Nigel P
A group of loud customers are telling lewd tales and bullying staff at a café. It turns out these raucous individuals are local policemen. One feels ill and stumbles into the rest room, where he sees a frog in the soap dish. For a second, he loses his mind. When their revelry is interrupted by a call-out, the sick man continues to hallucinate, and the others become affected also.This extraordinary Turkish horror film expertly lets us get to know the officers through their bragging, joking and eventual heart-felt reminiscences, and it is excellent. Interesting too, that each recollection reflects the sins for which the cops are later (very graphically) punished. Flawed but very real, they are also pretty funny in a brutal kind of way. So we may not be entirely on their side when horrific things begin to happen to them, but we care, almost despite ourselves.'Baskin' is easy to enjoy, not only because of what it is - but also what it is not. It is not the usual possession or demonic story, with jump scares and screeching violin stings. It is a more immersive horror, dipping toes into a consistently persuasive world of events and characters 'not being right'. The horror does not let up, but progresses all the time. That the main players are hard-bitten bullies and not shrieking young pretties, gives things an extra edge.This is the first full-length film by Director Can Evrenol. Apparently the production team did not have permission to film in all the excellent locations, which added pressure to the 28 day/night shoot. Evrenol drenches his macabre scenes with darkness and suggestion, in a way that you are not quite sure what you have seen, but you have witnessed enough to be disturbed by it. Cinematography and Ulas Pakkan's score (available to buy) - especially towards the end, with slow deliberation and torture at the hands of 'Father' (Mehmet Cerrahoglu) - is as hellishly convincing as anything I've seen. And what a twist ending!Strongly recommended."Open your mind."
Michael Ledo
The films centers on Arda, a young policeman who lost his brother as a child. He is cared for by the police chief who he calls uncle. We have a long scene in the beginning with dialogue that sets things up for later in the film. While out, the group of cops get a call to go to a different part of the city they don't patrol. They have an accident, but manage to find their way to an old precinct headquarters used during the Ottoman age.About an hour into the film we discover they are in the Inferno, a plot spoiler given to us in the stock film description.From what I can find, Baskin means "raid." This has been called Turkey's "Hellrasier" and I would agree with that from the torture point of view. The hell master is creepy looking at there are a lot of frogs in the film, either to show us a plague of frogs or to promote "Hell Comes to Frogtown." While the horror and torture aspects were good, watching a Turkish film with English subtitles prevented me from getting to know the one dimensional characters, or caring.Guide: F-word, sex, nudity.
viabilityfer
Visually this movie excels, the practical effects and makeup are memorable and definitely keep the movie interesting. The film is only around 90 minutes, but the pacing and build up to certain events is quite slow, so it seems to drag on. The characters are not too interesting, but they do have personality, though most of them are basic. There is a complexity built into the films story, not a lot is explained, and its really open to interpretation. This feels like if Mulholland Drive was crossed with a Rob Zombie movie, there is even a scene in a diner where a character tells another character about a terrifying dream he had, this definitely reminded me of Mulholland Drive. I wouldn't say it is a great movie, but it definitely has great individual scenes, the opening scene in particular was phenomenal, and throughout there's a hellish, surreal atmosphere. The soundtrack is great and really helps amplify the more intense scenes. It also features an electronic soundtrack, and being a fan of that sort of music, I enjoyed it. Again, its not a great movie, but its definitely an enjoyable horror flick that I would recommend and probably watch again.
bricslove
Slasher gore fans who just want to watch red paint and egregious stuff might find this flick to be worthy of their time.If you are one of those horror fans who want more in a movie though, than a tired collage of old horror cinema that goes nowhere and if you cannot watch a movie where actions do not have motivations, failing to dwell on human nature, in other words if you are the sort of audience who doesn't do anything for the sake of just doing it, ignore this movie.To give you an idea: Carrie has reasons, Jigsaw has reasons, a vampire who will starve without blood has reasons. This movie is about people playing with eyeballs and uttering drivel hoping the gripping atmosphere in the movie will make them meaningful.Using a real-life flawed person to depict a villain is a new low for me.Positive sides: good michalengelo reference, yet very tired and doesn't sit well in the movie cause the symbolism is not about lucid dreaming and consciousness like this movie made it out to be. It could count as a Freudian symbolism, not with the hand of God though, lolz.Gripping atmosphere at times. But you will recognize the stolen ideas.
AD
