Activity 3 to bizarre dance numbers replacing Katy’s late-night trances from Oren Peli’s original movie.
Your enjoyment of these antics will obviously depend on how accepting you are of Wayans’ patented brand of crass comedy. From advanced potty humor to some exaggerated racial commentary – including a clever moment where Malcom actually attempts to move out of the titular haunted house because he’s not white enough to deal with the haunting – it’s not all that surprising that the flick wound up with a 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes despite making a killing at the box office.
However, while this isn’t my preferred kind of humor, I think the inherent limitations of Found Footage ended up curtailing the usual excesses present in this kind of parody, with the filmmakers being forced to focus on character-based comedy and a smaller scale story. This is why I mostly appreciate the love-hate rapport between Kisha and Malcom even if it wouldn’t translate to a healthy relationship in real life.
Of course, the jokes themselves can also be pretty entertaining on their own, with cartoony gags like the ghost getting high with the protagonists (complete with smoke-filled invisible lungs) and a series of silly The Exorcist homages towards the end of the movie. The major issue here is that these legitimately funny and genre-specific jokes are often accompanied by repetitive attempts at low-brow humor that you could find in any other cheap comedy.
Not a good idea.
Not only are some of these painfully drawn out “jokes” incredibly unfunny, but they can also be remarkably offensive in some cases. There are some pretty insensitive allusions to sexual assault here, as well as a collection of secondary characters defined by negative racial stereotypes (even though I chuckled heartily when the Latina maid was revealed to have been faking her poor English the entire time).
Cinephiles often claim that increasingly sloppy writing led to audiences giving up on spoof movies, but the fact is that many of the more beloved examples of the genre contain some of the same issues as later films like A Haunted House – it’s just that we as an audience have (mostly) grown up and are now demanding more from our comedy. However, this isn’t the case everywhere, as – much like the Elves from Lord of the Rings – spoof movies never really died, they simply diminished.
A Haunted House made so much money that they immediately started working on a second one that released the following year (to even worse reviews), and the same team would later collaborate once again on yet another spoof, 50 Shades of Black. This kind of film clearly still exists and still makes a lot of money (especially here in Brazil), they just don’t have the same cultural impact that they used to in a pre-social-media-humor world.
At the end of the day, A Haunted House is no comedic masterpiece, failing to live up to the laugh-out-loud thrills of films like Scary Movie 3, but it’s also not the trainwreck that most critics made it out to be back in 2013. Comedy is extremely subjective, and while the raunchy humor behind this flick definitely isn’t for everyone, I still think that this satirical romp is mostly harmless fun that might entertain Found Footage fans that don’t take themselves too seriously.
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