Set in the Hadistic community of Boro Park, Brooklyn, Keith Thomas makes his directorial debut with a thematically rich horror that offers a fresh perspective on things going bump in the night.
Dave Davis plays Yakov, a depressed young man who has distanced himself from his Orthodox Jewish community following a tragic accident in his past. In the hope of encouraging him to embrace his faith once again, Reb Shulum (Menashe Lustig) asks Yakov to act as a Shomer for one night, taking on the job of keeping vigil over the body of a deceased member of the community. Once Yakov’s night begins however, he discovers that something evil and malevolent has attached itself to the soul he’s been charged to protect, and it’s looking for a new host.
The Vigil, being released under the Blumhouse banner, is both a horror that feels very familiar but also very unique. It is predominantly set in one location, that being a creepy underlit house with something lurking in the shadows, and faith based horrors are certainly nothing new. You’ve likely seen many horror movies that deal with trauma in a similar way, with the evil spirit doing its utmost to use the power of painful memories to its advantage.
What gives this evil spirit tale something more unique is in its depiction of a young Orthodox Jewish man struggling with commitment to his faith while faced against an ancient evil. It has an air of The Exorcist about it, but it is refreshing to see a horror use a faith that isn’t Christianity to propel its deeper themes. The film is as much in Yiddish as it is in English, such is the extent that it is embracing its more unique perspective when it comes to this brand of horror movie. The role of a Shomer seems ripe for a horror tale to be written around it, and it proves to be enticing enough a concept to wrap you into both notions of Jewish faith and Yakov’s depression.
Davis as Yakov is a very strong and empathetic lead, capable of displaying a great nervous energy around his struggle over reconciling with whether this haunting is real or all in his head. He keeps your attention, even as the film ends up relying more and more on loud jumpscares and horror cliche.
That’s where the film slightly loses its edge. While it does contain a couple of effective jumps, they are very much telegraphed and you can almost feel yourself counting down to the beat in which you’re meant to react. The one location spookiness feels as though it’s stretched thin by the point the film moves into the final act, but the film is shot well enough to keep it a location that’s at least visually interesting, even if it doesn’t offer much in the way of space to move the narrative.
While the cultural specificity of its story opens out the film to more original thematic concerns for such a horror setup, the narrative does have a tendency to fall back on a few too many tropes to get it over the finishing line. There’s some decent practical elements that are employed across the night, but the film does feel as though it runs out of tricks pretty quickly.
But The Vigil certainly has plenty going for it to demonstrate director Keith Thomas’ strengths as a debut filmmaker who certainly understands how to construct horror, and how story and character can be a means of adding new flavours and depths. It ultimately ends up being more cliché than its premise focused on Judaism may suggest, but there’s promise in both its star and director that makes this an entertaining exercise in faith based horror movies.
The Vigil
Summary
The Vigil ends up being more cliché than its premise focused on Judaism may suggest, but there’s promise in both its star and director that makes this an entertaining exercise in faith based horror movies.
