For some time now, Turkey has been very prolific in the field of cinema and has been giving horror genre lovers, very interesting titles whose trailers have a paralyzing power. We are talking about such films as Siccîn 2, Dabbe 6 and the recent Baskin, whose powerful images in the videos are so strong and hypnotic as to be disturbing. Loaded with a nutritious heap of horror, both visual and auditory, the trailers of the aforementioned films bring, in the eyes of the viewer, a sense of annoyance mixed with pleasure, succeeding in giving the most masochistic audience that twisted thrill for which they are constantly searching.
Turkish horror cinema, so different from what the market usually dishes out to us, is making its way and, laden with its own identity and traditions, is taking a place of honor in the hearts of genre fanatics. Baskin (2015) is one of those Turkish titles that has impressed and excited from the start. After seducing with a captivating trailer, this intense film written and directed by Can Evrenol, a Turkish director whose filmography consists exclusively of horror films, and who last month won the "Best New Director" award at Fantastic Fest 2015 in Austin, Texas. Baskin, which is an extension of the short film of the same name directed by the same director in 2013, is a film shot in Turkish and is presented as a surreal pessimistic, highly negative and hellish picture of the lives of a group of police officers. Nefarious vision that can also be indistinctly reflected in that of every breathing human being.
Portrayed, or rather immortalized, in a club as they take a break before yet another intervention, the protagonist policemen converse, drink, gamble and indulge in details related to their private lives. The horror of Baskin arises precisely from their words, their looks and their actions, and, like an epidemic, it spreads, entering into symbiosis with the gloomy location, the dark photography, the shady characters and everything the protagonists will find inside the abandoned building. Why Baskin is a somber film and leaves no room for any ray of light or hope.
The appreciable slowness with which the story unravels in the first part of the film makes it all the more asphyxiating and oppressive; the psychological horror then leaves the groundwork for what will be, in the second part, the real horror. This transition is slow and takes the form of a gradual and sadistic descent into the meanders of a personal and collective hell, a place where the blackest souls and inner monsters lurk and then materialize on the outside in the form of atrocious fears.
The sense of oppression that one feels when watching Can Evrenol's film remains so throughout almost the entire unfolding of the story, verging on disgust and revulsion. This is a film that darkens, then, keeping the viewer alert and capable of giving him the bleakest emotions. In the part about the hellish vision manifested inside the building, one can see the influence of 1980s films, including Clive Barker's Hellraiser. But it is precisely during this long sequence about damned souls, similar, among other things, to an interminable orgy of horrors, that one might feel a drop in interest caused perhaps by an excessive stance on the part of the "Father," or by the loss of that identity that has characterized the film from the beginning. Such a situation also leads to a slightly predictable ending.
Particulars, these, that do not detract from the film's success, the merit of a clever director who has succeeded in staging the evil inherent in man, the hell that stagnates in his soul and outside his bodily envelope. A sick hell then, clouded by an atmosphere so leaden that the vision turns out to be almost suffocating. Great proof then for the Turkish director who, with Baskin, ventures into a feature film for the first time, demonstrating familiarity with directing. Note of credit also to the lead actors cast perfectly in roles that saw them first executioners and then victims. The figure of the disturbing Father played by Mehmet Cerrahoglu is particular.
But what's the big deal about a 2000s hellraiser that's as predictable as a few other movies? you had me intrigued--by three-quarters of the way through I had already imagined the circular ending. A crappy movie, with decent actors but ideas as old as dirt. And what would be the explanation ? what are we supposed to understand ? but vaffa..... you and this fucking movie .... that stole an hour and a half that I could devote to pornhub, much better as a plot.
Hi giangio. I'll let you know that Baskin is coming out in Italy. You will then be able to enjoy it again instead of trolling your little pistol on Pornhub, because then you will drop it. News link: http://www.darkveins.com/173731-baskin-film-horror-turco-distribuito-italia/
Bad movie! Trite stuff. I save only the music and cinematography. Starts well only to run aground in obviousness in a riot of plagiarism/homage. Senseless ending and the trashy key scene devoid of any logic. A riot of homages (seed of madness, hellraiser, cannibal holocaust, blair witch project...) that bring nothing new to the film.
Shitty movie like few, but done well. Do I contradict myself? Of course I do. What a SHIT the dwarf with the furry warts!!! And what about the Turkish Marylin Manson? I particularly enjoyed the end credits (also because they ended the film) with the (Turkish!) death metal in the background. Arridatece SrpskiFilm!!!
It is clear to me that it is not a big film that will go down in history, however, it is a Turkish film by a first-time director. Granted that I like horror films indiscriminately all of them, from the vintage ones to the more modern ones, from the low-budget and B movies, to the more trhash and extreme gore/splatter ones; however, among the criticisms that I just can't understand and that leave one denoting an air of know-it-all film critics, is " but it's a tired topic " well...It's since 1920 if not shortly before that they have been making horror films, to date how many years have passed? The arguments have all been touched upon,; zombies, vampires, werewolves, spirits, exrcites, paranormal ghosts, witchcraft, various killers, possessions, paranormal etc etc...after more than 90 years of horror themes, how would you make a movie? I would be curious.....
I apologize for scirttura errors.
I found this film very disturbing and psychological like few; the cinematography is excellent and the low buget does not affect it in the least. It reminds me of the old dead end (2003) or darkness (2002); similarly low-budget films. Deliberately "confusing" ending that gives it in my opinion that lucid nightmare aftertaste; between reality and fantasy, between agony and awakening.