Hot Skull

Hot Skull is a good Turkish dystopia travelling around contemporary social issues pandemic, state pressure, totalitarianism, resistance, individualism, and search for hope. Presented in a gloomy Istanbul atmosphere portrayed in brown, yellow and green colors, this eight part series tells us the story of Murat Siyavus, a linguist and an intellectual who is immune to the a social-medical pandemic, yet prone to another illness related to (his) bodily reactions. Around social and medical issues, Hot Skull presents a dark future, where the cities are wound round with walls and law enforcement forces. It is a good series since it is a dystopia that is not common in Turkish popular culture and it presents contemporary social-medical issues with good visuals, and credible storytelling. The acting of Osman Sonant, Sevket Coruh, Haluk Bilginer and especially Tilbe Saran are notably good, the rest is unfortunately below average. However, since it is within the boundaries of popular culture (yes Netflix) the series limits itself and almost always stops where it can say something more, and become critical and notable.

I was reminded of Pontypool and various story plots of Charles Stross and Greg Bear regarding mental virus ideas.

It was a nice change of pace from Zombies and the actors all looked "real".

A pleasant edition was no sex instead of love character plotting.

And older people were actually depicted as stars and not simply incompetent bystanders as one finds in most US productions.

I'm always surprised at the respect and wide characterization foreign media allows older adult roles. There is no pandering to the youth market or excessive gore and sexuality.

Either way everyone should watch and create their own opinions instead of following someone else's.

That includes mine.

Having watched the first episode it is fairly obvious that this is a re-imagination of the 2008 Canadian film Pontypool with a COVID like setting/analogy.

That film had the exact same premise, a diseased state with the same symptoms and spread the exact same way, verbally (speech to hearing). Having said that, the production values are good, and the lead actors are good as well. I haven't watched too much Turkish cinema, but this seems to be a quality production even if the idea is not entirely original. Yes, it is Turkish, but the video I watched had a dual English Audio component and subtitles as well. I'm interested to see where they take this and will continue to watch. BTW, check out the original movie, Pontypool, it is quite good.

Well-fictioned scenario making the audience curious and waiting for the next episode. After two years with the pandemic, it forces us empathize and question our own world. Stunning acting from Turkish movie and theater industry.

Moreover, the fact that the book inspired by the script was written 3 years before the script was written is another factor that makes this fiction interesting.

Considering the low budgets that nerflix allocates to European productions, it should not be compared to Hollywood productions.

However, it can be said that 7 different local Turkish animation companies and more than 100 graphic-designers work meticulously and it is a good job worth watching.

It was a very successful production for Türkiye, especially in the science-fiction genre.

The actors and script are pretty good.

We should all make useful comments to pave the way for such quality productions.

The cooperation between Neftlix and Türkiye will become stronger day by day.

It was a successful production about a mass epidemic that started in Turkey and what would happen next.

While I am used to seeing similar original science-fiction works as a work done by different countries, I was very happy that Türkiye signed such an original work.

I would like to humbly invite those who want to watch this series to watch this successful series without giving spoilers.

All my best wishes, Enjoy watching!