Sunday, November 01, 2009

Seytan


(1974)

A young girl is demonically possessed and must undergo an exorcism. Sound familiar to anyone? You betcha sweet ass it does. That's cause these nutty Turks decided to remake the Exorcist with terrible actors and less than an 1/8 of the budget. This beauty falls into the so bad it's good category. I believe Netflix said it best, “Highlights include the green-vomit scene, which has been transformed to a mustard-spitting sequence, and a demonic voice that sounds more like a drunken pirate than Satan.” Once I read that I was sold!


The beginning is a little tough to get through. The sound quality is poor, the film quality is even worse. It almost has the look of an old silent film in bad shape. There seemed to be too much yellow in the picture but after about 20 or 30 minutes the color made a sudden change and the extreme yellow was gone. The director seems like he just discovered the extreme close up and the use of it is hilarious. The person freezes, then the camera quickly zooms in focusing on their eyes. This is particularly funny when Gul is getting a cat scan, yes the girl's name is Gul pronounced Goul. I don't know if Gul is a popular Turkish name but here in America naming your kid Gul would be an invitation for trouble.


This film is a valuable lesson to those aspiring film makers who are thinking of remaking a really great film on no budget. Unless you are shooting for laughs, it's advisable to think about doing another project. If you are insulted by the butchering of a classic then stay away from this film. If you're up for it, the laughs are plentiful and it will leave you shaking your head with disbelief.

7 comments:

JPX said...

She just looks so damn happy. Wouldn't demonic possession put you in a bad mood? I want to punch that first picture.

Whirlygirl said...

Great review! I'm almost tempted to check this out, but I can't watch anything remotely related to the exorcist. It could cause me nightmares for weeks.

50PageMcGee said...

this is wonderful, freeeek. great find.

AC said...

sounds like a must-see to me!

Jordan said...

That's incredible. They really just made the Exorcist again, but with everybody in a good mood, and, you know, some Muppets.

Whirlygirl, I totally know what you mean. When I was in seventh grade, and totally too much of a wuss for ANY horror movies (which is part of why I love them so much now) I saw about ten minutes of the Exorcist at someone's house (on an ADVENT projection screen, no less). It did, indeed, give me nightmares for weeks. I'm not even exaggerating.

Catfreeek said...

That's exactly what they did Jordan, remade it scene for scene but it's like a community theater production.

Octopunk said...

Ay-mazing. I've seen parts of the Turkish knockoff Star Wars and even the knockoff Star Wars figures from Turkey (called "Uzay"), but it never fails to blow my mind a little.

That wallpaper! Great find, Catfreek.

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...