Tarkan Vs. The Vikings (1971. Mehmet Aslan)

By Jens

Turkish viking cinema? SAY WHAT? Yes, Mondo Macabro has unearthed another bazarre blast from the past. Gero, king of the vikings, is evil, not only does he and his nothern hordes sport the outrageous fake moustaces and insane blond wigs ever, but Gero also feed his enemies to a giant octopus (in the great tradition of Ed Wood’s ”Bride Of The Monster”). Wait, there’s more evil, not only does the bad bad viking rape and kill everyone in sight, but Gero’s best friend is Yonca, Attila’s daughter! Fear not, because the great barbarian hero, Tarkan, is on to Gero and his onslaught of decent Turkish people. Tarkan is especially pissed off because Gero killed one of his beloved wolves (in reality a german shepherd puppy!?), so with his ’wolf’ by his side, Tarkan tracks down Gero for the final showdown. I’ve seen my share of deranged flicks but this one is especially twisted. It’s also surprisingly gory and packed with nudity (maybe Turkey’s muslims was a bit more laid in the early 70s, haha), and it’s incredibly racist towards us Scandinavians; we’re all brutes with very bad hair!! Well, I’m sure native Americans experienced the same stereotyping in Westerns, so it’s probably only fair us notherners got a share of other countries’ (cockeyed) view of us. Despite it’s low budget ”Tarkan Vs. The Vikings” is very fastpaced, violent, entertaining and features some hilarious bad acting by hopeless Turkish actors trying to be vikings. A must for any fan of psychotronic cinema!