Turkish television screen-writer and director Alper Mestçi ("Dikkat Şahan Çıkabilir" & "Gen") re-teams with long-time collaborator Güray Ölgü to make his directorial début with this compelling little horror film which takes a fascinatingly Islamic spin on the exorcism story to create a Turkish box-office hit that was even distributed in Europe.
Turkish labourer Suat (Burak Özcivit) leaves his new bride Nurcan (Bigkem Karavus) behind and joins his childhood friend Metin (İbrahim Can) in Berlin to earn some money. Haunted by dark visions that drive him to attempt suicide Suat returns with and Metin to Istanbul to seek the advice of spiritual healer Haci Burhan Kasavi (Kurtuluş Şakirağaoğlu).
Burak Özçivit puts in an astonishing début performance as the tortured lead and develops a compelling chemistry with strangely ethereal romantic interest Biğkem Karavus as well as the supporting cast headed by İbrahim Can on solid form and including star turns from Selma Kutluğ and "Kurtlar Vadisi" veteran Kurtuluş Şakirağaoğlu.
The film-makers start off somewhat shoddily with some hokey shocks inspired by J-Horror hits such as "The Ring" and "The Grudge" but things soon settle down into a compelling little story that slowly ratchets up the tension with a few jumps and shakes along the way to create a Turco-Islamic horror a cut above most of the countries genre offerings.
"It was a great love but it was wrong!"
