Baskin (2015) User Reviews

Bloody but deep

[thelastblogontheleft · 7/10 · 17 November 2017]

Only the 8th Turkish film to ever be released in the United States, and director Can Evrenol's feature film debut, Baskin is a grisly ride through layer after layer of hellish dreamscape.

The story follows five Turkish cops as they kill time at a small local restaurant. When they respond to a radio call for backup in the mysterious town of Inceagac, they don't know what they'll encounter, but a black mass was far from their minds…

** SPOILERS! **

I'll admit, this movie surprised the hell out of me. It's been sitting on my Netflix queue forever and I just never thought it would be up my alley, but I was happy to be proved wrong.

I am fascinated with the concept of Hell — it's part of the reason I loved Event Horizon so much. It's just deeply terrifying on a level that I can't fully describe. So when I realized that Baskin focuses so heavily on it, my interest was immediately piqued. And I don't say this often — and honestly, I usually hate when other people do — but anyone who thinks this is simply a "gore fest" or "torture porn" for its own sake either obliviously or willingly missed a whole ton of symbolism along the way.

The two halves of this movie differ greatly, but I think they work well together. The first half focuses more on the cops' relationships to each other, specifically that of Arda (Görkem Kasal) and Remzi (Ergun Kuyucu). We find out that Arda's parents died in a car crash and his uncle entrusted Remzi with taking care of him. But their bond goes deeper than that, deeper than most can relate to. The scene with Remzi coaxing Arda to truly see — the room darkening, as if tunnel vision has snapped into effect, and slowly filling with water — was mesmerizing, and added some fantasy aspects to the film that I didn't anticipate. The shot of Arda underwater with the giant, doll-like hands reaching for him… brilliant (and worth the half a night it apparently took the crew to capture it).

Speaking of which, the entire film was shot in 28 nights — not a single daytime scene — and it did wonders for the mood, and the dread, that permeates the whole film.

They didn't go into great depth getting to know each character, but I think they did a decent job letting us get a feel for everyone. Watching them all escape into singing (and dancing) along with a song on the radio was among my favorite scenes of the whole film.

The abandoned building where they find the lone police officer banging his head against a concrete wall is terrifying enough on its own — just as a physical structure it is so obviously filled with horror — but when they step inside their fears are not only confirmed but amplified. The depravity they find within the walls — severed limbs, bloody bodies wrapped tightly in plastic sheeting, rusty chains hanging from hooks in the ceiling — was like something out of a Clive Barker story. And yet somehow the spiraling staircase down into the utter blackness was almost worse than any of it, knowing and yet not knowing what was within that abyss.

The master of ceremonies — The Father — was perfectly played by Mehmet Cerrahoglu in his first ever movie role (he had no previous acting experience whatsoever). His unique look is due to an extremely rare medical condition — said to be one in 30 million — and it's just a trick of the camera that he doesn't appear as short as he truly is. I thought he was fantastic — the calmness, even the delight, with which he delivers his lines is chilling, and he's got some great ones (it's no surprise that the character of The Father was inspired by a mash-up of Colonel Kurtz and Pinhead).

I'd consider myself to have a pretty strong constitution when it comes to blood and guts, but the gore in this movie was tough for even me to swallow. The actual content (tortured, blindfolded bodies with severed limbs; forced sex; intestines being casually pulled from a large open wound; eyes being gouged out) paired with the aesthetic of the shots (all reds and blues, dark and gritty with candles as the primary light source) was intense to say the very least. But, hey, we're in Hell — what do you expect?

But ultimately, I loved the depth of the plot. I loved the dream sequences, the symbolism, the references to religion and culture, to sin and machismo, to fate and death. I loved how open to interpretation the ending — and many other scenes — were. I loved, in a way only a horror lover can, feeling like I was in the midst of some kind of fever dream, waiting to be jolted awake and back into a more secure sense of reality. Highly recommended!

A mostly successful feature horror debut from Turkey

[horrorinpureform · 7/10 · 17 September 2015]

Baskin comes from a country for which horror genre outings are quite atypical to see. Despite not having much to compare with locally, it is clearly a passionate and well-made horror even when examined against countries that contribute to the genre much more frequently. Not terrific, but a great start to a young filmmaker's career.

The film is about a set of five cops who are patrolling their neighbourhood at night. They receive a call for backup coming from a part of town associated with many fantastic and far-fetched story. Upon entering it, they find themselves in a place none other than Hell.

I was quite entranced by Can Evrenol's direction, it was surprisingly confident for a first feature, daring to aim for difficult scenes and set-ups right off the bat. The opening 15 minutes in the restaurant were my favourites. They use numerous very long, very slow takes, which captured a sense of slow building dread despite the hilarious conversation going on between the cops. His flair for beauty and the abstract persists later on as well, especially in scenes where he combines multiple perceptions of reality (loved the room filling up with water). I am definitely a fan of his after seeing this movie.

I do think that the first third of the film is its strongest, because oh the sense of undefined dread. Once the cops enter "hell", the movie is still entertaining but becomes more of a torture-porn outing, without that much story. I like the reference to the mythological hellish trials and tribulations from Greek mythology, but I would have preferred a stronger plot. The circular reference of the film kind of bothered me, because it is an extremely common trope of "characters in limbo/hell" movies (like House Hunting, Haunter, etc), and I would have liked to see something more original.

The acting was quite fantastic for the budget. All of the cops did a great job, the likable ones managed to be truly likable, the hateable ones easily made themselves repulsive to the viewer. The physically "unique" actor who played the master of the hell domain was very creepy and good in his role, with zero prosthetics to boot! Great casting choice.

Overall, Baskin could have used improvements in terms of storytelling, but it is absolutely worth seeing as a piece of horrific art, morbidly beautiful to watch. 7/10

Unexpectedly Good

[schweiga01 · 7/10 · 2 January 2016]

When I first saw this movie, I was at the Fantasy film fest and this was the last screening on the first day. I didn't expect anything and this movie just set a mark for me. This movie finally made a dark place really dark again, Since i know a lot of turkey people and know some words, I really enjoyed the conversation in this movie, cause they are quite realistic. So what I thought would turn out to a funny Turkish splatter-film, turned into a bizarre Minfuck Horrorfilm, which instantly made it in my personal Top20 of the year. I think its an movie half of the people will love, and the other half will hate it, but nonetheless a must see movie in my Opinion.

Signs And Portents...

[azathothpwiggins · 21 May 2019]

In BASKIN, the horror starts right away with an opening straight out of childhood nightmares.

The scene switches to five cops hanging out in a diner. There's something just not right about the place, and some disturbing things occur without the knowledge of these policemen. A building sense of dread and uneasiness sets in before anything even happens. It's established immediately that these guys are hardened characters who have probably "seen it all". These are NOT the cops you want to pull you over in the middle of the night!

Upon leaving the diner, there's a call for backup on the van radio. The creep-factor continues to rise, as incidents take place which have no plausible explanation. Then, some unearthly line is somehow crossed, and away we go! The best way to describe what transpires next, is a collective nightmare interrupted by spurts of semi-reality. Arriving at their destination, the weirdness only gets... weirder! Entering a decrepit mansion, the true madness begins. If you've ever wondered what a fun house in hell's sub-basement would be like, well, here it is!

BASKIN is genuinely scary and completely messed up. Ultimately, it's a terrifying tale of supernatural retribution and doom. There is plenty of gore and degradation for these men, but what makes the movie so blood-freezing is the atmosphere of total malevolence that it conjures. True wickedness. Without this, BASKIN would be just another mindlessly debauched splatter film. By the time you reach its finale, you'll know what I mean...

Surreal Head-Trip Invitation To a Black Mass

[spencergrande6 · 7/10 · 8 December 2016]

Baskin is a surreal hear-trip invitation to a black mass. What starts as an atmospheric cop thriller, set in some backwoods Turkish town most definitely doesn't end that way. I couldn't tell you what exactly this movie was on about; it becomes a back and forth between two different plot strands that incoherently come together to signify nothing, not just in terms of meaning but also in tension, drama or audience engagement.

But it doesn't matter as much as you may think. This film has its own unique aura, one that can't be denied, and it makes you feel you've witnessed something that you shouldn't have. There is some truly twisted stuff in this film, some of it probably a tad too much (not in terms of good taste but in a comical form of one-upmanship with itself).

Mad props to the best horror heavy of the year, motherf***ing Mehmet Cerrahoglu as Baba. May he haunt every child's nightmares for the entirety of their formative lives.

Hellraiser...Turkish Way

[Shadowplayed · 7/10 · 31 March 2016]

So, after long anticipation Baskin (Raid) delivers, to an extent.

It could be divided into at least two sections but none of it matters much cause director clearly intended to use a slim story of 5 policemen on call as an excuse to thread the torture ground and expose hell, or his vision of it. Only, it's not entirely his, cause the body horror, torture and the whole lot has been covered a few times already.

Turkish horror deals with religious themes mostly, exorcism and possession. This time it gets to be gory, bloody and more violent and that's what places Baskin in different category and offers some fresh material and worthy entry to their cinematography.

We get to meet group of less-than-sophisticated men in the local restaurant talking about football and sex, picking fights with poor unsuspected waiter. But then, they got a call and head to check out the given address, not many details and not much to go on...long story short, they end up in some sort of a hell or limbo, with strange creatures, mutants, torture devices, flesh eaters etc.

Here's where elaborate conversation from the beginning gets a bit broken and reality gets divided into two realms, the parallel reality if you will. Not a big fan of those myself, but demons and hellish torture, floating in and out of reality usually exist so they can teach the characters involved some lessons? Not here, mostly it is torture for torture's sake, by a little, disfigured person, a master (without pins and needles). A Father, or whatever, is a sort of a Pinhead figure here but there's hardly any point to his lessons or hardly any sin to be punished...I honestly didn't see the higher purpose to this inferno.

And that is a bit of a problem, the visual part and direction are quite satisfactory but not much actual story or 'point' to back it up. So, it did feel a bit bizarre and random, although so was Demons('85) for example, and people still love it!

However, as a directorial debut it was rather nice an effort, director's heart was in the right place, you could tell it was made by a horror fan with all the right role models in mind. Props for that, and I certainly am looking forward to future films of his.

If there was a point to this movie, I missed it.

[subxerogravity · 5/10 · 31 March 2016]

I saw the premise of the film and was interested. Adding to my interest was the fact that the film was foreign. I was curious what a Turkish horror movie would look like.

The movie starts out with an amazing film score that sets this tone for an early 80s euro giallo style.

It takes a while for the Horror to begin as we watch a group of cops go through some strange events before the real deal goes down.

And when the horror sneaks up to ya, it's very freaky and deranged, almost torture porn like. It made me squirm in my seat.

I must admit that overall I thought the movie was far too corny. It could be the culture gap, or it could be the Tarantino like built up to the horror with a lot of dialog, that may have been more interesting in the native language.

Can't really say that I like it all that much, though it made me uncomfortable, it was not in a scary way.

Turkish cops: to protect and to slaughter!

[Coventry · 6/10 · 1 April 2016]

If "being a good horror movie" was purely a matter of inserting cruel images, nightmarish scenery and petrifying characters in your movie, then "Baskin" inarguably was one of the greatest horror masterpieces of the past 2-3 decades. This film is literally chock- full of grueling gore and the decors are so disturbing that viewers with a weak stomach won't even be able to digest them. Unfortunately, however, "being a good horror movie" is also about a solid script, originality, a coherent structure and a minimum of empathy with the lead characters. These are all elements that I missed in "Baskin" and which prevent me from labeling as a true genre delight. What remains is nevertheless a more than remarkable and grotesquely violent horror movie from Turkey. This country has a rather bizarre tradition when it comes to making horror/cult movies. During the 70s and 80s they mostly just made shameless and unintentionally hilarious imitations of famous blockbuster, like "Turkish Superman" or "Seytan" (a blatant copy of "The Exorcist"), but since a few years there's a new generation of Turkish horror directors and at least they want to uplift the quality level of their national horror cinema a bit. The protagonists in "Baskin" are five police officers and, I don't know whether it was director/co- writer Can Evrenol's intention or not, but the film doesn't exactly draw a positive image of the Turkish authority figures. They're sitting in a filthy roadside diner, telling vulgar stories about their meeting with (male) prostitutes to each other and collectively harass a young waiter. Kind of like Joe Pesci did in "Goodfellas"; they pick on a poor sucker because he dared to laugh with their stories even though he wasn't invited at the table to laugh. A few moments later they decide that the physically ill person of the bunch can drive the van and they have a little karaoke party in their service vehicle. Doesn't really encourage you to trust the Turkish police, now does it? They subsequently receive a vague radio report that leads them to an abandoned mansion where a satanic sect is in the middle of holding a black mass. The high-priest is excessively cruel in his execution rituals, but there also seems to be a link between the events here and the recurring nightmares of the youngest cop Arda. I've read a review on "Baskin" that described the film like a compound between the narrative styles of David Lynch and Rob Zombie. The comparison definitely makes sense, although our pal Can Evrenol is not (yet) as skilled and experienced as those two. Many, many sequences are truly sickening to watch, with explicit footage of eye-stabbings, slit throats and cut open stomachs. One last thing I simply have to mention - and genuinely applaud – is the terrific casting work! Particularly the supportive roles are masterfully cast; most notable two actors with faces that were seemingly made to have a career in horror cinema (although this may come across as very disrespectful because they both obviously suffer from a physical condition that makes them look that way). Mehmet Cerrahoglu depicts the high-priest and he's the kind of actor who only looks scarier from the moment he removes his mask. The other actor is named Seyithan Özdemir and he is credited as "giant man/frog hunter". He instantly reminded me of 1940s actor/horror icon Rondo Hatton! I would strongly advise Mr. Özdemir to pick up a few words of English and purchase a plane ticket to Hollywood, as he can surely make it big in Hollywood with a mug like that.

What happened to the story?

[Grimsonia · 1/10 · 31 March 2016]

The movie starts out really well with the amusing police singing in their van and what appears to be the main character having curious flashbacks and I was waiting to find out what it was all about, but it never comes through.

The gore is fantastic certainly and the visuals creepy, disgusting and realistic. The movie keeps you watching in hopes of giving you an idea of why the main character is special. It did its job of making me want to know what was going on, but left me really disappointed.

In fact the ending is a horror movie cliché done badly.

Who are these people that give out good reviews to crap films?

Shades of Hellraiser. Not for the squeamish.

[Pairic · 7/10 · 15 May 2018]

Baskin: Turkish horror film, 5 cops have a series of misadventures, culminating in them knocking someone down and driving into a river. They all survive but are on a call out to an old building with an odd reputation. In the building they find another cop, injured and raving. They descend to the basement and literally enter the Gates of Hell. People are being tortured, eaten alive, dismembered.

Shades of Hellraiser. Not for the squeamish. 7/10.

Another "Could Have Been Better!"

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 3/10 · 4 April 2017]

This is yet another of those films where the premise is solid, though, in reality, the movie turns out to be a letdown. A group of policemen are called out to help with a unit at an old abandoned building. Once they get there, they find the two policemen dead. As they search through the hallways and floor of the building they come across a staircase that leads downwards. It goes a lot further than just to a basement... it leads into the bowels of the earth. Here they find a group of Satanists performing a Black Mass.

This could have been a great film... should have been... The Director and one of the writers, Can Evrenol gives the audience some beautiful camera shots and builds an eerie atmosphere which is almost palpable. He also gives them some really nasty and disturbing imagery, which should stay with them for quite some time.

Though this isn't enough to keep the film strong... and neither is the exemplary acting.

The fault with the film is the characters and the story. The main characters are bullish and unlikable. They take pleasure in torturing and degrading the people around them. They think of themselves as great and untouchable. Because I couldn't relate to any of the characters it made the film slow and boring.

There is a pomposity to the story which grated on my nerves. When it got towards the climax and the philosophical issues started to come through they felt forced, half-formed and unconvincing. These should have been woven throughout the story. They may even have made me care about the characters and what happens to them.

However, when the film ended I was left cold, bored and wondering what the point of the film actually was.

Not a film I would recommend to anyone.

a slow descent into glorious hell

[susana-c-fernandes · 8/10 · 10 September 2016]

I went to watch this moving knowing that the best was kept for last. The final 30 minutes were promised to be filled with violence and gore. Maybe that is why it didn't bother me to "wait", taking the time to get to know the characters and build some anticipation for the final moments. That is also why I wasn't disappointed, as many viewers seem to have been.

While I "waited", I was hinted by the dialogue on how to understand the horrifying last scenes, and what the Hell was going on, no pun intended. The movie leads us to several interpretations of the ending, I'll list mine below:

**** SPOILERS **** **** SPOILERS **** . .. ...

1st theory: Arda was traumatized by his friend's death and dreamed the whole thing.

2nd theory: They were all a bunch of sinners (the prostitutes, the pork eating, the violence), died in a car crash and experienced eternal damnation to hell in a loop.

3rd theory: Ardra was the son of the Devil. The dream in which he hears his mother having sex refers to the night he was conceived - there is a hand pulling him from darkness, the same hand that reaches for him in the water (amniotic fluid) - his Father's hand. The master of ceremonies is "The Father" in the credits. Maybe Ardra's mother was impregnated by the devil (or her possessed husband), which is why they asked their friend (the Boss) to protect Ardra and keep him safe, as if they already knew he was in danger of something terrible happening to him. In the bar, the Boss asks Ardra to look further in the room, to check for a supernatural presence (The Father), which he can and does. Meaning the Boss knew there was something "special" about Ardra. The Boss says he's the key to the whole thing and ends up offering a key to Ardra that eventually kills The Father. This could be a metaphor to the fact that the boss knew the truth about Ardra's destiny - after using the key, he returns to his usual dream, but this time the boy in the dream is completely pulled into darkness. Also, after The Father kills the Boss, he bathes in his blood and Ardra does the exact same thing after killing Him. There are a lot of references to sex and breeding, there is even a "woman" giving birth to some sort of monster. So birth is a frequent reference in the movie. Frogs in dreams mean spiritual/mind transformation, so maybe that night was the transformation of Ardra into what he was supposed to be - killing the Father and becoming Him, which is why he can't leave in the end and ultimately gets hit by the van - maybe he's finally sent to Hell in the crash, while his friends survive and get on with their lives... but we can't be sure of this. ... .. .

**** END SPOILERS **** **** END SPOILERS ****

Baskin is an amazing movie if you want to take the time to interpret it. If not, it's just a slow burner with a gory ending. For me, it was an intelligent film that left me wondering and wanting to find out the origin of all that violence.

The dialogues were smart and funny, the musical score was intense and well picked, the actors were superb, the effects were very good and the villain was unforgettable.

Watch the movie while trying to create your own explanation for the gory climax, and you will absolutely love it, like I did.

You have to understand what kind of adventure you are joining

[sebastiansmarandache · 7/10 · 11 January 2023]

This is going to be a weird one for some people. If you are only expecting a gore fest or a straight forward horror, this is not it. Baskin is a surrealist movie more than anything else, and as in most of the surrealist movies, it's a bit pretentious, it has a lot of symbolism, it leaves lots of things to your own interpretation, it jumps between dream-like sequences(nightmare-like, in this case) without preparing you or letting you know if what you are seeing is real or not, and it doesn't have a really linear plot. That might create confusion and might not seem rewarding for the average viewer, so i understand the bad reviews.

For me, as a fan of both horror and surreal, it was a good movie. Not the best one, but a very respectable one. With a limited budget and coming from Turkey, it managed to deliever decent acting, mythical atmosphere, well done hellish imagery, a disturbing journey and a mind twisting end. It also unravels in a very Lynchian way and i liked that, everything seems pretty normal and easy to follow at the beggining, until at some point where everything just goes crazy and you have no idea what to think about what you are seeing.

Recommended, but only for the people who love unusual rides, or are at least ready to enjoy one.

They couldn't close the circle.

[Patient444 · 5/10 · 16 April 2016]

I've rated this movie 5 stars and not 4 because it is Turkish, they tried something, and I compared it to a movie that lacks the possibilities of a Hollywood production.

I'm going to start with the main problem here. The movie as the director himself said, has a lot of parts that "were made to look cool"! Yes, you got that right, there was no real meaning behind every scene, some of them were thrown there to shock, to surprise, to disgust, to look uber tough! And we can't really have that now can we? I mean if you're going for something, either go full in or go home.

Other problem consists on the plot itself, because it tries to stay together, but has some parts that can't be tied to the rest of the movie. And that seriously doesn't look good at all, because instead of focusing on getting some closure and offering a decent end, they chose to find more ways to "look cool" on screen.

But all in all, the acting is good, the soundtrack is lovely, the camera is OK, for a horror fan, this one gets close to a good result. It's a shame that they didn't try just a little bit harder.

Cheers!

Welcome to the devil's playground, you can tread where demons play

[SilentEyes_ · 13 February 2017]

If you are tired of modern horror films filled with cheap and forced jump scares constructed in a way of muting down the sounds and then throwing an explosion of loud noises in your face to try to scare you, and are rather interested in watching a film filled with tension, dreadful atmosphere, interesting characters, symbolism and pure nightmare images look no further. Baskin (aka Police Raid) is a Turkish horror film directed by Can Evrol (in his directorial debut) and is based on short horror film of the same name. Story follows a group of police officers who stumble upon a Black Mass in an abandoned building. Sure, probably not an original scenario. You might feel like you probably seen this before, but it is the approach and execution that allows this film to rise above most of today's horror films. Tension is always present in Baskin, and it's dark and dreadful atmosphere builds all around you and won't let go so closing your eyes will mean nothing but surrender. Also, instead of a group of stupid, drunk and naked teens, this time we have a group of mature, experienced police officers and seeing them being overwhelmed with terror is even more frightening. There is a scene in which one of those police officers enters a room only to behold scenery so terrifying he loses his mind and starts screaming. There were no jump scares, just genuine terror. Maybe the last 20 minutes were kinda disappointing compared to the first half of the film, but Baskin is still overall a strong horror ride. If you are not a fan of violent and gory films, better skip this one. But if you're open minded and enjoy all types of horror movies you should definitely pay a visit to this hellish nightmare.

I couldn't finish it

[FrancRoberts-57036 · 6/10 · 26 August 2021]

I can handle gore, but this film felt like a curse was being placed on me by watching it. Baskin isn't a psychological horror gore feast as much as it was a spiritual battle (and I'm not a religious man). It burned a hole in my retina and then straight to my soul.

Open your mind.

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 28 February 2018]

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.

Tiresome, Irksome, Zero plot to speak of

[selfdestructo · 2/10 · 9 January 2022]

I tried watching Baskin on two separate occasions. The first time I just couldn't stay awake. AND I fell asleep during the torture scenes! Second time I was determined to get to the end, fighting bouts of drowsiness throughout.

Where do I begin? This barely qualifies as a horror movie. It does have gore. But there is no story, and there are no scares (unless you're scared of an ugly dwarf). Literally, the plot goes: Real annoying group of cops show up at a building, and get tortured. I laughed at the end! Yeah, don't expect anything to make any sense. Let me tell you, "bro," 97 minutes of Turkish... Let's say it's not exactly a pretty language. Did I mention how dull the pacing of this movie is? These filmmakers seemingly know nothing about how to structure a proper and effective horror movie.

SPOILER: Rookie cop kills dwarf by taking a key from his colleague's severed throat, in what appears to be a flash-sideways, and jams it into his forehead. Then he runs out into the street where he gets hit by the same police truck he arrived in. You're welcome.

Why this movie still commands a premium -- it's a 5-year old IFC Midnight title -- is beyond me. Scream Factory or not, generally this imprint goes down in price. I recommend you save your money.

Bloody hell!!

[paulclaassen · 6/10 · 10 September 2022]

We've seen the premise of going to Hell many times before, but few are as effective as 'Hellraiser' and 'Baskin'. While 'Baskin' is not trying to be another 'Hellraiser', one can't help but compare them. Both films depict hell as a horrible place of torture.

From the opening moment, Yavuz (Muharrem Bayrak) is depicted as an arrogant and rather crude guy, a policeman who abuses his authority. (He does undergo the most character development towards the end). He is one of five cops who are about to embark on a nightmare journey. The men are Yavuz, Apo, Seyfi, rookie Arda, and their boss Remzi. Arda is under Remizi's care since his father died.

Responding to a call for back-up, they head to Inceagac - a creepy and dangerous place. On their way, they hit a man on a dark stretch of road, and drive into a lake. Without transport or a working phone or radio - and with no sign of the person they hit - their nightmare is only just starting. They make their way on foot to Inceagac, where fellow police officers called for back-up.

If you intend having snacks with this movie, make sure you finish it before they enter the building in Inceagac - if you want to keep your food inside, that is! Once they enter the building, the film plunges you into hell from which there is no escape.

Just like 'Hellraiser' these scenes are disturbing, bloody and grotesque. This truly is the stuff nightmares are made of. The visuals and make-up effects are really good. 'Baskin' doesn't have the same good storyline and payoff as 'Hellraiser', but this is a very well made movie. Saying I liked the movie might make me sound sadistic considering its theme and nature, but yes, I actually enjoyed it.

Visuals were cool, atmosphere was great but...

[Sobertoaster-764-479561 · 4/10 · 23 June 2023]

Got a bit of character development in the beginning.

Theeeen, kind of boring.

Then it picks up a bit like a gory Hellraiser haunted house about half-way.

The main character is some sort of Matrix chosen one who can see ghosts or see through time or something. And his cop-daddy was like Morpheus or something. He gave him the key from his ughh... neck... to jam it into the Hellraiser demon guy's head to unlock the... nightmare? So he got unlocked out of the other-dimension nightmare and because he has some sort of time-sight superpower or something he could travel back in time out of the house or something. Then got hit by the van he was riding in which led them to get into the car crash. That's where they died I'm assuming and went to hell or the infinite ghost cosmos with various entities or something. I don't really think they went in the house ever it was probably more symbolic or something.

Meh... decent visuals and lighting, really liked the cinematography in general, it was the strong point of the movie. Sort of cliche dirty blind hell people feeling around, humping eachother, blood, dirt, feces "creature people" or whatever, not actually all that interesting. Then there is the hell ring leader with lack of motivation or explanation really how he relates to the characters in any way or did I just miss it? The key made no sense to me. What was the key? There was no actual "key" right? So what was it then, the secret of? The knowledge of? Or was it a literal key that his Nintendo boss weak-point was to jam it in his head and he goes "ahh noooooo! Ok you can leave the purgatory hell house now... bye bye!" very half baked when it comes to story. "atmosphere" and style only take a movie so far IMO, and this wasn't up to snuff to really excuse the lack of good plot as it was "artsy", it was visually appealing, but not enough to really carry its shortcomings.

Somewhat interesting but a bit of a letdown

[baumer · 6/10 · 15 February 2017]

I first heard about this film after it appeared at TIFF in 2015. I never got around to seeing it but when I finally got the chance, it was a bit of a letdown. The director does some really good things here and it does have the look and feel of The Neon Demon in a way (if Refn dropped acid and remade Neon Demon, it might look like this film).

There are five rather unsavoury and kind of morally bankrupt officers sitting around in a diner discussing stories of prostitution, bestiality and violent encounters, kind of like they were discussing what they had for dinner the night before. There's a level of humour to their stories and much of it is spoken about with complete equanimity. We definitely are not supposed to empathize with these men, in the least.

So when the stuff starts and people's guts are torn out and eyeballs are skewered and throats slit, it's horrific to watch but it's not like these men were likable to begin with so seeing these things happen to them isn't really horrifying.

Baskin has some really good set pieces and is directed and acted well. It looks good too. But it doesn't really explain itself all that well. As other reviewers have mentioned, I don't need everything spelled out for me, but none of this makes much sense.

For those confused about the frogs, if you look up the significance of frogs, they symbolize a cleansing, or a rebirth. This is pretty much what the Father character was looking to do with these men. He wanted to cleanse them of their sins and their lust for power. So the frogs were a clever symbolic piece here.

I, like most of you, have seen a ton of horror movies. I didn't find this one to be overly gory or hard to sit through. There is certainly some images of graphic torture but I've seen worse, much worse. I don't think this is any different than a litany of 70's and 80's horror. Hellraiser and Last House on the Left and Hostel were all worse, not mention films like Salo and Men Behind the Sun. This doesn't impugn the efforts here but it's just not the gore fest that I was lead to believe.

Baskin is interesting and it has some good ideas, but ultimately it isn't scary at all and it has a bit of a messy script.

6/10

Good imagery and that is all

[GatoNegroPeludo · 5/10 · 12 May 2019]

This movie is well done and acted, in line with regular hollywood movies. It has a slow beginning but at the middle is gets interesting. The end is quite weak. The best are the images of people suffering in hell. This is a pop corn movie and if you like good scenery and some blood then it is ok.

A trip to hell n back. Very surrealistic, like a frightening nightmare.

[Fella_shibby · 8/10 · 27 January 2017]

Came across this title while browsing on IMDb. Read very positive reviews by regular posters in the cinema board section.

The movie starts very promising. Cops chatting n dining in some very creepy motel. The atmosphere is creepy. The chat goes on. A lil boring in the beginning but the patience pays off very well once they get to the abandoned building when hell is truly unleashed.

Its like a Freudian, giving way to a claustrophobic sense of approaching dread of darkness and of death.

The set lighting is extremely poor (may b the low budget n debut direction).

Some of the sequences have less of an impact than they would have if we were able to see more of what was going.

Thankfully it wasn't shot in hand held shaky cam stuff.

The dark, desaturated cinematography is perfectly suited to this aesthetic and adds to the grime.

The movie is very surrealistic, like a trip to hell n back.

When the end credit rolls, u feel like u jus awoke from a mind-*uckin nightmare.

Curious to see what its director will do next.

Fans of Clive Barker, Lucio Fulci, David Lynch, Dario Argento n Wes Craven will definitely enjoy this movie.

The actor who played Baba has an extremely unique look, like a true Satan waiting in hell.

Watched this on cold meds WTF holy fever trip batman

[Henry_of_Horror · 7/10 · 12 December 2017]

Wow. This is a film for hardcore gore and imagery lovers. I'm home sick binge watching horror flicks and came across this gem. I absolutely hate reading subtitles, but they weren't too distracting in this flick.

There is some downright disturbing imagery in this one, it is not for the squeamish. I didn't find any of the characters very relatable (are the supposed to be?) but I was entertained.

Not much in terms of plotting etc, but again, they have a solid mood and atmosphere.

Brutish and predictable

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 1 April 2017]

BASKIN is a much-lauded Turkish horror film about a squad of cops who face a literal descent into purgatory when they answer a call for help in an abandoned house. On arrival they venture into the subterranean depths to find themselves menaced by a psychotic father figure who controls an army of sub-humanoids. Have the cops entered into hell itself or are they merely at the behest of a very human psycho?

Don't go looking for many answers in this rather ambiguous and low budget slice of film-making. It's a deliberately arty film which is short on answers and long on questions, playing with the narrative structure at times to mess up the viewer's head. Sadly, the sum is rather less than some of the more interesting parts, particularly as this is a straight gore fest with little wit or insight to it. The first hour is a dullish bore in which the viewer must endure the company of some particularly moronic and unlikeable characters, while the last half hours turns into torture porn with some good effects and a largely repellent tone. I found it brutish and predictable, and hardly worth the bother.