E's Reviews: Baskin


Baskin...Honestly, I have no idea how I feel about this one...

Baskin is a fantasy horror film directed by Turkish director Can Evrenol and is about five police officers who get called to an abandoned building for backup, only to fall into a trap door to Hell when they stumble upon a black mass. The film stars Mehmet Cerrahoglu as Baba, the leader of the black mass, Görkem Kasal as rookie officer Arda, Ergun Kuyucu as veteran officer Remzi, Muharrem Bayrak as tough guy officer Yavuz, Fatih Dokgöz as chief Apo, and Sabahattin Yakut as Sabo.

Right off the bat I had an issue. The movie begins in a dream sequence. I honestly cannot stand jump scare dream sequences. Also, it’s entirely in Turkish (at least the version I watched), so the script and dialogue felt kind of odd to me. That was one of the biggest issues I had. I think it got lost somewhere in the translation. Also, the screenplay was sort of odd. It’s definitely a very strange film. There are lots of scenes and sequences that director Can Evrenol doesn’t explain or straight up show you why this or why that is happening to his characters. But it challenged the viewer to figure it out themselves, I just couldn’t figure it out myself. It felt like one of those films where it would benefit from multiple viewings.

The acting was fine, but that dialogue just made me feel completely lost, which could be because the movie was in Turkish. Translation was probably not done very well in the version I saw. The cinematography was done well, the camera work was not all over the place and the angles were actually a little creepy. They really did show off the crazy things that we were meant to see and they lingered on every messed up sequence just to make you squirm. The only problem I had with how it looked was the blood effects. Everything was done with practical effects and that was great, but the blood looked brownish and watery. It was sort of weird to see. There also was more dream sequences than I can shake a stick at. The gore and the messed up visuals, however, were the film’s saving grace, and Mehmet Cerrahoglu was absolutely creepy as the leader of the demonic mass, he stole the entire film.

All in all, I couldn’t really figure this movie out. It was strange, and the “horror” happens only about 50 minutes in, which really doesn’t help when your run time is about 97 minutes. It had some creepiness, but nothing really to write home about.

Final Score: 7/10

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