Copyright is a serious matter! However, when it comes to foreign countries, it becomes a grey area, where film makers can pretty much rip-off any film with little to no consequences. We look at some of the best examples of foreign rip-offs, and see how other cultures portray some of our finest films.

Mahakaal – Bollywood Nightmare on Elm Street

Mahakaal (also known as The Monster and Time of Death) is a 1993 Indian horror film that blatantly rips off several films from the nightmare on elm street series. The film makers could have been forgiven for creating a film about a guy a kills people in their dreams, but Mahakaal went the whole hog, by making him horrible scarred and with a razor glove. As far as homages go, it’s pretty good, with scenes ripped directly from the franchise, however, one thing Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund did not do, was to suddenly burst into song. Being a Bollywood film, that’s exactly what the cast do. What better way to take your mind of your friends brutal murder, than to have a sing and dance about going on a picnic! It’s still a better movie than the 2010 remake.

Lady Terminator – Indonesian Terminator

It took Indonesia film makers only five years to decide to rip off the cyborg classic, Terminator. Using  a female lead and upping the gore, the film is actually really awesome, in a bad way. The story line is possibly the most stupid ever conjured. The films starts with an ancient evil queen, who’s sexual appetite is only equaled by her way of dispatching her would be suitors, via vagina snake! After moaning about never being satisfied, she finally meets a man that does the job, then curse his great granddaughter..because..plot! Many years later and the queen returns to take her revenge by possesing a young anthropological student, via vagine snake! She then goes on a murderous rampage to get her revenge. The film was made in english, so as to appeal to western audience, and its actually very watchable, with a decent cast, good cinematography and lots of sex and gore. Great Job Indonesia.. Terminator 2 thumbs up too you!

Intikam Kadini (1979) – “A Woman Like That” – The Turkish I Spit On Your Grave

Playing out more like some sort of bad 80’s porno, the Turkish film Intikam Kadini sees a young woman raped by several men and then tracks them down to get bloody (ish) revenge on them.  With lots of topless men walking around and long uncomfortable shots of people staring down the camera, the films actually really uncomfortable to watch. The rape scene is just plain wrong, with a line of men casually discovering the poor girl and deciding to join in. The weird Benny Hill type fellow is enough to put you off sex for life! Add some weird upbeat music and you have the making of the most awkward moment in cinema.

Aatank (1996) – Indian Jaws

Imagine if Jaws was about fishermen, singing on the beach and had an occasional shark attack. This pretty much Aatank in a nut shell. Concentrating on two fisherman and bunch of smugglers, the shark only comes into play in the second half, and even then, the singing and dancing is a tad more scary than the shark itself. Due to budget restraints, the shark doesn’t bite, instead people just “fall” into the sharks mouth, making this more humorous than frightening.

Kartal Yuvasi (1974) – Turkish Straw Dogs

Kartal Yuvasi is violent and shocking adaption of 1971 film Straw Dogs. The original films was Sam Peckinpah response to violence in the midst of the vietnam war. Kartal Yuvasi changes the scope of the films story to reflect a Turkish crisis occurring in Cyprus at the time. Though the films swaps it’s male lead for female one, this only creates a more tense atmosphere, as the very vulnerable Turkish woman are home invaded buy a bunch of angry Cypriot men, with violent and sexual intention. The film uses many aspect form the original, but in the end, tells a very different story or persecution. Kartal Yuvasi is just as powerful Straw Dogs, but is different enough to be enjoyed on it’s own merits.

Seytan (1974) – Turkish Exocrist

With laughable acting and terrible effects Seytan takes all the good bits from the exorcist and just replaces them long drawn out shots of people starring at one another. Why Turkey felt that they needed their own version of the 1973 horror drama is still a mystery, but if it was so they could add a little slapstick comedy to the film, they succeeded spectacularly. My personal favorite bit is near the end, as our Young priest takes a little fall out a window. It takes the poor priest a full 16 seconds to reach the bottom of the stairs. Tumbling over and over for what seems like an endless amount of time. As comedy falls go, this one is right up there!

What did you think of our lists? Did we miss something? Maybe you have never heard of these films before? We would be interested to know. Share this post and comment in the box below.