''Semum'' is a 2008 Turkish

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

produced, written and directed by Hasan Karacadağ which reportedly recounts the true story of a woman who lives in

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Plot

Twenty-seven-year-old Canan (Ayça İnci) and her husband Volkan (Burak Hakkı) have just moved into a large, new house. Life seems to continue on its routine track in the young couple's new house until one day, when Canan starts feeling that strange things are happening to her although she cannot understand what or why. Canan gradually starts turning into an evil creature as a mysterious and malicious being takes control of her body and actions day after day. Semum, the most loyal servant of the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

, has taken control of Canan, leading her towards hell.

Cast

Production

Talking about the film in ''

Today's Zaman ''Today's Zaman'' (Zaman is Turkish for 'time' or 'age') was an English-language daily newspaper based in Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcont ...

'' the director argues that, "he tried to create a model of a Turco-Islamic horror film and that he would make the world recognize this model, of which he sees ''Semum'' as the first example.'' ''Semum'' will be compared with ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitt ...

'' and star

Ayça İnci Ayça is a common feminine Turkish name, Turkish given name. "Ayça" derives from "Ay". In Turkish language, Turkish, "Ay" means "Moon" and "Ayça" means the "Crescent". People

* Ayça Bingöl, a Turkish actor (:tr:Ayça Bingöl, see Turkish ...

will be compared with Linda Blair, the director told ''

'', noting that the Turkish horror films made so far have been far from satisfactory.

Filming

The film was shot on location in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Release

The film opened in 142 screens across Turkey on at number 1 in the box office chart with an opening weekend gross of $441,665.

Reception

Box office

The film was the thirteenth highest grossing Turkish film of 2008 with a total gross of $1,827,047.

Reviews

Todd Brown, writing for ''

Twitch Film Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

'', notes that this film, like the director's previous hit '' Dabbe'', "once again draws on Islamic mythology and demons as its inspiration," but that, "he had a better budget to work with this time and the cinematography is a good bit better while also indulging Turkey's traditional campy edge". "Cinematography and design work is dead solid and I do believe I detect notes of both ''

Death Note ''Death Note'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 2003 to May ...

'' and '' Constantine'' in the demon and hell effects," he adds.

References

External links

* for the film * * {{tcmdb title, 736273 2008 films 2008 horror films Films set in Turkey Turkish horror films Demons in film Films about Islam 2000s Turkish-language films