Baskin

The philosopher Nietzsche's warning not to look into the abyss lest the abyss looks into you, is writ large (and lethal) in this harrowing horror from Turkey. Conjuring up shades of Hellraiser, The Blair Witch Project and 70s Italian gorefests, director Can Evrenol produces a suffocating atmosphere of impending doom as five Turkish cops head off into the countryside after a call for help, only to end up at an abandoned building inhabited by a satanic cult. Hell beckons literally for the quintet as they try to avoid the torturous attentions of bulbous-headed scare-raiser Baba (Mehmet Cerrahoglu) and his blood-drenched band of grotesques. It's hardly an original concept - indeed, it's derived from the director's own short film - but Evrenol ladles on the visual style to create an unnerving air of unreality, backed up by sharp editing, sonorous sound and a score worthy of an Argento shocker. Indeed, the old Italian maestro and Brian De Palma loom large as influences, and there's even a nod to the bawdy banter of Reservoir Dogs, though one cop's sexual braggadocio ends up coming back to haunt him. No Turkish delight here.