I’ve often discussed waiting to see a movie until the time is perfect.

That’s what I had done with this film, a movie in which musician Paul Bergson (Peter Firth) searches for the Master Flautist (Orla Pederson), a supernatural creature who is planning to destroy our planet.

Directed by Jamil Dehlavi, this was amazingly released on home video by Vidmark, and I can’t even imagine people who just picked it up at the video store making their way through it without preparation.

During a concert, Peter has visions of the end of the world. At the time, an astronomer (Suzan Crowley) discovers patterns on the surface of the sun caused by a volcano in Turkey, which is where Peter came from. He goes back and discovers that his mother was stoned when he was a child and that he has a mute, deformed brother (Nabil Shaban) who is still alive, and is brought to civility by the woman, just in time for the fire breathing djinn who is the Master Flautist to possess her and have her sexually assault Peter. And oh yeah, she goes and spawns in a hot spring, spewing forth blood and fish eggs. Later, she buries a moth and as it is born, she dies in Paul’s brother’s arms as he breaks his silence and screams.

The brothers do what they must: they perform a flute and baritone concert that floods the caves and kills the Master Flautist.

Can you imagine the folks who rented this five movies for five nights for five dollars? Blood in the water, a skull eclipsing the moon, Islamic demons, full frontal male and female nudity, passages from the Koran…I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a movie like this, a nearly wordless film with images that break your mind and one of the heroes has osteogenesis imperfecta and would go on to play Sil on Doctor Who.

It starts with this quote from Jelaleddin Rumi: “In the rhythm of music a secret is hidden; If I were to divulge it, it would overturn the world.” Rumi also wrote, “Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you.” and “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

Allow this movie into your life sooner than I did.

Born of Fire is part of the new Severin box set, All the Haunts Be Ours Volume 2. It has extras including an interview with director Jamil Dehlavi, an archival interview with Nabil Shaban, a lecture on the cinematic world of Jamil Dehlavi by Dr. Ali Nobil Ahmad, director Dalia Al Kury examining the role of the djinn in contemporary Arabic culture, an interview with Syeda Momina Masood on the roots of Pakistani horror and a trailer. There are also two short films, Towers of Silence and Qâf.

You can order this set from Severin.