Mondo Macabro bills Purana Mandir as a bonus feature, apologizing for their inability to find the film's original negative with an opening disclaimer card. That really wasn't necessary, as only a few scenes appear to be sourced from imperfect materials. The earlier Purana Mandir is also a better film than the main feature, and strikes a more pleasing balance between horror and the commercial requirements of the Bollywood formula.

The horrible curse from the past in this pot-boiler stretches back 200 years to the typical botched demon-disposal problem of Western films like Mario Bava's Black Sunday: A prince catches the loathsome demon-ghoul Saamri (Ajay Agarwai again) but fails to follow the advice of the holy men. Saamri is decapitated and his head imprisoned apart from his body. The prince's family falls under a horrible curse, and each of his female heirs dies in childbirth after transforming into a horrible monster. This film also emphasizes the idea that Evil resides in the female sex.

Seventeen years later, the prince has apparently ignored the curse, and now forbids his daughter to see her secret boyfriend. The prince pretends that the issue is social barriers but eventually tells the family about the curse -- enough to send the young lovers and their best friends off to the old temple to resolve the problem, but not enough to permit them to deal with Saamri in an intelligent fashion. Once in the old palace and temple they get involved with mysterious caretakers, a comedy-relief bandit and superstitious villagers. The village leader is against the invaders from the city but his sexy sister tries to seduce the hero. The hero's best friend is a martial arts expert sworn to defend his pal to the death. Considering that the story is grossly padded with predictable Bollywood content -- love ballad musical interludes, kickboxing battles, lame jokes from the impish bandit -- Purana Mandir does a better job of holding our interest.

Because the villain Saamri is not a carbon copy of a Western icon he's a less familiar and more menacing figure. Ajay Agarwai's hell-demon is a hairy beast with a habit of choking victims until their eyes turn white. He eventually turns the foolish bandit into a demon slave. As did Bandh Darwaza, Purana Mandir annihilates most of its cast. The good characters sacrifice themselves in theatrical gestures and others suffer violent, arbitrary deaths. Our young and faultless couple pouts while enduring unpleasant trials, such as a shower head that dispenses blood. The remorseful prince leads the villagers in singing a prayer to Shiva. He shows up just in time to see the young hero publicly dispose of Saamri the way the holy men recommended in the first place, 200 years before.

The lessons learned are to keep daughters locked up and always do what the holy men say.

These Bollywood movies can be puzzling to Western audiences, who will appreciate Mondo Macabro's added value extras. The two-disc set's featurettes and text essays explain that the Ramsay family's horror films were shown mostly in lower-class neighborhoods where movie-going remained a popular weekly habit. The audiences came looking for a full range of genre exploitation content: Pretty girls, uncomplicated romance, songs, fighting and violence. Moral complications, intellectual themes and subtle character shadings were out.

Another featurette discusses Indian horror film taste during the 1980s, when Halloween's Michael Myers and A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger were hugely popular. The Ramsay family's horror output became much more popular when they invented their own demon "star", Saamri.

Mondo Macabro's 2-disc Bollywood Horror Collection Vol. 1 presents both of its feature films in careful transfers, correctly formatted to 1:37. Purana Mandir has sections that appear to be from less-than-perfect prints but both titles look splendid overall -- and together they last five hours. With its unique selection of international obscurities, Mondo Macabro is unique among horror-boutique DVD labels.

On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, Bandh Darwaza rates:
Movie: Good -
Video: Very Good
Sound: Good

Purana Mandir rates:
Movie: Good
Video: Good
Sound: Good
Supplements: Documentary on South Asian horrors; Freddie, Jason ... & Saamri interview featurette; Text notes and essays

Packaging: Two discs in Keep case
Reviewed: October 4, 2006