[REVIEW] Baskin(2016)

A Chaotic And Gruesome Slow Burn Into Hell

Baskin, directed by Can Evrenolis one of those movies that start out in a weird way and continues to get weirder and weirder. It never really explains or hints to you of what’s really going on, but you kind of have to just speculate the entire thing once it’s over.

First off, let me give you a little background of why I was so excited to finally watch this movie. About a year ago, I saw some buzz going around my Facebook feed of this Turkish movie called “Baskin”. With only the Youtube thumbnail to judge, I couldn’t click on the “play” button fast enough to watch the trailer. Just as I thought, this movie seemed like it was going to be right up my alley! I love all types of horror movies and if it’s a foreign horror movie that looks completely different from all the rest – sign me up! It was recently added to Netflix and as of today(8/31/16) it is still available to stream.

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(Image from www.comingsoon.net)

The film starts off with a little boy waking up from what seems to be a nightmare. He hears moaning coming from his parents room, so he gets up out of bed to investigate. The moaning stops and the TV magically turns on. The boy walks over to the TV, but the TV refuses to turn off. The kicker to this scene is a mysterious and somewhat decrepit hand shows itself through a door that’s at the end of the hall. BOOM! We get out of that scene and it’s implied that it was all a dream that a rookie cop had when he was a kid.

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(Image From Youtube.com)

There’s a really interesting part in Baskin where I think it actually sets itself a part from some horror movies that are being made today. The first half of the movie seems like it’s all about character development. There’s a group of Turkish Policemen sitting around a table and having a conversation. This scene in particular completely got it’s inspiration from Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs”. It had a basic naturalistic conversation and then out of left field one of the Policemen tells a wildly inappropriate joke. After, the characters become introduced the movie starts to drag…..a lot. Baskin, is riddled with some random artsy slo-mo shots that didn’t need to be in the film – unless it had some sort of meaning that completely flew over my head.

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(Image From www.villagevoice.com)

The movie really kicks in gear when all the Policemen are riding inside a Police van after receiving a call from another unit requesting backup. As they rush to the location they hit a random person covered in blood causing them to crash in a small lake – leaving them stranded. The Policemen stumble into an old building and that’s when all the craziness starts to happen, including some eye gouging and forced intercourse on a naked woman wearing a goat head – yes, you heard me. A woman wearing a goat head!

As a horror fan, I can’t completely say I loved this movie. There are definitely some disturbing a gruesome parts in the film that are quite fantastic, but the movie hinders in its pacing and explanation (not to mention the ending felt like it was kind of a “cop-out”).  Would I recommend this film to someone? I’m really on the fence. Baskin, does offer a sort of psychological element that some would find interesting, but the film doesn’t leave you with anything at the end – only a question of “What the f— did I just watch?!”

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