You've never heard of him, but you should have. Even if you have absolutely no interest in those goofy, little Turkish exploitation films (and, let's face it, that's most everyone). Metin was one of us. He dug up info on the golden age of Turkish exploitation films - the supehero movies, the westerns, the remakes of American films. He co-wrote a book called FANTASTIK TURK SINEMASI. It's loaded with black & white reproductions of rare stills and ads. The text is entirely in Turkish, but he had the courtesy to include a 30 page English summation at the back of the book.

The book came out around the same time as MONDO MACABRO, and I'm fairly certain that Demirhan gave information to Pete Tombs for use in his book. I suspect that a lot of information that found it's way into the article I co-wrote for Video Watchdog (with Kaya Ozkaracalar) also indirectly came from Metin.

I never corresponded with him, but I know he loved films - in particular, those crazy Turkish superhero films that I truly love as well. I didn't know him at all and it doesn't feel right for me to claim anything resembling grief when he has real friends and loved ones mourning him, but I'm still left with the feeling that there's one less person around that viewed art the same way I did.

I first read about his death in one of Kaya's posts on the Latarnia forums. It's a few weeks old already, but there were no responses. Bill - from Onar Films - posted some thoughts on his blog as well. Here are some thoughts he received from a Turkish journalist who attended Metin's funeral:

"He worked for the art of cinema in all his lifetime. He never saw a 1000 USD together in his long working years in the media. If he had a cup of coffee and a packet of cigarettes, then he was always happy and smiling like a little child. He wanted nothing for himself, he always wanted to live inside the great family of cult film lovers from all over the world. He was always poor and “no-budget” like the movies which he was interested in and wrote about."

Now - maybe you don't care for Turkish films. Maybe you never will. Certainly I've come to the realization that very few people will ever recognize their crazed, surreal genius the same way I do. But reading that description of him, don't you *kind* of understand where he was coming from?

He was 44.

D.

I knew of Metin through another forum where we both posted (we shared an enthusiasm for post-apocalyptic movies) and only later came to notice his work with Turkish cult cinema. I, like David, can't claim to have known him, but I was impressed by his knowledge of, and his enthusiasm for, the world of cult cinema - a world that is poorer for his passing.