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Genies not genius: Turkey’s low-budget horror flicks boom
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Behind the scene: Members of the crew and actors work on Forbidden Wedding during filming in Buyukorhan, in the outskirts of Bursa, Turkey, on Sept. 1. (AFP/Yasin Akgul)
K
neeling before a chalk star outside his tumbledown house, an old man performs a ritual to rid himself of evil spirits -- which many Turks believe exist.
Perched behind the camera, director Metin Kuru tries to encourage the actor to convey the sheer agony of being possessed by a genie.
But there will not be many takes, because Kuru needs to finish his film fast to feed Turkey's voracious appetite for low-budget horror flicks, with a new supernatural chiller released every week.
"At the end of the day, I try to produce films with as few technical issues as possible," Kuru said between scenes of Muhr-u Musallat 2 -- Yasak Dugun (Sealed Invasion 2 -- Forbidden Wedding).
Filming many of the scenes in the dark helps.
"The color palette of horror movies is not as varied, which allows filmmakers to shoot with cheaper cameras, less light and smaller crews," Kuru said.
This year alone, 60 new homegrown horror movies will hit screens in Turkey, where demand for entertainment has not waned despite -- or maybe because of -- the economic crises gripping the country.
