Do you know what she did? Your charming Turkish daughter.A more or less shot-for-shot remake of William Friedkin's better known "The Exorcist", this 1974 Turkish interpretation has come in for a lot of flak over the years, and yet, despite its somewhat 'low-budget-knock-off' reputation, still retains a supernatural power all of its own.First off, I see no real reason to slate a bunch of cash-strapped movie makers simply for taking an idea from the filthy lucre dripping devils of Hollywood. There are countless versions of and remakes of, for instance, Dracula, including the early knock-off "Nosferatu" which is of course now regarded as a classic. Perhaps "Seytan" itself will one day regarded as a milestone in movie surrealism.Yes, surrealism. A piece of art can be called surrealistic when it takes a common object or theme (the obvious example being Dali's timepieces) and then contorts them and bends them into something different and somehow sinister. And this is exactly what director Metin Erksan (of "Turkish Female Hamlet" fame) does with his source material here. What was once Roman Catholic is now Islamic, where once the 'power of Christ compelled you' so now the supremacy of Allah obliges you, and so on.The film also features some standout performances from its cast: Cihan Anal gives a powerhouse performance as Tugrul Bilge (Karras, in the other version), he looks a bit like a Turkish Gene Hackman but is the better actor; and then there is Canan Pervert as Gül (Regan) whose understated and subtle turn brings so much more to the part of a young girl experiencing the most terrifying demonic phenomena. Agast Hün as the unnamed exorcist also shines, although Meral Taygun as Gül's mum comes across as a little too icy and hard nosed in some scenes.Some wonderful moments to watch for include the 'bouncing on the bed' scene, Bilge's fall/leap onto the stairs (he just keeps on rolling!!!) and the electrifying moment when the papier mâché demon itself appears in the bedroom prompting Gül to worship it on the bed. And how the scene in which Gül repeatedly stabs herself in the private area (here the crucifix from the US version is substituted for a demon-headed letter opener) passed the Turkish censor I will never know...The movie finishes with the lovely touch of Gül in a mosque, symbolically making her peace with an obvious Mohammed figure, but to be honest, the viewer is still left with that nagging feeling of uneasiness which leaves you unable to sleep peacefully, a quality it shares with its American cousin.Finally, although this movie is available on DVD with English subs, I watched this in its original Turkish format so may have missed a few choice comedy translations. Even so, this was an hour and forty minutes well spent - a masterpiece of Turkish cinema.

Out of all the Turkish rip-off films i've seen, this one is the most palatable in some ways (not the most entertaining, but watchable)... It may have helped that i had subtitles for this one, but part of it was the fact that they follow the Hollywood version very closely, and the basic narrative of the exorcist is solid...On the other hand, this movie is a perfect example of why story and script can only take you so far in a film... The story is almost identical to the Hollywood version with only a few changes to make it more culturally relevant, but the direction and all the cinematic aspects are much worse. The end result is a movie that fails in every way. There are no scares, and every scene lacks intensity compared to William Friedkin's version... You would figure that somewhere in the movie there would be at least one scene that would be superior in some way... Some inventive touch that would surpass the original, but even though every scene has a counterpart in Friedkins film, the Turkish version of the scene is always vastly inferior to the point were it's almost depressing. The lighting isn't even remotely atmospheric, the camera choices are all horrendous (except when they copy friedkins exact camera angles), the acting is soap opera level (at best). This movie is a perfect example of why directors (not writers) are the most important figures behind the creation of a movie. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Lucio Fulci (one of the masters of Italian horror) routinley worked with scripts that were much worse than this one, yet consistently churned out movies that were 10 times better. You can't even really use the poor budget as a justification for this film because many of the problems have nothing to do with any budgetary constraints. It's cheap, but that's not why it's bad.Most of these Turkish rip-off films play as pure comedy for me, not this one... There is a bit of unintentional comedy here and there, but it's so close to the original exorcist that you can't help but constantly compare the two and the end result is a greater appreciation of the Hollywood version. It will make you thankful that all movies aren't as blandly made as this rip-off.Worth watching just for the interesting contrast, but not worthy as entertainment of any kind.

This movie is an attempt to make use of a script, which was already turned into a masterpiece by William Friedkin only a year ago in 1973. To make things worse, they had only a tiny budget for this remake and well, I'm sure that the producers of this movie had made some money at the end, yet it was a useless risk for the big director Metin Erksan, who had won the Golden Bear in Berlin with his 1964 movie Susuz Yaz (Reflections).If you are a fan of The Exorcist you probably should watch it, yet for others, it will probably only be a waste of time. It is not so funny either, so if you attempt to watch it for a few laughs, in many cases you will just end up being bored. There are some Ed Wood/Cetin Inanc type low- budget B-movie mistakes in this one as well, yet someone has to point them out, so maybe you should invite some friends over to share this ridiculous experience, or maybe a talk-show host should examine the movie with the help of a studio audience, and in Turkey that was actually done for this movie ;)

Just from the box art, you know your in for a treat. This movie made me laugh so hard i almost choked! They follow the Exorcist from the start to the end. This baby must have been on a budget of $100. The FX are horrible, the acting is stale, and they play tubular bells 800 times in this movie! But it is so bad its hilarious and i highly recommend it. Pure cheese! One part during the exorcism, the room is all lit up, when the girl levitates, the room becomes dark [to hide the wires i guess] and when she comes back down, the room is dark again. Its in Turkish though, but if you want it dubbed, just dub the Exorcist audio over the whole movie, i am sure it will fit.