Minor Anger Issues (2025) - Short Horror Film Review

Minor Anger Issues is the latest short film from Turkish writer Erdeniz Tunç and director Can Sagir (Shadow of Violence, Ancient Voice). I have always appreciated the films from these two, and after the more thriller orientated previous short, I figured this new one would follow a similar path. I was pleased to see it actually blends the horror and thriller genres into an entertaining blend.

At a school, a teacher explains to the older brother of a troubled school kid that the boy needs to learn to control his anger issues. Staying with the older brother due to the parents splitting up, the brother believes this turmoil may be the reason for his misplaced anger. Later that day while the boy is sleeping in bed, two intruders break in, and come to learn the minor anger issues of the young boy may be more than they can handle.

At six minutes forty five seconds, this was a compact short that told its story in a lean and effective way. The first part takes place at the school, and it is about halfway into the story that the horror part begins. I assumed this was going to be a home invasion film in short form, but with minimal though effective special effects, this becomes something different.

Not too much more to say about Minor Anger Issues, I was delighted with the change-up of expectations and it told its story in a minimalist fashion, combining to make something worth a watch, and also the best short I have seen yet from this duo.

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Shadow of Violence (2024) - Short Thriller Film Review

Shadow of Violence (also known as Siddetin Gölgesi) is a short nearly seven minute Turkish thriller that was directed by Can Sagir and written by Erdeniz Tunç (the director and writers of Ancient Voice). A few months back I was contacted by Tunç to check out his script for this short, it was interesting to see the changes made from the initial script to the finished product.

Cenk (Ahmet Atakul) and his best friend are waiting to be picked up one night. Wanting to get some cigarettes Cenk heads off to a nearby shop, but returning he sees two masked men running off and his friend laying on the ground covered in blood. Finding out the attackers location from pinging the stolen phone, Cenk heads there to get revenge, though what he discovers leads to some further violence later on.

I thought this was well directed with some good editing and camera angles. In particular I liked the shot of Cenk inside the shop, filmed from the outside by a shaky camera that gave the impression of a voyeur. Being so short this shoots along at a rapid pace, covering a lot of ground. I liked the wraparound segment that had Cenk in present day at a facility where he is being questioned by a doctor offering a new form of help for the now troubled man. 
The subtitles were easy to read, making for a story that was mostly easy to follow. It did require the viewer to piece together the motivations for the protagonist as that information was provided in a non-linear way that could have perhaps had more explanation for the wild actions that occur as a result.

Shadow of Violence was a well made short thriller that could have perhaps done with a little more room to breathe and tell its story. This was still entertaining to watch, not a bad film at all.

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Ancient Voice (2021) - Short Horror Film Review

Ancient Voice is a short Turkish horror film that was directed by Can Sagir, who also co-wrote this along with Erdeniz Tunç (Serenity). By my reckoning it is only the second Turkish horror film I have seen, after 2017's Baskin. This indie low budget horror uses a monster from Turkish mythology as the basis for its story, in this case the Obur which is apparently a vampire-like monster.

In the present, a young journalist named Zeynep (Berna Toy) is writing a letter that details her account of visiting a supposedly haunted derelict building along with a young man named Efe (Samet Kiziltas). While she stayed outside the building, she communicated with Efe via phone who was inside exploring. It was his shocking discovery that led to Zeynep fleeing the scene.

At just over five minutes Ancient Voice manages to still tell a complete story. I have always been a fan of the concept of having a main story be presented as a flashback, and with Zeynep writing a letter that is the format gone for here. Being a low budget indie film means that there isn't too much actually revealed on screen, instead there is the smallest of close up images to suggest what the two encounter. An interesting looking shot that I assume may have been CG, and which leaves a lot up to the viewers imagination. There was good atmosphere, helped by a moody soundtrack, but the horror, at least in the present day moments were let down somewhat by a scream that sounded a bit placeholder, like it wouldn't have came from the main character. It also didn't feel like what occured in the flashback would have been enough to cause the character to flee the scene in the first place, rather than investigate themselves.

Ancient Voice isn't a perfect film, the beats used for the horror moments didn't really work for me, but the general idea of what it was going for worked well. This felt more polished than you might expect, and I liked that it took itself seriously, that made the overall feel work better than if it had been played for laughs. At such a short length this doesn't outstay its welcome so I feel it is worth a watch.

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The Sacred Spirit (2021) - Comedy Drama Review

One of the many films joining the Arrow streaming subscription service in March is the Spanish comedy/drama/sci-fi film The Sacred Spirit (original title Espíritu sagrado). Written and directed by Chema García Ibarra this surreal movie plays its comedy with a super straight face and was all the better for it.

The film begins with Charo's daughter Vanessa (and twin sister of Verónica, played by Llum Arques) having recently gone missing with the story all over the local news. Elsewhere, Julio (José Angel Asensio), the head of a small group of ufology enthusiasts made up of misfits has recently died, he left his belongings to José (Nacho Fernández), who just so happens to be Charo's brother. Unknown to the rest of the group, who believe the aim for them is to be taken by aliens, Julio and José had a secret plan, one that involves bringing an ancient spirit into the world, using a young child as the vessel.

The Sacred Spirit takes place in a bizarre world, but one that within its context feels completely normal. The humour here is deadpan and comes from the many characters. I would say it kind of shares similarities with Napoleon Dynamite in the way the comedy plays out. There is nothing laugh out loud funny here, instead it is the dialogue that is said, and the way it is spoken by the deeply earnest characters. It seemed to begin with that Charo was going to be the protagonist, but this instead falls on José. This man, obsessed with Egyptian mythology (his apartment that he shares with his Alzheimer's afflicted mother is full of gaudy and tacky Egypt themed knick knacks) was strangely likeable despite the film hinting at a darkness that he may be involved in. He genuinely believes that an ancient spirit is going to return to the world, and that he alone is the one who can get this done, there is almost a sadness with José and despite everything I didn't want anything bad to happen to him. That comes with many of the characters who while extremely weird had an innocence to them that made them endearing. The UFO group for instance have share a strong bond.

Firstborn (2017) - Horror Film Review

Firstborn (Pirmdzimtais) is a Latvian thriller that was written and directed by Aik Karapetian (The Man in the Orange Jacket). This is quite a slow burn of a film, in fact at times it is so slow paced that it becomes glacial. I usually find that slow films are often dripping in atmosphere, and that is certainly true with this one.

Cold, intellectual Francis (Kaspars Znotins) is trapped in a loveless marriage with flirtatious and carefree Katrina (Maija Doveika). One night while they are walking home from a friends house they are confronted by a young biker (Kaspars Zale) who assaults Francis and steals Katrina's handbag. With his pride hurt Francis sets out to find the thief on his own, so that he can be seen as the hero. Locating the thief in some remote woodland industrial ruins he attempts to bribe him into giving the stolen items back, but Francis's plan goes wrong and he ends up accidentally causing the man's death. Thinking he has gotten away with it he begins to get more and more paranoid that there is someone out there who knows what he has done. Eventually this turns out to be correct and he gets blackmailed into committing further crimes in order to protect his unborn child from retaliation for his past act.

Firstborn is focussed heavily on the relationship between the two protagonists, though much more of it follows Francis who is quite the unlikable 'hero'. Throughout he comes across as weasley and a coward, with it hard to say that his actions throughout are not more for his benefit than anyone else's. A prime example is when Katrina is attacked, she calls him on his mobile begging for his help, but instead he decides to head off to find the person responsible. He is so selfishly caught up in trying to look like the hero that he fails to be there when people need him. There is bad chemistry between the central two which works great for what this is setting out to do. Francis and Katrina are polar opposites from each other and their lack of communication and trust leads up to a lot of the plot developments.

Baskin (2015) - Horror Film Review

As Baskin is a finalist in the makeup category for the 2016 Fright Meter Awards I had to give it a watch. I thought that rather than illegally download this I would instead do the honourable thing and buy it. Now the English DVD was ridiculously expensive and so I decided to buy an Italian import that was half the price. Somewhat arrogantly I assumed there would be an option of English subtitles for this Turkish horror...there wasn't, and so I had no idea what was happening, this confusion will be reflected in my review.

So the story as I saw it was thus; a group of policemen get called to a disturbance at a large abandoned building. On the way their driver accidentally hits something and the police van crashes into a river. Thanks to some homeless people the gang meet they eventually get to the building, but inside all literal Hell breaks loose...