Turkish horror films, you don’t get many of them to the pound, certainly not as far as those that get picked up by the international market are concerned. The country is known for making their own ‘copies’ of well-known big mainstream hits and they are often delirious and deranged versions that do the rounds with underground film enthusiasts and are known as Turkish Remakesploitation movies. Examples of these are ‘Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam ‘Turkish Star Wars’ (1982), Intikam Kadini ‘Turkish I Spit On Your Grave’ (1979), Ölüme son Adim ‘Turkish Mad Max’ (1983) and very much in the horror mould Seytan ‘Turkish Exorcist’ (1974). The Italians did get an incredibly bad rep for these sort of practices but the Turks were completely shameless, even cribbing scenes from the originals and peppering their films with them without any permission whatsoever. You are going to have to track these down if you want to see them but it is worth doing so to get an idea of the sheer lunacy and downright cheek on display.
‘Baskin’ is a film that I heard about a while ago and has been pretty difficult to get to watch. It has been recently released at the cinema over here which means that only a couple of repertory screenings have been shown late at night meaning a long walk home in the dark Apparently and although there are German, American and Australian DVD and Blu-Ray’s out there, no UK release date is scheduled. I made do with a PR companies screening link which although not the ideal way to view was about the best available without importing an expensive disc or night bussing it home from South London. The question that I had to ask was if this was going to have a shred of originality about it?
Luckily the answer regarding Can Evrenol’s first directorial feature made in 2015 is yes. Baskin means Police in Turkish and the film centres on a group of them. Watching the beginning I had to wonder if ‘All Baskins Are Bastards’ and deduce that I certainly would not like to encounter any and find out. Sitting around a local eatery waiting for some dubious looking meat to be served up they trade off particularly uncouth stories about having sex with animals and transsexuals. They decide to pick a fight with the owners of the establishment too and give us the impression that they are more than a little unlikeable and have you gleefully anticipating the nasty ways they are likely to die. Back on the road they get a call out to attend a crime at a strange place called Inceagac. There are local legends about the area and it proves difficult to find. The journey is interrupted by sing-alongs to bad Turkish pop and whatever the collective term for a load of toads in the road is (there are lots of them). Finally after witnessing a naked man streak in front of them they crash into someone else and end up in the drink. Luckily they all survive the ordeal to meet the strange folk who live around these parts and make their way to an old abandoned police building where the call for assistance came in from. Inside they are going to witness all manner of unspeakable things and we are with them every step of the way.
Baskin is well built up and once we get within the bowels of this building the already creepy atmospheres go right through the roof. Naturally it’s all shot in the dark with torchlight illuminating the horrors within and the tension is dished out along with the intrigue in spades. Baskin is partly reminiscent of J-Horror in this way but then we get to the gore and there is quite a lot of it, which gives us the best of both worlds and goes way beyond what we are used to in supernatural Japanese horrors like Ringu and beyond. There’s a touch of the H.P. Lovecraft about things but to me the feel and horror explored is more reminiscent of that of Clive Barker, there are definite shades of Nightbreed to this terrifying world. Of course it is up to you, along with the Turkish constabulary, to work out what exactly is being seen lurking in the shadows but don’t expect to watch it without jumping and being repulsed in equal measures. The soundtrack is interesting and main themes are synthesized straight out the 80’s. At particularly creepy moments you realise the incidental score is kind of honed to the beat of your heart. Horror fans are going to find themselves absolutely flabbergasted at one of the films goriest scenes as the soundtrack suddenly goes into a favourite moment of musical pathos ‘Adulteress Punishment’ cribbed straight from Riz Ortolani’s seminal Cannibal Holocaust Score! I guess it’s fair to look on it as a respectful homage rather than pure audacity but seriously……
Apart from that Baskin on the whole does retain its unique sense of individuality and is well shot, acted and more importantly genuinely scary; something you don’t find often in our desensitised world where you think you have already seen it all. For those of you that don’t mind not owning the physical product (weirdoes) catch it on pay to view platforms; me I am waiting for an official release so I can see it again. No doubt the American’s are already planning a pointless remake!
(Pete Woods)
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