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D@bbe
Turkey 2006
produced by Kaan Girgin, Hasan Karacadag, Ali Kaygisiz, Yasemin Özdamar (executive) for J Plan, 24 Kare Prodüksiyon, Özen Film
directed by Hasan Karacadag
starring Ebru Aykac, Ümit Acar, Serdar Özer, Serhat Yigit, Zeynep Hasdal Colakoglu, Süha Tok, Murat Sevis, Kaan Girgin, Fulya Candemir, Sabri Tekinalp
written by Hasan Karacadag, music by Olay Andac, Türkay Türkmen, special effects by Minco, Cihat Parlak
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Tarik has killed himself in a particularly gruesome way: he has rammed
a blade through his throat ... and when his friend Hande was at his place
too. This and the fact that he has started to act very weirdly before his
death causes police inspector Süleyman of Homicide to investigate the
death, even though everything points to a suicide - womething which the
inspector has some experience with since his wife had killed herself too.
Hande meanwhile makes some investigations of her own, revolving around
a video Tarik has taken of himself with her camcorder - and which clearly
shows he was haunted by something ... and eventually the video even shows
a monster of sorts. Then emails start coming from dead Tarik's account,
saying something like 388@0 and Are you ready to inside-out the
world - which doesn't seem to make any sense ... until Hande and
inspector Süleyman compare notes and see the death of Tarik in a bigger
context: that of an epidemic of suicides hitting not only the country but
the whole world. And eventually - after another of Hande's friends died in
a freak suicide, of all people it's a madman who realizes how it all fits
together: When viewed in a mirror, 388@0 comes out as Dabbe, some
apocalyptical beings from the Koran, and Are you ready to inside-out
the world is a verse from the Koran that points to the end of the
world as well - and suddenly it makes sense (?), the Dabbe, mythological
beings who live in mirrors, want to run over the world with the help of
demons, or the dead, or something. Süleyman and Hande want to stop the
end of the world, but instead they are stopped cold in their efforts ...
While based on Islamic mythology, the film quite obviously borrows from
recent Japanese horror films like Suicide
Club (the basic subject) and especially Kairo/Pulse
(much of D@bbe's narrative devices, shock moments and atmosphere) -
which of course are not the worst sources to borrow from. Unfortunately,
borrowing from other good films does not make the film good itself: While D@bbe
has an interesting premise, is rich on atmosphere and does deliver some
effective shocks, the film as a whole is rather bloodless - it simply
lacks fleshed-out characters, which means the audience can't really care
for anyone, also some characters seem to enter or leave the picture rather
at will, some of the monster effects - while perfectly done on a technical
level - simply seem ridiculous in the context of the story, and the
narrative as a whole lacks stringency and suspense.
What remains is a technically well-done but totally bland little
shocker - which is a shame considering the director's obvious talent (as a
director, obviously, not a screenwriter).
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