Darna Mana Hai (2003)

Seven friends, after their car breaks down in the middle of the night, find shelter and tell one another stories to kill time till dawn.

Review

An anthology of more parts than usual, Darna Mana Hai has seven stories (over the usual three or four) but a longer run time to go with it. It's a fairly standard setup with a group of friends telling each other scary stories with the wraparound holding it all together.

What makes the film standout is that the segments range from fairly stock horror shorts to some weird and bizarre horror. And they're all worth seeing. Director Prawaal Raman (debut feature) does a solid job of holding the eclectic collection together too. We have everything from an Eastern ghost story to people being turned into apples - blending the terrifying with the surreal.

The acting is pretty good throughout, and the effects, although sparse, hold the film together nicely. There isn't much in there for the gore hounds, but it is interesting. I'm struggling with finding horror worth watching these days, with a lack of genuine scares (or even the understanding of what makes something scary), and that there is no fun in horror anymore. This is not a bland, generic horror...it has the feel of a Creepshow, the twists that made Creepshow work and has the production that matches.

Excellent stuff.