Baskin is a Turkish horror movie (which means subtitles) that only makes a lick of sense if you are familiar with Turkish superstition and Zoroastrianism (an ancient Iranian religion with only, roughly, 124,000 practitioners worldwide). As an average American, I know nothing of these things. A YouTube video can clear up the plot details, but it doesn't help the terrible story structure. To me, Baskin feels like it thinks it's a smart movie, but jarring flashbacks (which may not even be flashbacks, who knows with this movie) and surrealistic scenes aren't smart if they don't work. There are entire scenes that may or may not have even happened and not in an existential or dreamlike way, but purely because they refuse to explain anything ever. All of the characters are unlikable after being introduced in a way too long scene where everyone either berates and attacks a waiter for the cardinal sin of smiling at a joke or they nonchalantly stand and wait while the attack happens. Then, we get another long sequence of them driving about. It's a 90 minute film that takes 45 minutes before it actually does anything. The final half is pretty quick and eventful, but it mostly plays out as a sequence of scenes that are purely horrific and shocking and don't advance or explain the story. The acting is fine and the sets are great, but that all feels almost inconsequential to what they were trying to do. They plot has potential, but they clearly didn't know how to storyboard or pace the story. Maybe this is just what Turkey likes in a film, I have no other knowledge of Turkish film, but it just doesn't work for me as anything other the equivalent of a 45 minute themed haunted house. Even with Turkish superstition and religion explained, the plot is really sloppy and it takes far too long for it to kick in. Even if all you are looking for is gore and some weird, creepy images, Baskin is keeps hitting the same note over and over. It's a unique movie that takes inspiration form some new places, but then it mixes it all in a blender and shits out 45 minutes of boring exposition and 45 minutes of perverse shock value. It's something novel, but so were pet rocks.
Baskin is a Turkish horror movie (which means subtitles) that only makes a lick of sense if you are familiar with Turkish superstition and Zoroastrianism (an ancient Iranian religion with only, roughly, 124,000 practitioners worldwide). As an average American, I know nothing of these things. A YouTube video can clear up the plot details, but it doesn't help the terrible story structure. To me, Baskin feels like it thinks it's a smart movie, but jarring flashbacks (which may not even be flashbacks, who knows with this movie) and surrealistic scenes aren't smart if they don't work. There are entire scenes that may or may not have even happened and not in an existential or dreamlike way, but purely because they refuse to explain anything ever. All of the characters are unlikable after being introduced in a way too long scene where everyone either berates and attacks a waiter for the cardinal sin of smiling at a joke or they nonchalantly stand and wait while the attack happens. Then, we get another long sequence of them driving about. It's a 90 minute film that takes 45 minutes before it actually does anything. The final half is pretty quick and eventful, but it mostly plays out as a sequence of scenes that are purely horrific and shocking and don't advance or explain the story. The acting is fine and the sets are great, but that all feels almost inconsequential to what they were trying to do. They plot has potential, but they clearly didn't know how to storyboard or pace the story. Maybe this is just what Turkey likes in a film, I have no other knowledge of Turkish film, but it just doesn't work for me as anything other the equivalent of a 45 minute themed haunted house. Even with Turkish superstition and religion explained, the plot is really sloppy and it takes far too long for it to kick in. Even if all you are looking for is gore and some weird, creepy images, Baskin is keeps hitting the same note over and over. It's a unique movie that takes inspiration form some new places, but then it mixes it all in a blender and shits out 45 minutes of boring exposition and 45 minutes of perverse shock value. It's something novel, but so were pet rocks.
