Kilink Istanbul'da

Kilink Istanbul'da (1967) is one of three films starring the Turkish rip-off of Killing, the Italian photo novel rip off of the famous comic strip series Kriminal - are you still following me.

The FANATIK (Turkey) VCD plays grainy black and white but it is still a joy to watch with all its 60's style Turk look, fight scenes, Turkish dialogue, scantily clad women and the man himself.

Also thrown in to the soundtrack is a ton of "borrowed" tracks that you'll just love.

TV editor and chess player Yılmaz Atadeniz reforms his old gang to put his disparate skills to good use paying homage to the American serials of his youth with the now forgotten first entry in a long running series of once popular films loosely based on the Italian photo novel creations of Max Bunker and Magnus.

King of rogues Kilink is resurrected to complete his plans for world domination but as Kilink is in Istanbul so can be Superhero, the son of Kilink's victim given powers by the wizard Shazam, however let us not forget that Kilink really exists, while Superhero is an imaginary hero, in the ludicrous set-up to this brutish boys-own adventure.

İrfan Atasoy puts in a square-jawed central performance worthy of George Reeves and Buster Crabbe as the highly unauthorised Captain Marvel/Superman hybrid hero whilst as usual far more fun is to be had by Yıldırım Gencer who turns the gentlemen thief of the source material into the sociopathic titular villain of this piece.

Muzaffer Tema heads up a powerful supporting cast which includes turns from Hüseyin Peyda and Feridun Çölgeçen as well as the über-vampish Suzan Avcı, veritable victims Aynur Aydan and Pervin Par and a scene stealing Mine Soley who expresses herself by removing the glasses and white coat of a victim to reveal the black dress of a vamp underneath.

The filmmakers do a surprisingly good job of recreating the feel of a classic American serial, albeit some twenty years too late and infused with Turkish machismo fuelled sex and violence, which if nothing else firmly paved the way for the later excess of Turkish pop cinema's copyright defying remakes that were inevitably to follow.

"Adventure and danger are the meaning of my life."

KILINK INSTANBUL'DA (Killing in Istanbul) was a landmark film for the burgeoning Turkish cinema when it was originally released on Christmas Day in 1967. This humble movie launched a series of wild action films that would be the hallmark of 'Istanbollywood.'

In 1967, America, and indeed the whole world, went batty with the advent of the Batman TV show starring Adam West. Comic book characters enjoyed a resurgence, becoming post- modern camp pop art and movie makers from Italy to Istanbul rushed in to cash in on the craze.

Many companies licensed existing comic book characters like Diabolik or created their own. Atadeniz Film in Turkey felt comfortable enough to just use an existing character without courtesy of license.

With the success of Diabolik and other super-criminal types in the pages of European comic books, a new figure appeared... but this time the stories were told with photos instead of drawings. This costumed killer was called Killing in Italy, Satanik in France and is now known in America as SADISTIK in the series published by Comicfix.

The movie appropriates the title and costume from the photo novels along with the protagonist's mastery of disguise and penchant for, well, killing. Though there are many scantily clad women and Kilink has a lovely blonde sidekick, she is not Dana, Sadistik's partner in the books. Also Kilink is more megalomaniacal than Sadistik. The former has plans of world domination and has a full cadre of thuggish underlings while the latter works by himself for himself (along with Dana).

The film also appropriated other well-known characters and elements from comics and movies. Kilink's adversary is Uçan Adam, which in English is Super Man. The character also sports two very distinctive shields with a familiar 'S' design. His mask is patterned after Batman and he's apparently wearing the Phantom's shorts. And he gets his super powers from a wizard named Shazam. Most of the music is cribbed from that year's 007 film, You Only Live Twice.

KILINK ISTANBUL'DA proved popular enough to spawn an amazing 10 sequels. Kilink jumped into almost every genre and met up with a few other well-known characters like Mandrake the Magician and Frankenstein's monster. One was a western and in one Kilink was a female!

Long considered a lost film, a dark grainy version was released on VCD but didn't have English subtitles. Recently, Onar Films in Greece issued a super-limited edition DVD with superior picture and sound and with English and Greek subtitles and menus. There are also incredible extras such as a photo gallery of over two dozen pristine stills from KILINK ISTANBUL'DA and outrageous trailers for other Turkish cinema classics featuring Superman, El Santo the Mexican wrester, Captain America and an evil Spider-Man! The DVD is PAL (All Region) and won't play on American DVD players unless you have a PAL system. But if your COMPUTER can play DVDs then KILINK ISTANBUL'DA will play on your computer! For the time being it is the only way to watch it in America, but if you're a fan of the ultra-psychotronic, then this DVD is for you! And it is very unlikely there'll be a mainstream American release of this disc because of copyright issues.

This import DVD presents the 70-minute black & white film is in its original full screen ratio and is a limited edition. It features English and Greek menus and subtitles and many cool extras. There's a photo gallery of over two dozen rare original stills, a filmography of director Yilmaz Atadeniz and all 11 Kilink films with a synopsis for each! Best of all are three trailers for other Turkish superhero films from the 1960s and 70s. 3 DEV ADAM (3 Mighty Men) features the Mexican El Santo teaming up with Captain America to battle a wicked Spider-Man in Istanbul! There are also two color Turkish Superman trailers, SUPER ADAM ISTANBUL'DA (Super Man in Istanbul) from the 60s as a black clad and masked crime fighter and SUPERMEN DÖNÜYUR (Turkish Superman) a post-Chris Reeve swipe.

Kilink is still very much a presence in modern day Turkey. A popular punk band formed in the Turkish city of Izmir in 2003 and called themselves Kilink. And an outfit was premiered at a London fashion show in 2005 featuring a Turkish designer's colorful take on Kilink's outfit!

If you're a cult movie fan and like superheroes, gangsters, spies, horror, American movie serials or Mexican wrestling films, you cannot live without KILINK INSTANBUL'DA! Remember: It's in crusty black & white, has subtitles and will only play on your computer if you have a DVD player program or a PAL DVD player. But it's a whole lotta fun!

It tells the story of Kilink, an anti-hero who has no powers, in Kilink Istanbul, which has become a cult among rare Turkish fantasy films and was made in 67.

The film was adapted by Yilmaz Atadeniz after the comic strip Killing, which started to be published in Italy in 1965, attracted great attention in Turkey. The first job of Atadeniz, who decided to make a movie when he first saw the picture of this anti-hero dressed as a skeleton in the newspaper, was to translate the original name of the novel, Killing, into Turkish as 'Kilink'.

Yilmaz Atadeniz shot the movie at the same time as the second one, in which we see the Flying Man copied from Superman as the villain opposite Kilink.

Talk about Psychotronic film, this movie from Turkey is one of the most amazing and jaw dropping things I've ever seen.

The plot has Kilink, a man in a full skeleton suit, being raised from the dead in order to continue his evil ways. His latest plot has him looking for a secret formula that will destroy the world and allow him to rule over whats left. The formula was created by a scientist who once worked for the evil Kilink, but fled from England to Turkey when he had the chance. Kilink catches up with the turncoat and kills him. The search for the formula is then on. Meanwhile the son of the murdered scientist is visited by a god like figure who gives him super powers whenever he says Shazam, yes that Shazam (though the suit isn't the same)

Can you say copyright infringement? Not in Turkey, where they have been stealing characters an film bit from Western movies for years. Kilink is actually based upon an Italian comic book character which they co-opted for their purposes. The origin of the Shazam character is lifted out of American comics. Its an odd mix and yet it some how it works. Taking the infringement even farther all of the music is lifted from other places, the Bond films primarily. No one is credited of course.

Kilink is a vile character, he's probably one the best screen villains I've run across, arrogant, amoral, charismatic. and deadly. Its simply a joy to see a character this bad plot to destroy everything. Darth Vader and Hannibal Lecter have nothing on this guy.

The film is full of sex and violence and everything that mom said was bad for us. Its done in a wild abandon that is absolutely charming. The fights are done with a sincerity that turns their raw violence into something often better than their polished Hollywood counterparts. At one point Kilink forces himself on a busty blonde who's just tried to kill him. With barely veiled promises of sexual ecstasy the rape becomes a seduction almost instantly, and while you can consider it sexist, there is something about the way that its done here that makes it less than morally reprehensible.

Kudos aside there are some warnings before you see this film. First off its often not up to "Hollywood" standards, at times it looks like a better than average home movie. It was done fast and cheap and at times it shows. The sound is tinny, or has been obviously over laid on top of the picture. You have to be forgiving of its imperfections. Worse the prints of this, and many early Turkish films, are awful. The films from the period were not preserved. They were churned out as fast as possible and then put aside in favor of the next one. There was no film preservation so whats survived are scratched, broken and missing bits of the action. If you don't go with it you will be driven mad by jumps in scenes due to lost footage. (and odds are its going to be subtitled)

If you can forgive the physical flaws of the film, you really should see this film if you get the chance. Its a wild mad dog experience thats the type of thing that real film lovers search out. Its a full steam fun film experience, with out a deep thought anywhere in sight.

Rating of 9 out of 10 is on the Psychotronic/Drive-in scale of unique movie experiences.