Perhaps more than any other movie in the 80s, Fatal Attraction showed the world that bitches be crazy.
Not to be undone, director Orhan Elmas wanted to show the world that Turkish bitches also be crazy. Enter Sapik Kaden, aka Psycho Woman aka Turkish Fatal Attraction.
The film opens with a sunny montage of a lovely family having a lovely picnic and playing at a lovely beach. It’s accompanied by the peppiest, whitest jazz-influenced piano number, the kind you might hear in the opening of a dreadful 80s sitcom. In fact, it probably is the opening song of a dreadful 80s sitcom. Ahmet and his family are enjoying their life together. But that’s about to change.
While the wife and daughter leave for a weekend, Ahmet meets Tülay, a bottle blonde with a touch of the crazy. They make love for quite some time. This is where we explore the Attraction part of Fatal Attraction.
When Ahmet’s family returns, he tries to break it off. But we know where this is going. Tülay slits her wrists to test his commitment to her. She calls the house at all hours. She shows up to his office unannounced. She shows up to his house unannounced. She hounds him, desperate for his love. If I’m being honest, only a psycho woman could love him. He seems like a real drip. A piece of unbuttered toast in a gray suit and striped tie. Move on, Tülay, ditch the zero and get with a hero.
Psycho Woman is more or less the same as Fatal Attraction. Nothing about the Turkish version is outlandish. Antes are not upped, stakes stay low, drama is flat. There are no twists, no turns, no deviations from the original film. The major plot points are more or less the same, even the famous rabbit scene. The main problem with Psycho Woman is that it follows the original’s plot too closely—dare I say, Glenn Closely.
Turkey has gifted the world an endless library of ripoffs that are worlds better than their originals. Turkish Star Wars, Turkish First Blood, Turkish Young Frankenstein—they each take the original, set it on fire, and launch it into the stratosphere. They’re wild, epic rides that take a familiar blockbuster and morph it into something legendary. But sadly, Psycho Woman doesn’t earn a spot among them. It’s a faithful recreation of Fatal Attraction, something unnecessary. There’s far too much talking and not enough attraction or fatalities. But it does feature the soundtracks to Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th.
Bitches be crazy.
