But when was the last time you saw a Jewish demon movie? While they do exist, they're very few and far between, so there's a really good chance that you've never even heard of any. Well, that's about to change. The Vigil is about a Jewish man named Yakov who's asked to keep vigil over the body of a deceased member of the Orthodox community he recently left, and in the course of the night, he realizes that there's a malevolent spirit in the house. It originally premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019, and it was released on VOD and in limited theaters on February 26.
From the very first shot, this movie is super atmospheric, and while that atmosphere wanes a bit at times, it never goes away entirely. In fact, it's the main source of horror in the film. You get a few jump scares (but thankfully, only a few) and a bit of creepy imagery, but on the whole, this movie is more about tension and atmosphere than anything else.
For example, when Yakov begins his vigil, he turns away from the body, sits down, and puts his earbuds in to listen to music. The camera then lingers on him with the corpse lying motionless in the background, and the tension immediately goes through the roof. You expect the corpse to start moving, but you don't know when (or even if) it will, so every second of this shot is agonizingly suspenseful.
It's a pretty intense scene, but it's just one of many tricks The Vigil has up its sleeve. The movie also employs some subtler scare tactics, and they're just as effective. There are a few times when you think there's nothing supernatural going on, but then something unexpected happens and you suddenly realize that Yakov has been interacting with the demon all along. Those scenes are particularly creepy because they catch you off guard, and all the fear you should've been feeling the entire time hits you in that one moment when you realize what's truly going on.
But the horror isn't the only thing this movie has going for in. In fact, it's not even the best thing about the film. We've all seen plenty of movies with effective scares and creepy atmospheres, but there are two other things that set this one apart and make it one of the must-see horror films of early 2021. First, we have the character of Yakov. He's admittedly not super developed, but actor Dave Davis makes him really likeable and sympathetic. In the course of the movie, you learn that he's experienced some pretty heavy trauma in his life, and Davis's performance brings that out quite well, making you empathize with him and root for him to defeat his demons (both literal and metaphorical).
And secondly, there's the Jewish culture that saturates the film. It's a very refreshing change from what we normally get in this subgenre, and it makes for a unique story and a unique dynamic between the characters. Sure, it still has a lot of the tropes that we recognize and might even expect in a demon movie, but it's different enough that it doesn't feel like we've seen this same story a million times before.
If you couldn't tell, I really liked this movie. It has a great atmosphere, some really effective scares, a likeable main character, and a unique cultural background that you just don't see very often in horror. It's not perfect, but it doesn't have any major flaws. Probably my biggest issue with the film is that it has a couple of really cliché jump scares, but that's not nearly enough to outweigh everything it gets right. So if you're on the prowl for some good new horror, I definitely recommend that you check out The Vigil. I don't know if it'll make my top ten list come December, but for now, it's one of the best horror movies of this very young year.
No comments:
Post a Comment