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From The Desk Of Brother JT: “Baskin”

For a good stretch during the late ’80s/early ’90s, the John Terlesky-fronted, garage-rocking Original Sins were poised to be one of indie rock’s next big things. Despite a string of excellent LPs, that never happened for the pride of Bethlehem, Pa., who disbanded in 1999. Prior to the breakup, Terlesky started releasing more experimental records as Brother JT, and they, too, have been stellar. JT keeps his winning streak alive with the new Tornado Juice (Thrill Jockey), produced by Ray Ketchem (Luna, Okkervil River), who also manned the boards for 1996 Original Sins classic Bethlehem. The good Brother will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week, tornado juice not included.

JT: Most “horror” movies leave me cold. Maybe because the intention is often merely a short-term shock or scare rather than an experience that haunts long after the credits roll. Baskin (Turkish for a “violent downward blow”) is different.

The 2015 film relies more on understatement than bludgeoning (though there is some of that, too) to suck the viewer in. Employing dream sequence, flashback and a time loop to good effect, first-time feature director Can Evnerol tells the ill-fated story of a group of Turkish police who respond to the wrong call.

The first half is a slow burn, establishing a relationship between the youngest of the cops and a kind of father-figure superior, while turning up the creep-o-meter by means of hooded figures, tainted meat and frogs—plenty of frogs. After a brief moment of comic relief (the chief freestyle rapping to a Turkish pop song playing in the van; my favorite scene), the surly crew blunder into a distress call they’re woefully unprepared for.

Even in the midst of what are essentially torture scenes, Baskin defies convention. The main figure of evil is a truly unique looking and acting individual (first-time actor Mehmet Cerrahoglu) whose voice never rises above a soothing whisper, dispensing new age-y advice to “stop worshipping power and unite with us,” even as he performs the most unspeakable acts on his victims. While the ending has been criticized as “ridiculous,” I actually found it poetic. In fact, it’s not a bad way to describe the sensibility of the whole film.