Baskin

A twisted, surreal & nightmarish journey into the bottomless depths of hell, Baskin is an extremely disturbing, utterly unusual & overly ambitious tale that feels like something that came straight out of the abyss and, thanks to its stomach-churning violence & gore as well as multitudes of themes & symbolisms, it isn't an easy film to decipher in one sitting.

The story of Baskin follows a squad of five police officers who, after dining in a restaurant, receive a distress call from a nearby town and head there to investigate the issue. But once they reach the crime scene, an abandoned building that used to be a police station during the Ottoman era, they find themselves inexplicably trapped in a world of madness & suffering.

Co-written & directed by Can Evrenol in what is his feature film debut, Baskin is adapted from his short film of the same name and is one phantasmagorical ride from start to finish that's as bizarre as it is bewildering. The plot is filled with flashbacks & dream sequences and in between lies some real nasty stuff as well that's definitely not for the easily-distressed.

Each frame of it is instilled with a foreboding sense of doom and its dilapidated sets, sophisticated yet eerie camera-work, shaded colour tones, steady pace & stimulating score, all contribute greatly in enhancing its overall impact, and is all the more amplified by the gruesome brutality that Evrenol puts on the screen, for the level of violence that's on display here is absolutely sickening.

Performances are good even if the characters aren't that well-defined. More than individual inputs, it's the chemistry between the five actors that makes their characters believable. But nobody even holds a candle to the performance that comes later in the story from a first-time actor. Playing the antagonist, Mehmet Cerrahoglu chips in with a show-stealing work and makes for one intimidating villain.

On an overall scale, Baskin is one of the most shocking, disturbing & emotionally upsetting films of the year that's drenched in dread, revels in suffering & bathes in body horror. The labyrinth-like structure of its plot does go over the head sometimes but there is still an intriguing quality to it that keeps the interest alive until the very end. A convoluted mess but also an undeniably powerful experience, this Turkish horror about five cops who inadvertently wander into hell isn't for everyone. Enter at your own risk.

I saw the premise of the film and was interested. Adding to my interest was the fact that the film was foreign. I was curious what a Turkish horror movie would look like.

The movie starts out with an amazing film score that sets this tone for an early 80s euro giallo style.

It takes a while for the Horror to begin as we watch a group of cops go through some strange events before the real deal goes down.

And when the horror sneaks up to ya, it's very freaky and deranged, almost torture porn like. It made me squirm in my seat.

I must admit that overall I thought the movie was far too corny. It could be the culture gap, or it could be the Tarantino like built up to the horror with a lot of dialog, that may have been more interesting in the native language.

Can't really say that I like it all that much, though it made me uncomfortable, it was not in a scary way.

In BASKIN, the horror starts right away with an opening straight out of childhood nightmares.

The scene switches to five cops hanging out in a diner. There's something just not right about the place, and some disturbing things occur without the knowledge of these policemen. A building sense of dread and uneasiness sets in before anything even happens. It's established immediately that these guys are hardened characters who have probably "seen it all". These are NOT the cops you want to pull you over in the middle of the night!

Upon leaving the diner, there's a call for backup on the van radio. The creep-factor continues to rise, as incidents take place which have no plausible explanation. Then, some unearthly line is somehow crossed, and away we go! The best way to describe what transpires next, is a collective nightmare interrupted by spurts of semi-reality. Arriving at their destination, the weirdness only gets... weirder! Entering a decrepit mansion, the true madness begins. If you've ever wondered what a fun house in hell's sub-basement would be like, well, here it is!

BASKIN is genuinely scary and completely messed up. Ultimately, it's a terrifying tale of supernatural retribution and doom. There is plenty of gore and degradation for these men, but what makes the movie so blood-freezing is the atmosphere of total malevolence that it conjures. True wickedness. Without this, BASKIN would be just another mindlessly debauched splatter film. By the time you reach its finale, you'll know what I mean...

Baskin comes from a country for which horror genre outings are quite atypical to see. Despite not having much to compare with locally, it is clearly a passionate and well-made horror even when examined against countries that contribute to the genre much more frequently. Not terrific, but a great start to a young filmmaker's career.

The film is about a set of five cops who are patrolling their neighbourhood at night. They receive a call for backup coming from a part of town associated with many fantastic and far-fetched story. Upon entering it, they find themselves in a place none other than Hell.

I was quite entranced by Can Evrenol's direction, it was surprisingly confident for a first feature, daring to aim for difficult scenes and set-ups right off the bat. The opening 15 minutes in the restaurant were my favourites. They use numerous very long, very slow takes, which captured a sense of slow building dread despite the hilarious conversation going on between the cops. His flair for beauty and the abstract persists later on as well, especially in scenes where he combines multiple perceptions of reality (loved the room filling up with water). I am definitely a fan of his after seeing this movie.

I do think that the first third of the film is its strongest, because oh the sense of undefined dread. Once the cops enter "hell", the movie is still entertaining but becomes more of a torture-porn outing, without that much story. I like the reference to the mythological hellish trials and tribulations from Greek mythology, but I would have preferred a stronger plot. The circular reference of the film kind of bothered me, because it is an extremely common trope of "characters in limbo/hell" movies (like House Hunting, Haunter, etc), and I would have liked to see something more original.

The acting was quite fantastic for the budget. All of the cops did a great job, the likable ones managed to be truly likable, the hateable ones easily made themselves repulsive to the viewer. The physically "unique" actor who played the master of the hell domain was very creepy and good in his role, with zero prosthetics to boot! Great casting choice.

Overall, Baskin could have used improvements in terms of storytelling, but it is absolutely worth seeing as a piece of horrific art, morbidly beautiful to watch. 7/10

We've seen the premise of going to Hell many times before, but few are as effective as 'Hellraiser' and 'Baskin'. While 'Baskin' is not trying to be another 'Hellraiser', one can't help but compare them. Both films depict hell as a horrible place of torture.

From the opening moment, Yavuz (Muharrem Bayrak) is depicted as an arrogant and rather crude guy, a policeman who abuses his authority. (He does undergo the most character development towards the end). He is one of five cops who are about to embark on a nightmare journey. The men are Yavuz, Apo, Seyfi, rookie Arda, and their boss Remzi. Arda is under Remizi's care since his father died.

Responding to a call for back-up, they head to Inceagac - a creepy and dangerous place. On their way, they hit a man on a dark stretch of road, and drive into a lake. Without transport or a working phone or radio - and with no sign of the person they hit - their nightmare is only just starting. They make their way on foot to Inceagac, where fellow police officers called for back-up.

If you intend having snacks with this movie, make sure you finish it before they enter the building in Inceagac - if you want to keep your food inside, that is! Once they enter the building, the film plunges you into hell from which there is no escape.

Just like 'Hellraiser' these scenes are disturbing, bloody and grotesque. This truly is the stuff nightmares are made of. The visuals and make-up effects are really good. 'Baskin' doesn't have the same good storyline and payoff as 'Hellraiser', but this is a very well made movie. Saying I liked the movie might make me sound sadistic considering its theme and nature, but yes, I actually enjoyed it.