The SUPERMAN double feature is great. DEMIR YUMRUK is one of my favorite Turkish "Masked Hero" films. It has an extremely eccentric air about it. The villain is a flamboyant, sexually ambigious Fu Manchu and the hero has a costume that looks like it was cobbled together from various costume pieces from other Turkish superhero movies. Unlike some of the more comedic examples (DEATHLESS DEVIL, for instance) DEMIR YUMRUCK takes itself seriously - well, as seriously as these films ever take themselves that is.

SUPERMAN DONUYOR is a poverty-stricken remake of the first Christopher Reeve movie. I know a lot of people enjoy the Turkish movies that are direct remakes. I prefer the movies that are more "home grown" but there's a lot to enjoy in this one. It doesn't have the crazed energy of the other masked hero films, but it does have a jaw-dropping "I can't believe they really thought that would work" quality to it.

All in all, really fun stuff. I'm really enjoying these releases. I also picked up KARANLIK SULAR, which is a more recent Turkish horror film. It looks very creepy, similar to Italian efforts like DARK WATERS or Pupi Avati's films. I'm only basing that on a quick "click through" though, as I haven't had a chance to watch the whole film yet. Has anyone else?

D.

I'm with you on Demir Yumruk, David. For my money, it's the most enjoyable Turkish film I've seen short of the Kilink and Tarkan films. Lots of fun and energy, on par with some of the best Indonesian stuff.

I'm doing my best to push to purchase of the Onar discs on anyone who will listen. I just finished the Kilink movies and watched Demir Yumruk late last night. I'm hoping that Onar continues to turn up and be able to release any and all Turkish costumed hero/anti-hero movies, because I know there are quite a few out there.

I see that next month's release (after this month's TARZAN ISTANBUL'DA) will be CASUS KIRAN which is Yilmaz Atadeniz's remake of the serial SPY SMASHER. This is the first of the Onar superhero films that I haven't seen in any form. It's great to have another one of Atadeniz's films out there. Someone just alerted me to the fact that Atadeniz has a blog at yilmazatadeniz.blogspot.com. Not a whole lot of text, just information on him and his movies, including scans of the article I wrote for Video Watchdog.

D.