io9: Pakistan

In the Pakistani action flick International Guerillas, flying Korans blow up Salman Rushdie with lasers

Cyriaque Lamar — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 08:00:00 PDT

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Shortly after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwā against Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses, Pakistani filmmakers punched out International Guerillas (YouTube link), a deranged exploitation flick starring a faux-Rushdie as a blasphemous crime lord. More »

Watch Out for the Chick in the Bloody Burqa

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:30:00 PDT

My new favorite zombie movie is Hell's Ground, billed as the "first Pakistani splatter flick." Anyone who has watched Urdu vampire and ghoul movies knows that's not true, but let's just say that it's the first such flick that makes references to Blair Witch and Night of the Living Dead as much as it does to local myth. What I love about this movie, aside from the fact that its protagonists switch effortlessly from English to Urdu, are the over-the-top insano death sequences. Plus, as you can see in these two scenes, we get a traditional horror movie lesson: Naughty kids who get stoned are doomed to run out of gas in a dark forest, stumble on a haunted workshop, and get stalked by a really pissed off chick in a blood-soaked burqa. If you're one of those United Staters, and you're looking for something to do on July 4, this is the perfect flick to watch. It really says, "Happy Birthday, USA!" [Hell's Ground official website] More »

The Internet Will Not Bring Us Together

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:40:28 PST

The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has blocked the entire nation of Pakistan from looking at video-sharing site YouTube. Apparently the PTA is trying to prevent citizens from watching an anti-Islam viral video called Fitna made by right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders (pictured here, looking weirdly like an alien from This Island Earth). This is yet another sign that futurists who predicted that the internet would break down national barriers were dead wrong. Instead, nations have learned how to redraw their boundaries in cyberspace. [AP via Physorg] More »