Tears of Kali (DE) (V)

As shown at Screamfest LA:

I’ve never been a fan of movies like ‘Tales from the Darkside’ where you get three mini movies in one hour and a half feature film. They’ve even tried tying all the stories together and making it seem like one big movie- but it never works for me- NEVER. Although the same thing happened to me with this bloody film Tears of Kali, I still loved it and would totally watch it again and again.

Andreas Marschall’s film tells three horrifying tales- all with no limits. The first episode “Shakti” is about a spirit being unleashed through anger and the damage it does to the unsuspecting. The second story “Devi” was about a patient who wanted to be recovered from his anger and this doctor will definitely make him atone for his sins. The third short “Kali” was about a healer who gets more than he expects from a woman when she brings an evil spirit to the house with her.

Before I get to the good- the very good- I’d like to get the bad out of the way. My problem with the “trilogy” of stories is that you need to be introduced to the characters and the situations in a very short period of time, just for a thrilling conclusion. It’s a boring process that usually is out of the way in 20 minutes in a feature length film, but here I have to get reacquainted to the film on three separate occasions- and I hated it.

But it was worth the boredom and the torment because these were some of the most thrilling, bloody and disgusting conclusions I’ve seen in a long time. There was no cap on the blood factor and Marschall went all out. There are people stabbing themselves in the neck with a pencil, skinning themselves, cutting their eyelids off and countless other acts of sadomasochism. The blood is out the door even though the body count is so low, which is a good thing.

The second story was probably the best, with the first following closely- but the third? Another small gripe I had with the film was that there was no thrilling conclusion. After two blood soaked stories, I figured the third would top it all off nicely, but it equaled to its predecessors, which is unacceptable in the correct pace for a film.

The directing was pretty cool at times too as Marcshall had an interesting use of shadows, but there were times when I was screaming, “can you cut that out!” He used all sorts of annoying visual effects to achieve a ghostly presence like using the same one once would easily get old- and it actually would have helped the movie.

But whatever, it’s a horror film and what I want it ghosts, blood, guts, and- yep- more blood! I easily got my fair share of “red” in ‘Tears of Kali’ and would say this is a easy choice for a late night horror snack. If you ever get the chance to see this bad boy, do so without hesitation.


Official Score