Dabbe (2006)

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Directed by:
Written by:
Starring: , ,

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXOePH_2_E8[/youtube]

What’s that, i hear you say? Dabbe? Never bloody heard of it! Oh, and it’s Turkish. Turkish???? Pazuzu must be out of his bloody mind. What the hell is an unknown Turkish horror doing at number 10???? I’ll tell you why, good people, simply put, Dabbe is quite possibly the scariest film of the decade. Yes, it’s Turkish, and i don’t think you can get it anywhere, but if you can track it down it is well worth the effort. Evil Bill found it, and gave it a good, but not great review. I’ve watched this 3 or 4 times now, and STILL I shit myself. The wife has hidden under a pillow every time she’s watched it, and my younger brother, who is much toughened to films and can pretty much handle anything, laughed all the way through. “Why did you laugh?”, i asked him. He replied “cause I had to, I was so fuckin scared the only thing i could do was laugh as to not let it get to me!”. Are we convinced yet???

Dabbe steels very heavily from the likes of Ringu, but makes it very much its own and creates an absolutely terrifying atmosphere. A group of friends are concerned about their friend, Tarik, who hasn’t left his house for days. He has put newspaper up all over the windows to block out some unspeakable evil, and he is scared to answer the phone for fear of what might be on the other end. Eventually he can take no more of this torment and kills himself in his bedroom. The friends and police try to piece together exactly what happened. Some kind of computer virus seems to be the issue, and after his death, his friends get strange emails from him. There are pictures of him in what looks like hell. A policeman goes round Tarik’s house, and a seriously creepy black shadow follows him round. Evil simply takes over the film and we are hit with one ferocious scare after another. The director has used the style of J-Horror and upped its effect by instead of easing you into the nastiness, it simply attacks you and doesn’t let go. A number of scenes, even for me, are almost unwatchable. The director very cleverly plays on our expectations and delivers the scares exactly when we expect them; however, we just don’t expect them to be so fuckin full on!

There is an issue of subtitles. It’s clearly not done by someone who speaks English, but you can piece together what they’re trying to say pretty easily. The other slight issue is the budget. Whether it’s the budget, or the fact it hasn’t had a proper release, but it looks a bit home video in places. However, this cheap look really adds to the strong colours on offer, so you have no doubt when you’re safe, and when evil is just around the corner. I can’t say too much more about the plot as it does have a bit of a twist, or sting in the tale. The music is horrible, and i mean that in a good way, and the continuous sort of growling that comes and goes throughout the film is simply terrifying. Everything about this film is terrifying, just thinking about it gives me the shivers. If you can get past the shitty subtitles and cheapish look, then Dabbe, i’m positive, will delight and scare the fuckin socks off you!!!

Rating: ★★★★★★★★½☆

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About Matt Wavish 598 Articles
A keen enthusiast and collector of all horror and extreme films. I can be picky as i like quality in my horror. This doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a classic, but as long as it has something to impress me then i'm a fan. I watch films by the rule that if it doesn't bring out some kind of emotive response then it aint worth watching.

5 Comments

  1. This has my favourite opening titles of all time – check them out for yourself. Too many shit your pants moments to mention. This takes the style of scares from J Horrors and magnifies it by 100. Fantastic stuff and some seriously original visual/ sound FX. What ever happened to that damned sequel?

    • A great little unexpected horror that still scares me half to death! I am keeping a close eye out for that sequel. It would seem you can buy posters for the damn thing on ebay and amazon, but the dvd is nowhere to be found! Strange

  2. If you can ever get hold of this film and you’re in the mood for a good scare, watch this!!! I couldn’t go to the loo in the middle of the night for a month without switching on all the bloomin lights!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even though the subtitles are somewhat interesting to read, you get the gist of it!!! Bloomin frightening!!!

      • Nice to have you onboard Danny! Please feel free to add reviews. As for Dabbe, i bought it off ebay years ago. I don’t think the film is actually available in the UK or on import. Shame as its truly awesome! There has been a sequel, but again it is very very hard to get hold of.

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