The Funeral

It seems Orçun Berham has taken a page straight out of the "uninspired imitation" playbook for his latest horror film, "Cenaze." The film shamelessly borrows the best scenes, even going so far as to replicate the character's makeup and costumes directly, from the cult classic "Lat den rätte komma in" and its equally acclaimed American remake. To add insult to injury, the lead role is given to Ahmet Rifat Sungar, an actor who has been playing the same character in the same way for his last 35 films, and not even doing it well in recent outings. Everyone else in the film delivers commendable performances, but Sungar's acting is painfully subpar.

The dialogue feels as if it were churned out by an AI, and the film attempts to shoehorn in the dynamic from "Bones and All," a film that was already quite poor on its own merits.

It's baffling that Berham, the director behind such creative works as "The Antenna" (2019), would resort to such blatant plagiarism. And why would someone attempting to make a zombie film create a two-hour-long slog? It's as if he thought millions of viewers who enjoyed the aforementioned films wouldn't notice the similarities. Yet, two-thirds of the comments on the film point out these very issues. One would expect a modicum of shame, but then again, this reliance on imitation rather than originality seems to be the hallmark of what we call Turkish cinema, a trend that has persisted from the past to the present day, and sadly, shows no signs of abating.

It's truly perplexing. Why would a director capable of such creative work stoop to this level of unoriginality? And why on earth would a zombie film need to be two hours long?

No pun intended - a horror movie from Turkey. Not the first one and quite a strange one. And not just because our main character seems estranged from his family - something almost unheard of, but makes sense in the context of the movie. No it is strange in the way it is told and moreover in the way it is resolved (or what is resolved).

A lot of questions, almost no answers. I reckon you can piece together the why (at least ... symbol wise - sorry for the pun) ... but there are a lot more questions ... and some have to do with our main character as well. And he is quite pale - again no pun intended.

He's a good looking Dude and I suppose he has charisma - but the role he portrays ... we do not get much from him. I understand that you are supposed to put your own feelings on and into him ... but that goes only so far. A lonely man - he even says that he is more afraid of the living ... so we kind of get his motivation ... but that doesn't make him or his character that much better.

That said, the colors, the soundtrack are really good. And if you don't mind the shaky cam, that is also very good. The pacing ... that's a tough one! I would argue it is way too slow ... some would call it moody I assume - for better or worse.

You really have to be in the mood for it - there are a lot of symbolisms here and the director knows what he wants - not sure it will be enough to get a larger crowd to enjoy this ... actually I would almost bet this is quite niche ... so you decide if this is something for you! It could have done with some editing/shortening.

Working as a hearse-driver, a lonely man is entrusted with taking care of a special body for a month until he can return her to her parents, but after realizing that his supposedly-dead charge is still alive he forms a bond with her that brings him into a dangerous trail to appease her.

This was a wholly disappointing and unconventional effort without much going for it. The main problem here is the preponderance of plodding arthouse aesthetics in place of more traditional faster-paced material. The cryptic nature of the central relationship here where it's not entirely clear how the romance between them starts considering her condition and how extraordinary it is compared to the amount of time we've spent following him around until that point, there's little in the way of making it come together at all logically as it has more of a father/daughter angle than anything else based on how he treats and protects her. This is matched with excessively long and meandering scenes of him wandering through the city trying to find out how to help her or trying to deal with the escalating danger his actions have caused. This favoring of these factors even with their excellent usage throughout as the gorgeous imagery and deep-seated commentary on the life of the conservative mindset in the country does create far more of a highly impressive mainstream genre effort. That does mean there are some intriguing elements present here where this one focuses on the savage nature of her condition making their relationship far more difficult to sustain. Featuring numerous moments of them being subjected to random strangers that are turned into victims to provide the blood she needs to survive, these scenes add a touching depth and gravitas to what's essentially a series of gruesome vampiric feedings with the way they're portrayed throughout here. Going through the finale is a big part of this with the confrontations taking place in the mountainous region of the area that has a lot more of an impact due to the frenzy of activity present, but it's just too slow and artistic for its own good. This could've been trimmed down considerably or gone about its motions at a faster tempo to help out considerably as that's what really holds this back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

There are scenes that are exactly the same as those we see in some American movies, but when you look at the whole movie, I think it is the best and most different Turkish horror movie ever made. I am against inspiration, but I did not find it strange for this movie. You should not criticize it harshly. As a director I also think that such different story movies should be supported. It is a nice escape for viewers who are bored with classic Turkish horror movie stories and it is one of the productions that will contribute to changing the perspective of Turkish cinema. The first 10 minutes of the movie are ineffective due to the color collection and the low performance of the male actor. Then it progresses wonderfully until the end. There can be some simple-looking parts in every movie. You should not worry too much about this. The actress Cansu Türedi acted Béatrice Dalle exactly the same and wonderfully. I gave the highest score I could give to a Turkish movie so far.

I had not heard about this 2023 Turkish horror movie titled "Cenaze" (aka "The Funeral") prior to sitting down and watching it here in 2024. I happened to get a chance to watch it, and given my fascination with all things horror, of course I needed no persuasion to do so.

The storyline in the movie was slow paced, and it was definitely a different approach to the zombie genre. And on that account "Cenaze" was original, points added for that accomplishment. However, I have to say that the narrative was rather sluggish and slow paced, and without much of anything overly interesting happening throughout the course of the movie, it was a tough 109 minutes to sit through.

Of course I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. But I will say that the acting performances were fair, despite the fact that the script failed to entertain me.

Visually then "Cenaze" was okay. It was not a movie that needed to throw an abundance of special effects in the faces of the audience in order to tell its story. And whatever simplistic effects were in the movie served their purpose well enough.

One thing that really annoyed me in "Cenaze", aside from the fact that the script was not entertaining, was the constantly twitching and flinching camera work. It was so annoying to have the camera constantly moving about. It wasn't big or fast movement, but still it was enough to irritate me. Why not just secure the camera properly for a more professional presentation of the film? This whole handheld or home-video type of shooting doesn't sit well with me.

I do believe that "Cenaze" was actually my first time to watch a Turkish movie.

This movie, from director Orcun Behram, is not one that will find a wide appeal with the general horror audience, as it is somewhat of a very acquired taste. And it is a movie that you need to have a peculiar interest in entertainment to sit down and find enjoyment in. It was somewhat of a swing and a miss in terms of entertaining me, so this is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time. Nor is it a movie that I will recommend you to rush out and get to watch.

My rating of "Cenaze" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.