Movie Review - Baskin

Baskin

(2015)

Film Colony / Mo Film / XYZ Films : IFC Midnight / Vertigo Films / Scream Factory

3.75 / 10

This is yet another of those films where the premise is solid, though, in reality, the movie turns out to be a letdown.  A group of policemen are called out to help with a unit at an old abandoned building.  Once they get there, they find the two policemen dead.  As they search through the hallways and floor of the building they come across a staircase that leads downwards.  It goes a lot further than just to a basement... it leads into the bowels of the earth.  Here they find a group of Satanists performing a Black Mass.

This could have been a great film... should have been...  The Director and one of the writers, Can Evrenol gives the audience some beautiful camera shots and builds an eerie atmosphere which is almost palpable.  He also gives them some really nasty and disturbing imagery, which should stay with them for quite some time.

Though this isn't enough to keep the film strong... and neither is the exemplary acting.

The fault with the film is the characters and the story.  The main characters are bullish and unlikable.  They take pleasure in torturing and degrading the people around them.  They think of themselves as great and untouchable.  Because I couldn't relate to any of the characters it made the film slow and boring.

There is a pomposity to the story which grated on my nerves.  When it got towards the climax and the philosophical issues started to come through they felt forced, half-formed and unconvincing.  These should have been woven throughout the story.  They may even have made me care about the characters and what happens to them.

However, when the film ended I was left cold, bored and wondering what the point of the film actually was.

Not a film I would recommend to anyone.