VEERANA
(Deserted Place)
dir. Shyam and Tulsi Ramsay, 1988
India, 140 mins.
In Hindi with English subtitles.
Part of BEST OF SPECTACLE 2025
MONDAY, JANUARY 19 - 7 PM
SUNDAY, JANUARY 25 - 7 PM
FRIDAY, JANUARY 30 - 10 PM
A “uniquely surreal possession movie” (Grady Hendrix, Film Comment) starring the model Jasmin in her only significant film role as a young woman possessed by a seductress demon who (in a typical Ramsay touch) is introduced and vanquished in the pre-credits sequence before returning to torment a new generation. Perhaps the pinnacle of the Ramsays’ art, Veerana features their groddiest monster makeup and most sinister servants, with setpieces drawing alternately from arcane religious superstition and meta-modern references to horror masters like Hitchcock (comically) and Hooper (plagiaristically).