Turkish Hell (Baskin)
Can Evrenol’s Baskin takes some time to reach full horror insanity, but when it does, walls run red with innocent blood. Four police officers find themselves chained in a basement, while a freakish little man tortures and tests them. One cop’s eyes are ripped out (some licking involved), a woman in a goat skull is impregnated (something like that), organs are ripped – everything goes religious mindf#(k before you can blink. It’s not start-to-finish gut-wrenching, but once we descend the stairs into some underworld crossover room (you’ve really got to give this whole film a chance), Evrenol goes balls-out goregasm sacrificial.
Open ‘Er Up (Beyond The Gates)
Jackson Stewart’s Beyond The Gates is a charming 80s throwback through and through, from fantasy themes to campy aesthetics. Does it get more 80s than VHS movies and Barbara Crampton? Yes. Exploding prosthetic heads and torn-out guts thanks to a voodoo curse. Especially when the film’s top death happens to character actor Justin Welborn, who’s just minding his own business in a bar (harassing a nice woman) when SNIP – Chase Williamson’s game-player opens up a voodoo doll that in-turn spills Welborn’s insides. It’s an explosion of red organs and practical gore that reminds us of prime slasher tomfoolery, steeped in dread and covered in thick, bloody goop. Simpler times, right?
