The great wall of horror: Ghoul (2018)

Welcome one and all back to the Great Wall of Horror. This time, we’re looking at the stellar Netflix original, Ghoul.

In this episode of The Great Wall of Horror, we are exploring Ghoul.

Over the past few installments, we have stuck to the coasts of Eastern Asia visiting Hong Kong twice with Spooky Spooky and Out of the Dark and South Korea with Train to Busan. Now we are heading in a more Southerly direction to India to see a brand new spankin’ Netflix original series that will scare the pants right off of you.

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Netflix has been absolutely killing it lately with its international originals. Whether it’s a cute Korean drama, a Japanese series or a super intense Indian mini-series, Netflix is becoming where it’s at for quality television. Ghoul was written and directed by Patrick Graham.

It stars Radhika Apte as Nida Rahim, Manav Kaul as Captain Sunil Dacunha, S.M. Zaheer as Nida’s father, Mahesh Balraj as Ali Saeed, Ratnabali Bhattacharjee as Laxmi Das and Rohit Pathak as Captain Lamba.

Ghoul is set in a near-future totalitarian India. The government has tight reigns on life, learning and its people. Nida Rahim is a high ranking interrogator. Her father is a professor that is teaching outside of the strict syllabus and that is considered treason. After Nida turns him in, in her eyes for his own good, she feels guilty but hears he is being rehabilitated.

Image courtesy of NEtflix and Blumhouse Productions

Enter the Ghoul

When the terrorist Ali Saeed is captured in a building where everyone around him is dead, Nida is called in by Cpt. Dacunha to interrogate him and obtain the answers they are looking for. She finds herself in an undocumented underground detention center, called Meghdoot 31, to get information by any means necessary. When it seems that Saeed is possessed by a Hindu evil spirit (or possibly an Arabic demon of the djinn family) called a Ghul, she must make the others believe and survive, but it seems the Ghul knows all of the dark secrets the prison and its officers harbor.

Image courtesy of Netflix and Blumhouse Productions

This is a three part television mini-series made by Netflix with Hindi audio and English subtitles. Each episode is nearly 45 minutes and the beginning starts off a bit slow. There’s a lot of information they are trying to pack in to the first episode, but as long as you can get through all of the exposition of episode one, you will be on a thrill ride for the remaining two. The production value of this series is phenomenal. The environment was dark and uncomfortable and the acting was outstanding. I am a big fan of Bollywood films and this Indian production was nothing like I have seen before.

The story is gritty, bloody, devastating and terrifying. As soon as the final episode ended, I said out loud that this was one of the best horror shows or movies I have ever seen. The first episode hooks you and doesn’t let you go until the final seconds and the credits roll. There is no cheap jump scares or deus ex machina that magically moves the plot along.

The story by itself is seamless and flows so well, you never lose the engagement with the characters and the action. Ghoul is truly one of the best productions I have seen in a long time and I turned off my TV that night and left on the light. Do yourself a favor: if you have Netflix, watch this show and if you don’t have Netflix, then what the hell are you doing? Go start a trial and watch this. You won’t regret it.

Come back in two weeks for the next stop on The Great Wall of Horror.