Musallat

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!"

I think this is the best Turkish horror movie i have ever seen.I really congratulate the producer "Alper Mestçi" for this movie.With this budget i think he has done the best he can.The actors were pretty good and the effects weren't exaggerated.Especially the leading actor "Burak Özçivit" was perfect. I think he processed the theme perfect.We have seen lots of Turkish horror movies to be seen to have fun;after all these it is unbelievable for me to see such a movie. I recommend everyone seeing this movie and i am sure that i will go to Alper Mestçi's first movie without hesitating just to contribute his work,because he really deserved this with this movie

The movie opens with an interesting scene that gets you hooked. Then it moves to Germany. I do not speak Turkish so I cannot tell the difference. The only weakness of this movie if there is one, would be the scenes in Germany. But it does not bother me too much because the story keeps you on your toes. It is riveting. It has some brilliant camera work as the movie gets darker and creepier. At times, it feels like a story from "twilight zone". At other times, I see glimpses of one the great all-time horror favourites "The Exorcist". All in all, it has good special effects and a good climax, all for $1 million? Great work! I found my new hero! This is one director/writer/editor to watch out for. More please!!

I think this film is an innovative approach to its genre. I think a lot of the details in the scenes (especially the lighting, darkness used in the "exorcism" scene, the religious rituals, the mute scenes in the first part-Germany, the repetitions) are considerably and consciously put. I really liked the sound design and especially thrilled by the end scene. I also think that the destructive comments put here are not objective and accurate. I think these comment-owners are not actual cinema audience or viewer, moreover it looks like they have an alter motive or a hidden agenda. Therefore to support this attitude towards making Turkish horror a genre, which i believe that must be done, i voted 10.

I don't understand the point of the antagonistic comments of people. There are not hundreds of examples, you can find less than a dozen of Turkish horror movies in the Turkish movie history. Most of them are bad experiments, have stolen ideas, include a bunch of clichés. Honestly, young Turkish directors just about to START and experience this genre. Musallat could not became a Hollywood level experience with its humble budget and "non horror experienced" technical crew. But it has the most original story ever based on the myths of Turkish culture. And its the only honest and hard-working effort to make an original Turkish horror movie, not Hollywood, j-horror or Korean imitation. The comments from professional critics and writers in the local media is very positive and neutral. The movie definitely helps to progressing of horror movies in Turkey with its unique storytelling, although some people don't want to see that. If you looking for a Hollywood or far Asian style horror film, Musallat could still be an interesting experience. Though if you are looking for an original piece on new Turkish horror genre, Musallat is definitely the one.