Karanlik Sular
(The Serpent’s Tale)
Onar Films
Region
0 Pal
"Undoubtedly
the most well-made Turkish horror film
Fear Without Frontiers (Fab Press)
Karanlik Sular (The
Serpent’s Tale) has the reputation of being
The film opens with a spoken introduction
giving a warning about the dangers of the contents of this film and the
mythology behind it.
We then cut to a group of people in a
cinema watching a black and white film which is clearly moving most of them to
tears. Two men seem to be noticing each other and watching a
middle aged man who becomes intrigued with the behavior of a young girl.
He follows her into the foyer. By the time the two men arrive, Hunter (Daniel Chace) and Haldun (Metin Uygun), the man lies dead
on the floor from what seems to be a vampires bite. It seems Hunter has been
following the young girl on behalf of a company he works for, a multinational
of which we will hear more later.
Hunter and Haldun
go for a stroll into the night and Haldun explains
she is an immortal princess and he must seduce Hunter to protect him. Hunter
does not seem to appreciate the nature of the situation and Haldun
leaves him, giving him a gift and an address where he can be contacted. The
film becomes stranger when Hunter goes to Haldun’s
home and finds he had been dead for some years.
The Serpent’s Tale is a film which must
be experienced rather than described. While it has many of the motifs we find
in traditional horror films such as vampires, secret scrolls, cults and mad
prophets, they are intertwined in quite a unique manner. The filming is quite
beautiful and evocative and there is a constant sense of dread, even though at
times it is hard to appreciate what is exactly happening. While there are
various sub-plots and leads which seem to go nowhere, the film itself seems to
be effective more on a subliminal level through its use of quite a moving
soundtrack and innovative film techniques.
It is all the more impressive in that it
is comes from a non western mythos and hence being outside the simplistic “good
vs evil” storyline of many western horrors offers
more scope for exploration and imagination.
The film is presented uncut in its
original 1.85: aspect ratio, it is a good print and surprisingly clear. It is occasionally fuzzy, especially in very dark
scenes and shows some wear here and there but for the rarity of this film it is
a great release.
The soundtrack is in Dolby Digital Stereo
and is impressively clearly. Most of the film is in English with the Turkish
sections in white subtitles which are in the main easy to read. There are
optional Greek subtitles as well. The dialogue is very clear and the music is
powerful and evocative, indeed it is quite an imaginative and disturbing soundscape.
There are a great selections of extras
including an interview with the director Kutlug
Ataman, a photo gallery, biographies, filmographies,
press reviews and some great Onar trailers.
This is a very impressive release of a
rare film, it is available in a limited release of 1200 from Onar films and so you better get in quick. Personally I
think this is a classic which should be in every horror film buffs collection !!