Strange Halloween offering..."Kilink in Istanbul"

From IMDb...

Kilink, the Turkish super anti-hero,who was a lookalike of the Italian comic-strip hero Killing, who was a lookalike of the other Italian super hero Kriminal,opens the long series of Kilink installments with this blockbuster cornerstone of the Turkish cinema! The only rival who could possibly stand in his way is no other than... Superman!... Kilink visits Istanbul in order to grab a destructive formula which is in the hands of a once-collaborate scientist,professor Houloussi. He murders him, kidnaps his daughter, tortures her in some gloomy dungeon, and then kidnaps more people and tortures them but still, the formula remains hidden. Meanwhile, the son of professor Houloussi is blessed by a Devinne spirit and turns into Superman! But will he be a worthy opponent to the unbeatable and evasive master of all criminals, Kilink?? Well, at any rate...be prepared for a delirious, psychedelic, jaw-dropping, sleazy, fierce pandemonium!

Nick Frame wrote in 2006...

Holy rip-off Batman (or should that be Superman!), where to start with this wild piece of Turkish cinema. Kilink is the Turkish version of Italian photo comic strip hero Killing who in turn is a rip-off of Kriminal (another comic book star) who was a derivative of the great Diabolik, the comic book character that started the whole European fascination with skeleton suited anti-heroes. Got all that? Good, lets move on.

Kilink (Yildirim Gencer) has just been brought back to life by his sultry sidekick Suzy (Suzan Avci) so that he can put his plans for world domination into place. He needs to steal a secret formula from a Professor Houloussi so Kilink disguises himself as the butler and then sneaks into his lab. The old Prof refuses to give it up, so Kilink kills him in cold blood leaving a “Kilink” written beside the body so the police know that the “King of Rogues” has committed this most heinous crime. The Profs son Orhan is devastated and vows to get his revenge on Kilink. It’s at this point that the film gets really wacky (only now I hear you say!), as while Orhan is grieving by his father’s grave, the wizard Shazam appears! Yes, Captain Marvels Shazam turns up and bestows super powers on Orhan so that he can hunt down Kilink. So when Orhan says “Shazam” he changes into Superhero (according to the subtitles) with Batman’s cowl, Superman’s suit and the Phantoms shorts! In addition to this, the director had little time to commission a soundtrack, but he liked what he heard in the James Bond movie of that year “You only live twice” so he used that instead! Kilink is now on the trail of the formula which he needs to complete his weapon of mass destruction but little does he know that Superhero is on his tail.

Despite the crazy plot and copyright theft, Kilink in Istanbul is actually very watchable. Kilink himself is a fantastic character being cool, suave and sadistic all at once. He does not suffer fools who fail him and he always has an eye for the ladies. In whatever guise the Kilink character has appeared in other movies (Danger: Diabolik and Kriminal) he has always been very striking and it would be wonderful to see a modern remake of this great icon. Indeed there was talk of Christopher Gans (Crying Freeman and Brotherhood of the Wolf) remaking Diabolik but this project now seems to be in limbo. Regardless you will be definitely rooting for Kilink rather than the costumed hero trying to put a stop to his evil ways. The film itself was obviously quite cheaply made with poor effects and low AV quality being particularly evident, however the actors throw themselves into their parts with vigour and it’s this that carries the film nicely to its thrilling climax. Cult cinema at its best and with this being a very limited release I would track it down quickly.

Kilink Istanbul Da [a.k.a. Kilink in Istanbul]

Directed by Yilmaz Atadeniz

1967

Kilink Istanbul'da

Enter "Halloween" in the search engine for much more Halloween goodies.