Kilink Vs. The Flying Man / Kilink Strip & Kill

Kilink Vs. The Flying Man / Kilink Strip & Kill

Original Title: Kilink uçan adama karsi / Kilink soy ve öldür

Directed by: Yilmaz Atadeniz

Turkey, 1969

Action /Adventure, 49 min / 92min

Distributed by: OnarFilm

The more I see of Turkish Genre cinema the more I find myself draw into it’s naïve, cheap as dirt, but appealing and enthusiastic charm. It’s no understatement that the world seen through the eyes of a cineaste is happier place since so many passionate distributors and real enthusiasts are making sure that these movies become available in the best possible conditions.

The masked antihero is no stranger to those who have explored the alternative cinema treasures found around our great planet. From the wrestling rings of the Lucha Libre, to the Henchmen of Yakuza, although there’s still have the pleasure of discovering Kilink – The masked avenger from Istanbul!

If I didn’t know better, I’d say that the Kilink movies where cheap rip offs of Mario Bava’s iconic Diabolik (Danger Diabolik) 1968, just like the bigot morons who don't do their research. But actually the Killing comics where produced pre Diabolik, the Kilink books and movies are made before John Law Philip hid his face away behind the mask and are in many ways pretty dammed good counterparts to that later Italian entry to the masked anti hero.

Kilink is in some ways a take on the Italian antihero Satanik, which started out as photographic comic magazine aimed at an adult audience – just like those fabulous Mexican El Santo and Blue Demon comics that also where photographs with captions written in on the images, fantastic stuff. Although Kilink always took things a step further and really held no moral judgment at all, he was a one man crime wave who stopped at nothing to take out the other bandits that stood in his way – so in a fascinating irony he works on both sides of the law.

Three instalments are what make up this fabulous suite of Kilink movies directed by Yilmaz Atadeniz. Ten movies all in all make up the series, and it wastes no time to jump-start the action and roll out the melodrama.

The original film; Kilink Istanbul’da (Killing in Istanbul) 1967, was also directed by Yilmaz Atadeniz just like the first sequel Kilink uçan adama karsi (Kilink Vs. The Flying Man), which picks up right where the first one ended.

Kilink kills a professor in search for secret documents at the end of the first movie, and in the sequel the professors son Mr Orhan, is granted superpowers to claim his vengeance. By uttering the special words Shajam (Shazam…) he turns into “The Flying Man” who easily beats the crap out of Kilink’s men. But Kilink won’t take it and soon turns the tables on Mr. Orhan when he kidnaps the some other old geezer and his two daughters, one which happens to be Orhan’s girlfriend. Kilink takes them all to his “Devil’s Island” secret lair. And obviously it doesn’t take too long before Orhan is on his way to rescue them!

Hilarious dialogue likes the two henchmen bitching about the girls being to tired for them when they get off heir shift certainly holds something of a Austin Powers humor in it. Also the fisherman who helps the professor and daughters flee is very reminiscent of Ömer – the lad comedy character from Tourist Ömer Uzay Yolunda (Ömer the Tourist in Star Trek) the Turkish equivalent to the Carry on Gang or Swedens Åsa-Nisse.

This second movie is somewhat of an oddity – as they all are to be honest. First there’s an almost twenty minute recap of the original movie, which then leads up to the culmination of the “flyingman” stories, which at the same time set’s off the premise for the third movie. Kilink vs the Flyingman does miss some of the ending, but its been rebuilt with archive footage and stills to re-create the climax of the movie. Hey it worked for dear old Stroheim in Queen Kelly 1932 – supposedly one of film history’s finest movies, so why not here.

The final installment, or rather the third part available on DVD so far, picks up right where the second one ends – just like part two does, and is among the finest of the Turkish super hero action flicks ever. It’s moves fast and it’s quite possible that the print is missing some small scenes here and there, as it at times is kind of tricky to follow the plot at times.

Kilink soy ve öldür (Kilink – Strip & Kill) is outstanding and perhaps one of Kilink’s darkest entries ever. Two rival gangs of mobsters are both out to lay their grubby hands on a microfilm. Kilink finds himself wham bam in the middle of both fractions, and this gives him a great opportunity to confiuse and create mayhem as he sports a variation of disguises to infiltrate and confuse his foes. Not to mention the amount of women he seduces along his way. Throw in a few good car chases, some shootouts and the obligatory misogynistic torture scene here and there and you have a remarkablely entertaining Kilink flick.

Obviously the movies are cheap, cheesy, semi sleazy whenever they can be, but absolutely superb little oddities that will bring delight to any fan of obscure cinema. The movies have terrific soundtracks, with a score that is very reminiscent of John Barry’s theme to On Her Majestys Sectet Service 1969. It’s very catchy and very fitting for a catchy flick too.

Yilmaz Atadeniz, who also directed the fabulous Casus kiran (Spy Smasher) 1968, technically directed the first Turkish Superman movie as Kilink Vs. The Flyingman features Superman as Kilink’s force of antagonism… well perhaps a mixture of Batman and Superman then to be honest but it’s still the first Superman-ish villain, as Kunt Tulgar’s Süpermen dönüyor (The Return of Superman) wasn’t released until 1979.

Behind the mask there’s the talent of Yildirim Gencer who played the masked maniac in all three of Atadeniz Kilink Kilink entries, but also held leading parts in stuff like Atadeniz superhero flicks Casus Kiran (Spy Smasher) 1968 and Casus kiran – ydei canli adam (Spy Smasher: Man of 7 lives) 1970 which also saw him fighting out against Irfan Atasoy, the Flying man and Orhan of the first two Kilink movies.

Considering that they where shot back to back with each other it’s fitting that OnarFilms team up both Kilink Vs. The Flying Man and Kilink – Strip and Kill on this great disc and they make a great double feature. Also it has to be pointed out that Kilink Vs. The Flying Man was indeed a lost gem, because it hasn’t been available in any format at all since OnarFilms resurrected it from the dead. I can honestly say that these two films are all you need to make up a splendid night of Turkish Fantastic cinema!

You can still get your hands on this double shot of fantastic Turkish cinema from Onar Films, and for a very limited time they are even offering the very last of Yilmaz Atadeniz, rare original movie Kilink Isanbul’da (Killing in Istabul) 1967. It’s the last of the batch reclaimed by the one-man army at OnarFilms to once again make sure that the real fans of Turkish fantastic cinema get an opportunity to see these fantastic movies.

So go get some Kilink right now, you won’t regret it!

Image

Black and White, 4:3

Audio:

2.0 Stereo, Turkish with optional Greek or English subtitles.

Extras:

OnarFilms releases are always packed with great extras that will give you an insight into Turkish cinema and almost always feature interviews with directors and actors. Here you get written interviews with Yilmaz Atadeniz, a filmed interview with him and star, Irfan Atasoy, a photo gallery, and trailers for other Onarfilms releases.