Dharitri Ganguly
Raat (1992) | Watch on Youtube/Zee5
A genuine psychological dread, eerie sound design, and zero random dance numbers to break the tension, Raat by Ram Gopal Varma, sees a family moving into a new suburban home, only for their daughter, Mini (played brilliantly by Revathi, not to miss her intense, unblinking gaze), to exhibit terrifying signs of demonic possession after a stray cat is killed. It is one of the finest technical horror films of the 90s.
100 Days (1991) | Watch on YouTube
A stylish, star-studded psychological thriller, the film sees Devi (Madhuri Dixit), who possesses a rare gift of extrasensory perception (ESP) and experiences vivid visions of a gruesome murder taking place in a sprawling mansion. When she marries Ram (Jackie Shroff) and moves into his ancestral home, she realises the house is the exact location from her terrifying visions. This genuinely gripping "whodunit" mystery keeps you guessing until the final frame.
Mahakaal (1993) | Watch on YouTube
Mahakaal is Bollywood's take on the film A Nightmare on Elm Street. Glorious '90s camp, leather jackets, neon lighting, and an iconic Bollywood villain, Mahakaal sees a monstrous, clawed entity named Shakaal stalks a group of college students, murdering them one by one inside their own dreams. If you die in the dream, you die in real life. It features a young Archana Puran Singh and Johnny Lever providing comic relief.
Junoon (1992) | Watch on YouTube
Mahesh Bhatt's 1992 film, Junoon, brought the classic Hollywood werewolf mythos to India, but with a local, supernatural twist. Rahul Roy's Vikram is brutally attacked by a cursed, man-eating tiger in the wild. He survives, but with a terrifying curse: every full moon night, he transforms into a bloodthirsty, predatory tiger.
Papi Gudia (1996) | Watch on YouTube
Before Hollywood’s Chucky officially became a household name globally, Bollywood had its own version of the possessed doll trope. Hilarious, yet oddly creepy, the film sees a black magic practitioner transfering his soul into a harmless doll right before being executed by the police. The doll lands in the hands of a young boy, forcing his sister (Karisma Kapoor) into a fight against the possessed toy.