Recommended for: Fans of The Last Exorcism , Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum , and anyone who thinks Hollywood horror has gotten too safe. Avoid if: You hate shaky cam, need fast pacing, or are easily triggered by depictions of self-harm.
In the crowded landscape of found-footage horror, where Hollywood entries often rely on polished jump scares and CGI ghost children, the Turkish film Dabbe: The Possession (directed by Hasan Karacadağ) feels like a brutal, uncut gem. It is not a "good" film in the traditional Hollywood sense—the acting is uneven, and the pacing is deliberately slow—but as an exercise in pure, suffocating dread, it is shockingly effective and deeply disturbing.
The film adheres rigidly to found-footage rules: one camera, long static shots, and the constant "why don't they just leave?" frustration. However, Karacadağ uses the format cleverly. By locking the camera on a tripod in the corner of the room, we become silent witnesses, unable to look away as the horror unfolds in real time. The final 20 minutes are a masterclass in sustained tension, leading to an ending that is bleak, hopeless, and genuinely shocking. dabbe the possession 2013
Where Dabbe excels is in its atmosphere. Forget the slick blue lighting of The Conjuring ; this film is drenched in grainy, yellow-tinged darkness. The sound design is the real MVP—the wet clicking of a possessed tongue, the guttural growls that seem to come from the floorboards, and the terrifying moments of complete silence. Karacadağ understands that the scariest thing a camera can show is almost nothing at all. The majority of the film is simply watching people sit in a dark room, listening to a woman breathe heavily. And it’s terrifying .
Be warned: the pacing is glacial for the first 45 minutes. There is a lot of driving, a lot of shaky-cam walking through halls, and some melodramatic acting that wouldn't feel out of place in a daytime soap opera. The subtitles are also notoriously clunky (they often feel machine-translated), which can pull you out of the moment. Furthermore, if you need a happy ending or a logical explanation for the mythology, you will be disappointed. The film prioritizes nightmare logic over narrative clarity. Recommended for: Fans of The Last Exorcism ,
Dabbe: The Possession is not a fun movie. It is not a popcorn movie. It is a raw, low-budget gut punch that lingers in your mind like a bad dream you can't shake. While it lacks the polish of Paranormal Activity or the narrative sophistication of The Wailing , it makes up for it with a relentless, suffocating sense of authentic evil.
One of the film's greatest strengths is its specific cultural lens. This is not a Catholic exorcism movie. The rituals, the prayers, and the depiction of the jinn are rooted in Islamic folklore, which feels fresh to a Western audience. The jinn here isn't just a demon; it's a trickster entity that mocks, lies, and uses psychological warfare. The use of Musk (holy water) and the reading of the Quran add a layer of desperate realism that supernatural horror often lacks. It is not a "good" film in the
, but only if you have a high tolerance for slow-burn dread and "unpleasant" horror.
The film follows a young couple, Kübra and Ömer, who seek the help of a psychiatrist and a religious exorcist (a hodja ) named Faruk. Kübra is suffering from violent seizures, disturbing visions, and self-harming episodes that medication cannot explain. As Faruk investigates, he uncovers a dark family history of black magic (sihir) involving a jinn. What follows is a harrowing, claustrophobic exorcism performed not in a church, but in a dark, dusty apartment, filmed entirely through the lens of a single camera.