by Brendan Foley
Two Cents
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
Happy Halloween Trick or Two-Centers!
Every October, we like to highlight the best (or at least oddest) spooks and ghouls available in cinema, and this year’s celebration kicks off with Baskin, a Turkish horror film from last year.
We have plenty of classic films lined up, we figured to lead off with Baskin, given the major attention the film drew among genre film circles. First-time feature director Can Evrenol won the Best New Director Award at last year’s Fantastic Fest and even earned raves from the lofty heights of the New York Times.
The twisty tale finds five police officers responding to a mysterious call for backup from a derelict police station out in the boonies. Things immediately go south for the gang as they hit…something…in the road and lose their bearings. Pushing deeper into the building, they are beset by madness and mayhem on all sides before coming face to face with maybe Hell itself.
So, what did team members and guests think of Baskin? Was its round-trip to the big pit worth the ride, or was the only horror here the viewing itself? We sound off below!
Did you get a chance to watch along with us this week? Want to recommend a great (or not so great) film for the whole gang to cover? Comment below or post on our Facebook or hit us up on Twitter!
Next Week’s Pick:
The original Halloween concluded with the height of ambiguity, but Halloween 2 took no such path. John Carpenter and Rick Rosenthal didn’t just kill Michael Myers, they blew up the boogeyman and set his fucking face on fire. With The Shape now presumably silent for good, Carpenter proposed to do exactly what he’d hoped to from the start — turn Halloween into an anthology series that would feature a new feature of holiday terror each year.
This did not work. Halloween III: Season of the Witch baffled its viewers, and even today you still see newcomers to the series confused by the Myers-less third entry. But the film has endured beyond its early failure, attracting a dedicated cult with its leading turn by genre-god Tom Atkins, its Carpenter score and themes of paranoia, and its none-more-ear-wormy jingle.
Were early audiences right to reject Season of the Witch, or are the cultists on to something? We’ll find out!
Halloween III: Season of the Witch is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime.
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co!
Our Guests
Kieran Fisher: Baskin isn’t a movie that’s without its problems: it’s clunky, narratively underdeveloped and the destination doesn’t feel quite as satisfying as the journey there. However, I really don’t think its faults are too much to its detriment as it possesses a compelling nightmarish ability which evokes a feeling of disorientation that’s genuinely unsettling. On a purely visceral level it packs one hell of a punch. It’s a skin-crawling, subconscious seeping fever dream with a savage streak; and on those grounds it works.
Baskin exercises no restraint when it comes to gruesome violence, demented sex scenes and macabre thrills. That said, it provides quite an uncomfortable and interesting critique of masculinity and the overly macho mentality that sometimes stems from it. It’s a complete deconstruction of hardened male values. Then on the other hand, Father can be interpreted as a metaphor for patriarchy in its worst form. I wouldn’t call Baskin a feminist horror film, but it certainly has some things to say about the male ego.
In short, I loved Baskin. It isn’t perfect, but it’s a surreal ambitious film with a demented vision that will leave an impression on most viewers.
Verdict: Treat (@HairEverywhere_)
Trey Lawson: How did Baskin manage to escape my attention for so long? This Turkish horror film is a bit difficult to describe, in part because it is not really driven by narrative. It follows a group of cops who respond to a call for backup in an unfamiliar area (and beyond that I’d rather not spoil it, except to say that in the third act all hell breaks loose). In many respects, Baskin calls to mind Argento at his most surreal. Its use of color and phantasmagoric imagery, as well as its refusal to provide much in the way of explanation for the events that occur. And yet it also shares some DNA with Clive Barker’s nightmarish visions of mutilation and sexualized horror. As stated, there isn’t much in the way of plot, or even characterization, but the performances are very good — especially from Mehmet Cerrahoglu. It also drags a bit at times, especially in the middle. But even with those pacing issues, it never ceases to be interesting. Baskin is not my favorite horror film in recent memory, but its dreamlike approach to horror and storytelling definitely sets it apart from most contemporary horror.
Verdict: Treat (@T_Lawson)
The Team
Justin: The most difficult thing about Baskin is deciding which of the 31 flavors to have for dessert. Being Halloween season, I went with the new Silly Monster Cake…
Wrong Baskin. Bad joke. I know. However, I needed a nice sundae to comfort me while watching this film. I’m no gorehound, thus the torture, blood, and guts in this film are not really for me. They were, however, effective. They also were, in fact, necessary in the development of the plot; for this reason, I can appreciate the gore in this film as opposed to a strict gore for gore’s sake type of film.
The ending initially took away from the power of the film for me and I’m not sure why. The film has a tremendous build up of tension, followed by a bloody crescendo. I was expecting a big accent and walked away shrugging.
But the longer I sit and stew on the ending of this film, the more powerful it seems. To avoid spoilers, I won’t comment specifically on what happens; however, when all is said and done, it actually seems like worst torture in the film isn’t the gore, but rather the psychological twist at the end.
It may not be the absolute masterpiece that is Seytan, but Turkish horror is back on the map!
Verdict: Treat (@thepaintedman)
Ed: Baskin got a lot of festival buzz which managed to put it on my radar while simultaneously not telling me anything about it. I went into this film as cold as possible, and found the experience to be effectively discomforting. I didn’t even know this was a Turkish film, but that unique culture and style probably assisted its effectiveness for me. There’s a ton of hellish, nightmarish gore-sex in Baskin that was equal parts disturbing and thematically effective as a sort of punishment for our lead characters’ misogyny. There’s also an actor who, if the industry is smart, should become our next Michael Berryman in that he’s got an iconic and compelling look derived from some type of physical disorder which could catapult him into iconic horror status. He’s a hugely compelling screen presence. For as thematically tight and effectively gross as Baskin is, however, I can’t say I entirely enjoyed the experience. It’s unpleasant horror… which has its place, but wasn’t necessarily a fun experience.
Verdict: Trick (@Ed_Travis)
Brendan: I enjoyed the vibe of Baskin, but I did not much enjoy Baskin. Director Can Evrenol has a great eye, lighting his waking nightmare with lush blues and reds that recall the heavily stylized look of Dario Argento, Mario Bava, or Lucio Fulci. But whereas those maestros of surreal schlock usually ground their mania with a twisty plot or two, Baskin is deeply straightforward:
Cops experience weird shit en route to building. They go in building. More weird shit happens. The movie ends.
A lot of this is enjoyable in either a brain-bending way or a “OH SHIT I DID NOT JUST SEE THAT!” way, but for my tastes the movies loses a ton of momentum during a long middle section where our protagonists are chained up to pillars and made to watch helplessly as a creepy little satanic fucker guts, stabs, cuts, and tongues his way through several of them. It’s deeply ugly, but in a way that quickly becomes boring. I would say that genre fans should still find time for the film, as its odd and original and everyone else seemed to like it more than I did.
Verdict: Trick (@TheTrueBrendanF)
The Verdict
Trick: 2 | Treat: 3
Verdict: Treat
Did you all get a chance to watch along with us? Share your thoughts with us here in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook!