TV editor and chess player Yılmaz Atadeniz reforms his old gang to put his disparate skills to good use paying homage to the American serials of his youth with the now forgotten first entry in a long running series of once popular films loosely based on the Italian photo novel creations of Max Bunker and Magnus.King of rogues Kilink is resurrected to complete his plans for world domination but as Kilink is in Istanbul so can be Superhero, the son of Kilink's victim given powers by the wizard Shazam, however let us not forget that Kilink really exists, while Superhero is an imaginary hero, in the ludicrous set-up to this brutish boys-own adventure.İrfan Atasoy puts in a square-jawed central performance worthy of George Reeves and Buster Crabbe as the highly unauthorised Captain Marvel/Superman hybrid hero whilst as usual far more fun is to be had by Yıldırım Gencer who turns the gentlemen thief of the source material into the sociopathic titular villain of this piece.Muzaffer Tema heads up a powerful supporting cast which includes turns from Hüseyin Peyda and Feridun Çölgeçen as well as the über-vampish Suzan Avcı, veritable victims Aynur Aydan and Pervin Par and a scene stealing Mine Soley who expresses herself by removing the glasses and white coat of a victim to reveal the black dress of a vamp underneath.The filmmakers do a surprisingly good job of recreating the feel of a classic American serial, albeit some twenty years too late and infused with Turkish machismo fuelled sex and violence, which if nothing else firmly paved the way for the later excess of Turkish pop cinema's copyright defying remakes that were inevitably to follow."Adventure and danger are the meaning of my life."

KILINK INSTANBUL'DA (Killing in Istanbul) was a landmark film for the burgeoning Turkish cinema when it was originally released on Christmas Day in 1967. This humble movie launched a series of wild action films that would be the hallmark of 'Istanbollywood.'In 1967, America, and indeed the whole world, went batty with the advent of the Batman TV show starring Adam West. Comic book characters enjoyed a resurgence, becoming post- modern camp pop art and movie makers from Italy to Istanbul rushed in to cash in on the craze.Many companies licensed existing comic book characters like Diabolik or created their own. Atadeniz Film in Turkey felt comfortable enough to just use an existing character without courtesy of license.With the success of Diabolik and other super-criminal types in the pages of European comic books, a new figure appeared... but this time the stories were told with photos instead of drawings. This costumed killer was called Killing in Italy, Satanik in France and is now known in America as SADISTIK in the series published by Comicfix. The movie appropriates the title and costume from the photo novels along with the protagonist's mastery of disguise and penchant for, well, killing. Though there are many scantily clad women and Kilink has a lovely blonde sidekick, she is not Dana, Sadistik's partner in the books. Also Kilink is more megalomaniacal than Sadistik. The former has plans of world domination and has a full cadre of thuggish underlings while the latter works by himself for himself (along with Dana).The film also appropriated other well-known characters and elements from comics and movies. Kilink's adversary is Uçan Adam, which in English is Super Man. The character also sports two very distinctive shields with a familiar 'S' design. His mask is patterned after Batman and he's apparently wearing the Phantom's shorts. And he gets his super powers from a wizard named Shazam. Most of the music is cribbed from that year's 007 film, You Only Live Twice.KILINK ISTANBUL'DA proved popular enough to spawn an amazing 10 sequels. Kilink jumped into almost every genre and met up with a few other well-known characters like Mandrake the Magician and Frankenstein's monster. One was a western and in one Kilink was a female!Long considered a lost film, a dark grainy version was released on VCD but didn't have English subtitles. Recently, Onar Films in Greece issued a super-limited edition DVD with superior picture and sound and with English and Greek subtitles and menus. There are also incredible extras such as a photo gallery of over two dozen pristine stills from KILINK ISTANBUL'DA and outrageous trailers for other Turkish cinema classics featuring Superman, El Santo the Mexican wrester, Captain America and an evil Spider-Man! The DVD is PAL (All Region) and won't play on American DVD players unless you have a PAL system. But if your COMPUTER can play DVDs then KILINK ISTANBUL'DA will play on your computer! For the time being it is the only way to watch it in America, but if you're a fan of the ultra-psychotronic, then this DVD is for you! And it is very unlikely there'll be a mainstream American release of this disc because of copyright issues. This import DVD presents the 70-minute black & white film is in its original full screen ratio and is a limited edition. It features English and Greek menus and subtitles and many cool extras. There's a photo gallery of over two dozen rare original stills, a filmography of director Yilmaz Atadeniz and all 11 Kilink films with a synopsis for each! Best of all are three trailers for other Turkish superhero films from the 1960s and 70s. 3 DEV ADAM (3 Mighty Men) features the Mexican El Santo teaming up with Captain America to battle a wicked Spider-Man in Istanbul! There are also two color Turkish Superman trailers, SUPER ADAM ISTANBUL'DA (Super Man in Istanbul) from the 60s as a black clad and masked crime fighter and SUPERMEN DÖNÜYUR (Turkish Superman) a post-Chris Reeve swipe.Kilink is still very much a presence in modern day Turkey. A popular punk band formed in the Turkish city of Izmir in 2003 and called themselves Kilink. And an outfit was premiered at a London fashion show in 2005 featuring a Turkish designer's colorful take on Kilink's outfit!If you're a cult movie fan and like superheroes, gangsters, spies, horror, American movie serials or Mexican wrestling films, you cannot live without KILINK INSTANBUL'DA! Remember: It's in crusty black & white, has subtitles and will only play on your computer if you have a DVD player program or a PAL DVD player. But it's a whole lotta fun!

KILINK ISTANBUL'DA is almost exactly the same movie I wanted to make when I was 11 or so, right down to the appropriated James Bond themes "borrowed" from YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. Actually I wanted to use Queen's soundtrack from FLASH GORDON, but the comparison is still valid. Kilink is described as "the great Turkish super villain" and is probably the most interesting performance ever given by an actor who's face is never seen and voice never heard. He is a master of disguises, but for reasons never revealed in the film goes around in a Halloween skeleton costume with the bones painted onto a black body suit. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, I prefer going around with a little blond myself.The superhero is named Superhero, dressed in a Salvation Army Superman costume and speaking the name "SHAZAM" (pronounced SHA-ZAHM) for his transformation scenes. He is impervious to bullets, has the strength of a front end loader, and can fly like a bird -- except when chasing bad guys up the side of a hill, when running is of course easier.The movie is deranged, or insane, in the sense that it is not concerned with "reality" and exists as it's own closed universe. It makes perfect sense for the villain to be dressed in a skeleton costume, for the soundtrack to repeat the same snippets of music over and over again, for the villain's henchmen to all have the letter K on the front of their tunics, and for the movie to exist in a sort of bizarre discontinuous nature due to missing footage from splice breaks. Effects follow cause: we see the water splash in a pool before a character is thrown in, see people spinning away from a punch before it is thrown, and are treated to otherwise unfathomable dialog that is perfectly fitting: Kilink calls his underlings "Losers", tells our hero to watch his mouth after being called "king of rogues", and in my favorite line (recreated here for effect) announces that with his new secret weapon nobody will be able to stop him from ruling theworld. His goal is to not only rule the world but to tell people what they will think, what they will eat, if they will live or die, and what they will put on. One might be tempted to opine that the person who did the translation was struggling with their English, but for my money it's in the actual verbatim, especially the scene where our hero jokes about whether or not he dares to beat his sexy fiancée again. At ping pong.I cannot recommend this movie highly enough, especially if you have a sense of humor. It delivers on so many angles, yet manages to actually be thrilling while still having a MST3K sort of goofball appeal. The women in the film are all agonizingly hot, and Kilink has his way with them like any good movie villain or 11 year old would. He does not even bother to remove his mask when kissing his mob moll, and she doesn't seem to mind. It is a very special film, and what's left of it can be found on an excellent Greek made DVD from Onar Films that has an English subtitle for the original Turkish audio track. The runtime is only 70 minutes, and with minimal bathroom breaks you can play it over and over again about thirty times during the course of a day & each time see or hear something which slipped past you before. It's just that kind of movie, and exactly what I had in mind when in the 5th grade. Good ideas don't grow old.9/10

Kilink Istanbul'da (1967) is one of three films starring the Turkish rip-off of Killing, the Italian photo novel rip off of the famous comic strip series Kriminal - are you still following me. The FANATIK (Turkey) VCD plays grainy black and white but it is still a joy to watch with all its 60's style Turk look, fight scenes, Turkish dialogue, scantily clad women and the man himself. Also thrown in to the soundtrack is a ton of "borrowed" tracks that you'll just love.