A few months ago, I received a DM from festival director Onur Doğan about a new horror film festival coming out of Turkey: the KORK International Horror Film Festival. In Turkish, Kork translates to “fear” or “to be afraid,” which makes perfect sense for this festival. For its first year, 15 films (10 international shorts, 3 Turkish shorts, and 2 feature length films) were chosen as finalists.
La Nueva (Yeni Gelen)
A new teacher instills a deadly lesson on a group of rebellious students with the help of a cursed religious artifact. Nice kills and setting. Demon possession is no laughing matter!
Sincopat
A music executive unleashes new technology to allow music to be heard directly through the brain — not a good choice. While the tech is really cool and something I can see happening in the future, I cannot imagine being stuck inside a loop inside your head. I’m going insane with even this little bit!
Fishmonger (Balıkçı)
A supernatural dark comedy where an Irish fishmonger must save his mother’s soul from Hell. Many a moment of gag-inducing body horror wrapped up in hilarious plot details. Fabulous effect work and a welcome reprieve from the terrors and heartbreak we see a lot of in horror. “WTF” elements lead to a crazy experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. And hey, we even get a musical number!
Callus (Nasır)
A father must save his daughter not only from a fabled sickness, but the superstitious townsfolk around them. I love folk horror, and this is a good one. A deformed arm that resembles demonic tree bark is all it takes for this town to place blame. It is a sad story, as a lot of folk horror gems are, but enthralling nonetheless.
Voyager (Gezgin)
A woman fed up with the humdrum lifestyle she is increasingly longing to get out of partakes in some mysterious pills that allow her to escape her body and explore the world — with dire consequences. I have no idea what it feels like to be on any drug, let alone one that lets you basically astral project, but this short did a good job of showing the craziness of the situation. A police procedural plays out in the background.
Blood Line (Kan Bağı)
A woman caring for her vampiric father longs for a life of her own. She bleeds herself after being fired from her hospital job, but her father will find another way to feed. I really liked this new take on vampire films, very modern. Only thing I could go without is the wet slurping noises, blegh!
Red velvet (Kırmızı Kadife)
A man and a female escort are locked in a motel room during the end of the world. This one was super good. I loved the nuclear apocalypse aspect tied in with a succubus monster.
Ten of Swords (Kılıçların Onlusu)
Becoming a zombie isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, as one man finds out. “This revenge is happening.” I am slowly becoming more in love with Zombie movies, especially those that show the true horrors of being undead. Sad, really. But funny too!
Amy & I (Amy ve Ben)
A couple at dinner find they have some unresolved issues between them. What we think is a normal disagreement turns into the slow realization that what we are seeing something happening not in reality. You don’t need to speak the language to feel what has happened here: such sorrow and loss. And the ending is wild!
Growing (Büyüyen)
A commentary piece on access to abortion for Polish women (or really any woman nowadays). Another film that blurs the lines between reality and the medical simulation the main character is in. The sterile walls of the building and uncanny valley of the medical mannequins gives this film an uncomfortable edge.
New Life (Yeni Hayat)
A feature-length film. A woman on the run, linked to a special agent tasked with bringing her back. From the beginning I was brought right in with all of these mysterious characters with their own backstories that were begging to be told. Each person offered a wealth of plot that kept me on the edge of my seat, especially through the two main women’s stories. The further we watch the more my mouth drops wide open. Spectacular!
Purgatory Jack (Araf Jack)
Feature-length. An afterlife-based neo-noir mystery thriller where two musicians venture to find one’s mother who committed suicide years ago. But in Purgatory, the blood is life (as they quickly find out). This is a Purgatory like I’ve never seen before, with body parts being stolen or traded and blood pretty much worth its weight in gold. While noir films aren’t my favorite, I appreciated the atmosphere and storytelling. Everything was grimy, smelly, and very rock ‘n roll — exactly how it should be.
Wolf’s Box (Kurdun Kutusu)
Stop-motion masterpiece about a wolf and the dwarves that surround him. Give me any animated short and I will absolutely love it. It feels like a storybook, exactly how it was intended to play out. A nostalgic feeling of fear like no other.
Overdose (Yüksek Doz)
Four friends try out a new “digital drug” that claims to get users high just by listening to sound. Little do they know, the noise coming from the headphones causes an overdose that turns them homicidal. A cool premise that I was happy to see played out among an obnoxious group of teens. Blood everywhere!
Necroman (Nekroman)
While two sisters are attacked and murdered, their brother loses touch with reality and years later, vows to reanimate their corpses and live with them again. Blood, squelching sounds, the whole lot as we see the inner workings of a broken man play out in real life.
I think it’s important to see films not in your native language or from your own country because it helps us gain perspective from another culture — to see what they’re scared of, to understand their ways of life. Kork was a great gateway to do that. Though the films I saw were not always in a language I understood, the filmmakers did such a wonderful job of portraying horror on screen to the point where I didn’t need the subtitles. Wrapped up in four segments for virtual participants, Kork made it easy to join in from all over the world, something I think more festivals should think of doing. A multiple-days long showing at the tips of my fingers, all for an extremely affordable price at that!
When you think of Turkey, your first thought probably isn’t “leader of horror films.” But after seeing the selections and effort that went into making this festival a success, I’d put Kork right up there with Cannes, Telluride, Fantastic Fest, Etheria… all the best! I wish dearly that I could have attended in person, but knowing what art has come of its first year, Kork will definitely be on my list for future events!
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