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Review: Baskin (2015) ★★★

Baskin (2015)

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">There is a fine line between what academics and horror aficionados would deem &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;high-art” horror &lpar;though many will claim that no such thing exists&rpar; and your everyday&comma; garden-variety &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;low-art” horror&period; The distinction is not always clear&comma; as the genre relies on tried-and-true formulas&comma; as well as a fundamental objective to evoke a specific emotional response&period; There are other genres that do the same&comma; but in different ways&comma; such as tear-jerker dramas or gross-out comedies&comma; however almost no one would confuse the latter two with high-art&period; A perfect example of this eternal limbo is Drew Goddard’s <em>The Cabin in the Woods<&sol;em> &lpar;2012&rpar;&comma; an exceptionally crafted horror film about horror films&period; On the surface&comma; it is a rather banal story about young people being picked off by monsters&comma; but it is actually a brilliant sampling of self-reflexivity&comma; a love letter to the genre of which it is part&period; Unfortunately&comma; outside of the realm of postmodern cinema&comma; it is difficult to mix low and high art without tumbling back into the former&semi; in the case of Can Evrenol’s surreal horror film&comma; <em>Baskin<&sol;em>&comma; the two forms intertwine with mixed results&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">The plot focuses on five police officers and their attempt to respond to an emergency call at a mysterious place called Inceagac&period; While on the way&comma; the officers witness several strange occurrences&comma; including a naked man running in front of their van and dozens of frogs appearing on the road&period; Suddenly&comma; while in the middle of the discussion about what they have seen&comma; the group runs into a man standing in the middle of the road&comma; and the van swerves off into a nearby embankment&period; From here&comma; the youngest of the group&comma; Arda &lpar;Gorkem Kasal&rpar;&comma; is plagued by disturbing dreams that seem to interrupt reality&period; However&comma; once the group reaches their destination&comma; they are all confronted by hellish sights that threaten their sanity and their lives&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><em>Baskin<&sol;em> accomplishes more than most horror films insofar as it is genuinely scary&period; While this can mostly be attributed to a few jarring sequences featuring bloody&comma; disfigured bodies taking part in repulsive acts&comma; the film as a whole is still genuinely frightening&period; Unfortunately&comma; a <em>good<&sol;em> horror film cannot rely on disturbing imagery alone&comma; as <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;wp&period;me&sol;p8zIUb-iy">Silent Hill<&sol;a><&sol;em> &lpar;2006&rpar; has already proven&period; There needs to be a sense of tension and preferably a depleting sense of hope for resolution&period; <em>Baskin<&sol;em> technically does both of these things&comma; but by the time the scarier elements of the story are introduced&comma; we are bombarded with every hellish incarnation that the filmmakers could imagine&period; Suddenly&comma; it becomes a fun house of horrors that gets a bit repetitive&comma; to the point that things we found frightening only minutes before quickly feel overused&comma; thus losing their intended effect&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;"wp-block-image wp-image-1411"><figure class&equals;"aligncenter"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;03&sol;Baskin-mirror-700x331-300x142&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-1411"&sol;><figcaption>Baskin &lpar;2015&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure><&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">What separates <em>Baskin<&sol;em> even more from other horror films&comma; apart from a few surprisingly graphic scenes&comma; is that it attempts to take the narrative in a more surreal&comma; less logical direction&period; In theory&comma; this would be a good thing&comma; but the relative normalcy of the hellish imagery &lpar;particularly the principal antagonist&rpar; does not fit particularly well with the strange&comma; inexplicable nightmare sequences&period; It feels as though the film was split into two halves&comma; directed by two different people with two different visions&semi; on the one hand&comma; <em>Baskin<&sol;em> is a generic&comma; albeit graphic horror film about hell and demons and cults&comma; and on the other&comma; it is a story about a young police officer&comma; haunted by his past and afraid of losing his mind&period; The two plot lines are meant to compliment one another&comma; but the difference in tone and overall quality make them uneven bedfellows&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">All in all&comma; <em>Baskin<&sol;em> is definitely entertaining and scary&comma; and will be pleasing for horror fans who prefer things to be a bit darker and disturbing&semi; though there are glimmers of higher aspirations throughout the film&comma; it ultimately succumbs to B-movie tropes and an over-saturation of all things demonic&period; Nonetheless&comma; it is certainly worth a watch&comma; particularly for die-hard fans of horror&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><em>Baskin<&sol;em> is available to rent or purchase via Amazon <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B01CV6KS48&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B01CV6KS48&amp&semi;linkId&equals;d860dc3cdc7bdd31e177737d7ba186cb"><u>here<&sol;u><&sol;a>&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Rating&colon; <&sol;span><span class&equals;"s2">&starf;&starf;&starf;<&sol;span><span class&equals;"s1"> out of 5<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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