Djinns as transformative otherness: forms of toxic kinship in postmillennial Turkish horror film

Abstract

Despite the absence of horror as an established genre in the national cinema of Turkey, the djinn-themed horror films emerged as one of the most popular areas of cultural production in the early 2000s. Investing in the figure of the djinn, which originates from Anatolian folklore, Turkic shamanism, and Islamic mythology, these horror films tell paranormal stories of witchcraft, black magic, demonic possession, and exorcism. This study locates this new genre formation as a symptomatic response to, and a pragmatic appropriation of, not only the changing dynamics of identity in the dominant Turkish political culture, but also the global postmillennial revival of “folk horror”, “paranormal horror”, “occult horror”, and “found-footage horror”. Among this new culture of horror filmmaking, the Dabbe (2006-2015), Siccin (2014-2019), and Üç Harfliler (2010-2019) cycles have proved the most popular. Revenge, grief, adultery, resentment, class conflicts, segregation, and heterodoxy are recurring themes in these stories, and the horror is often located within the heteronormative family unit through representations of monstrous, demonic women who practice witchcraft and black magic – to kill, to break or restore attachments, to take revenge, and to curse or haunt households by communicating with the djinns through the laborious rituals of black magic. This study examines these horror films by addressing the ways in which they (i) represent the ideological crisis of gender identity and familialism captured in the wider generic system of postmillennial Turkish screen media; (ii) negotiate the affiliations of the djinn and the black magic with heterodoxy and religion-folklore syncretisms; (iii) use film form and style to register the horrific; and (iv) encourage their producers and directors to interpret their target audiences and reflect on the processes of production and reception