It's been like ages since I last posted anything on my blog. To be honest, I'm not keen on coming back but watching this horror movie from Turkey makes me want to lay out all my thoughts about the so-called best turkish horror movie in recent years
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The Typical Sceptic vs Believer
The movie starts with a montage of old news paper about an obscure village in Turkey where many of its inhabitants die in unspeakable manners with a voice over of a conversation between two people; probably a police officer interrogating a witness of such horror. The opening montage itself doesn't stray away from the typical horror movie setup. It's not new or even particularly special but I was expecting a story about cult related deviant activities which was not that far from what the movie truly is.
We then follows a psychiatrist, Ebru who is filming an exorcism carried out by a religious man, Faruk as thesis study. Ebru is a sceptic who suspects Faruk of faking an exorcism to prey on people who are mentally unstable by calling it a supernatural possession instead of the scientifically more acceptable reason, PSYCHOLOGY.
Again, this is not a groundbreaking theme. We've seen time and time again bout how people of science would do anything to disprove of supernatural being. The movie is trying to ground the story as authentic as possible by framing the whole movie in a found-footage format. So if you're not keen on shaky camera and weird camera angles, I think you will find this movie a bit exhausting. Personally, I'm not a fan of the format but as the movie progresses I understand why it is shot in such a way.
Disproving Faruk's Method
As Faruk performs an exorcism on a woman, Ebru is following nearby and filming everything. Even though the exorcism is successful, Ebru remains reluctant to believe the authenticity of Faruk's practice. She suspects that Faruk was in cahoots with the possessed woman and planned the exorcism for the filming before hand.
Despite being accused of fraud, Faruk is more than happy to continue with the filming. Being a sceptic, Ebru suggests an exorcism on someone she personally knew, someone Faruk would have not been able to collaborate a fake exorcism. Ebru asks Faruk to heal her childhood friend who she had not seen for a long time after moving to another town when she was a child. Faruk agrees to her suggestion.
We are then taken to a small township near an abandoned village which was first mentioned during the opening montage. The village, called Kibledere, is apparently a sensitive topic among the inhabitant near it. Some of villagers they met along the way would even turn violent at the mention of it. While on the way, they lost their way and found themselves near a wishing tree with talisman and gory entrails hanging from it as well as the number "7175" written on its trunk. Faruk explains that some wishing trees are meant only to wish for evil.
After asking for direction from a sus herder, the finally found the house they are looking for.
The Possession of Kubra
We meet Refika and Esra, the family member of possessed Kubra whom Faruk was supposed to heal. We learn that Kubra was believed to have been possessed on her henna night and resulted in Kubra stabbing her fiancé to death in the process. Conveniently they had taped the whole stabbing. It was quite a traumatic visual for me especially due to the amateur hand held quality of the video.
Ever since then, Kubra has been plagued with night terrors and inexplicable fear of the unknown. Faruk insisted on starting his treatment immediately as the disturbance might escalate since the djinn that possessed Kubra knows of their intention to help Kubra. Unfortunately, the exorcism is too weak against such a powerful djinn. Nevertheless, Faruk uncovers the location where multiple talismans were buried to inflict horrors upon Kubra. It is said that Kubra was doomed to suffer a possession since before she was born and her soul was to be fed to the djinn for as long as she lives.
The movie then goes on about how Faruk tries to defeat the djinn while Ebru records everything. I would not go on any longer as it will be a major spoiler for this movie.
Plot Twist and Inspired By True Story
As you progress through this movie, you will be served with a few plot twists and they keep piling up as you go by. The story moves very quickly by the third act but keep your eyes peeled for every detail because it can get a bit confusing at times.
I don't particularly like plot twist after plot twist and I strongly believe that a movie should only have 2 plot twist at the max or things would get pretty ridiculous very quickly. But for this movie I think the plot twists were masterfully written and executed. In fact, I rather enjoy the revelation by the end of the movie.
The final montage explains the doomed fate of Faruk and Ebru but doesn't elaborate to a point of bore. The best line is "inspired by a true story". Now that's something that would send shiver down your spine especially when it is told at the end of a horror movie instead of in the beginning as a precautionary statement.
Nothing comes out from Google when I try to find out what true story the movie was based on so take that statement with a grain of salt. It was a brilliant story-telling method nevertheless.
Should you watch it? By all means, yes. Watch it. Even if you're not easily spooked, the story telling itself worths a view. The first act might be a bit tame but not to draggy while the 2nd act would seem like a cliché but the build up for the third act is commendable.
This gets an 8/10 from me. -2 for the shaky cam because I hate shaky cam!
Adieu
