"Seytan" is one of the single best cheesy films ever made.
**SPOILERS**
After several weeks, Gül, (Canan Perver) a young teenager in Turkey, becomes concerned that her mother Aytan, (Meral Taygun) is more concerned with her own problems. When she finds a Quija board in her attic, she uses it to escape from the situations around her. Shortly afterwords, she begins to undergo a strange transformation, acting incredibly strange to her mother, and after repeated doctor visits and tests, she is still the same but are unsure what has happened to her. When the changes soon become violent and dangerous to her and others around her, she is finally able to call in Tugrul Bilge, (Cihan Unal) author of a book on exorcism that was found near her, and together they find that she's a vessel for a Satanic minion, forcing them to try to rid the spirit from her body before she causes more harm.
The Good News: This here was a lot better than expected. One of the best parts to it is the incredible unintentional humor on display. The meeting with the hypnotist is a prime example of this. The girl pretends to follow his watch, then with comic timing beyond that of normal non-demons, she punches him square in the crotch. He crunches into a standing fetal position that is so well-acted that it'd be impossible to duplicate without actually ramming something dangerous into your groin. It's so outstandingly funny that it's impossible not to burst into a round of hysterics that last for several minutes. There's also some of the really bad special effects which come to mind, including the way that the self-urination scene is handled. The effect of pee by having a thick gray syrup slop from inside her nightgown and onto her feet in huge globular plops. The effect of the head-spinning and the bed-levitation are even better, providing more humor than outright necessary. The fact that the crucifix scene has been replaced by a letter-opener is one of the few scenes it does right and actually tense, since that's a much sharper tool used in the same area for the same purpose, and it's somewhat uncomfortable to witness the scene as it plays out here. The confrontation at the end is still really tense and epic, mainly because it plays out much longer than the other version and manages to stick out for it's rather insane use of vomit, which is much, much more than the other version and actually manages to creep out due to the sheer use and the fact that it doesn't look at all like an effect that the other one does. All of these give the film it's best part, the unbridled cheese. It's simply incredibly cheesy, due to the humor and familiarity, and manages to help it come out as rather enjoyable because of it. The fact that the scenes in the insane asylum are so fun is due to the fact that those there actually look like crazy people there. The actions, the behavior and the symptoms exhibited are real ones that would be applicable in a real insane asylum, and it's one of the few good scenes in the film. These here are the film's best points.
The Bad News: There's really not a whole lot wrong with this one. The main one here is that it's so familiar. It uses the same exact set-up as the original film, where a young girl, living with her well-to-do mother, becomes possessed by Satan after tooling around on a Ouija board. Of course there's the head spinning, the mustard spitting, the message written across her abdomen and even the scene where she comes downstairs to pee herself to the dismay of her mother and her guests. Some of the shots are even exactly the same and the house they use as the setting for most of the film looks pretty much like the one in the other film. Even more is that the film doesn't do anything else drastic with the familiar scenes, simply content to present the same events in the same order with a just slightly-twisted sense of special effects realisticness. Hardly any of the big scenes are handled well, with the biggest one being the head-twisting scene. Here, the girl stands behind a mannequin wearing a different nightgown from her and slowly turns around, looking like an ugly girl turning around behind a scarecrow. It's nowhere near being realistic, but is merely commonplace for the kind of effects that are present in this. They add to the cheesy charm, though, and aren't that bad overall. The main one here will be the incredible familiarity to the other version.
The Final Verdict: A really fun and enjoyable cheese-fest that only has the extreme familiarity to hurt it, winding up as a really fun entry. Give it a chance if you're into the extreme cheese side of things, enjoy this genre or having an interest and curiosity to compare the two, otherwise stick to the classy original.
Rated R: Language and Violence
**SPOILERS**
After several weeks, Gül, (Canan Perver) a young teenager in Turkey, becomes concerned that her mother Aytan, (Meral Taygun) is more concerned with her own problems. When she finds a Quija board in her attic, she uses it to escape from the situations around her. Shortly afterwords, she begins to undergo a strange transformation, acting incredibly strange to her mother, and after repeated doctor visits and tests, she is still the same but are unsure what has happened to her. When the changes soon become violent and dangerous to her and others around her, she is finally able to call in Tugrul Bilge, (Cihan Unal) author of a book on exorcism that was found near her, and together they find that she's a vessel for a Satanic minion, forcing them to try to rid the spirit from her body before she causes more harm.
The Good News: This here was a lot better than expected. One of the best parts to it is the incredible unintentional humor on display. The meeting with the hypnotist is a prime example of this. The girl pretends to follow his watch, then with comic timing beyond that of normal non-demons, she punches him square in the crotch. He crunches into a standing fetal position that is so well-acted that it'd be impossible to duplicate without actually ramming something dangerous into your groin. It's so outstandingly funny that it's impossible not to burst into a round of hysterics that last for several minutes. There's also some of the really bad special effects which come to mind, including the way that the self-urination scene is handled. The effect of pee by having a thick gray syrup slop from inside her nightgown and onto her feet in huge globular plops. The effect of the head-spinning and the bed-levitation are even better, providing more humor than outright necessary. The fact that the crucifix scene has been replaced by a letter-opener is one of the few scenes it does right and actually tense, since that's a much sharper tool used in the same area for the same purpose, and it's somewhat uncomfortable to witness the scene as it plays out here. The confrontation at the end is still really tense and epic, mainly because it plays out much longer than the other version and manages to stick out for it's rather insane use of vomit, which is much, much more than the other version and actually manages to creep out due to the sheer use and the fact that it doesn't look at all like an effect that the other one does. All of these give the film it's best part, the unbridled cheese. It's simply incredibly cheesy, due to the humor and familiarity, and manages to help it come out as rather enjoyable because of it. The fact that the scenes in the insane asylum are so fun is due to the fact that those there actually look like crazy people there. The actions, the behavior and the symptoms exhibited are real ones that would be applicable in a real insane asylum, and it's one of the few good scenes in the film. These here are the film's best points.
The Bad News: There's really not a whole lot wrong with this one. The main one here is that it's so familiar. It uses the same exact set-up as the original film, where a young girl, living with her well-to-do mother, becomes possessed by Satan after tooling around on a Ouija board. Of course there's the head spinning, the mustard spitting, the message written across her abdomen and even the scene where she comes downstairs to pee herself to the dismay of her mother and her guests. Some of the shots are even exactly the same and the house they use as the setting for most of the film looks pretty much like the one in the other film. Even more is that the film doesn't do anything else drastic with the familiar scenes, simply content to present the same events in the same order with a just slightly-twisted sense of special effects realisticness. Hardly any of the big scenes are handled well, with the biggest one being the head-twisting scene. Here, the girl stands behind a mannequin wearing a different nightgown from her and slowly turns around, looking like an ugly girl turning around behind a scarecrow. It's nowhere near being realistic, but is merely commonplace for the kind of effects that are present in this. They add to the cheesy charm, though, and aren't that bad overall. The main one here will be the incredible familiarity to the other version.
The Final Verdict: A really fun and enjoyable cheese-fest that only has the extreme familiarity to hurt it, winding up as a really fun entry. Give it a chance if you're into the extreme cheese side of things, enjoy this genre or having an interest and curiosity to compare the two, otherwise stick to the classy original.
Rated R: Language and Violence