Dave Davis
Yakov Ronen
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A man providing overnight watch to a deceased member of his former Orthodox Jewish community finds himself opposite a malevolent entity.
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| Release Date | 2020-07-01 |
|---|---|
| Runtime | 1h 28m |
| Directors | Keith Thomas, Zach Kuperstein, Alex Burstein, Anthony James Faure, Tony Manzo, Nolan Schlain |
| Producers | J.D. Lifshitz, Adam Margules, Raphael Margules, Jason Blum, Ryan Turek, Karen Barragan, Melvin Ang, Daniel Finkelman, Chaya Amor, Malky Goldman, Jamie Buckner, Anthony Eu, Alex Peace, Joe Minz, Matt Sher, Neil Rock |
| Writer | Keith Thomas |
'The Vigil' explores a dark part of history via some fascinating mythology that is underutilised in modern cinema. It's a shame that an interesting concept for supernatural thriller falls victim to the influence of lazy modern horror filmmaking tropes and clichés. - Jake Watt
Read Jake's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-the-vigil-a-rare-excursion-into-yiddish-horror
— SWITCH.
I will admit to feeling just a little uneasy as I walked back to the car after watching this debut from Keith Thomas at 11pm. Dave Davis is "Yakov" who is a bit down on his luck, on some pretty heavy medication, and struggling to get back on track after a fairly traumatic event from his past. A rabbi asks him if will act as a "Shomer" - a person who sits with the deceased to recite prayers and generally ward off any evil before burial. As he watches over the body, the usual spooky things start to happen - lights flicker; things go bump etc; and on that score it's all a pretty routine horror flick; but as his fears start to build, he begins to confront his own demons as much as he must the predatory "Mazzik" that feeds from his fears. Save for a few short appearances from the widow - Lynn Cohen, it's essentially a single-hander and Davis does an OK job - aided by the drearily-lit room and some suitably tense - if frequently over-the-top musical accompaniment. It's not exactly scary - but it's still a decent effort based on a source of legend rarely exploited by Hollywood. Best seen late at night when it's dark outside, I'd say...
— CinemaSerf