In Jewish horror film "The

Vigil," a mythological
demon manifests the
trauma of anti-Semitism
Keith Thomas makes his directorial debut to introduce the mazzik, an
invisible Jewish demon that torments people

By MATTHEW ROZSA FEBRUARY 25, 2021 11:05PM (UTC)

Dave Davis as ‘Yakov Ronen’ in Keith Thomas’ THE VIGIL. (Courtesy of IFC Midnight)

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J
ewish-themed horror movies are not unknown, but they are relatively rare. Certainly they are less

common than those which rely on Catholic mythology or other forms of Christian folklore. One

has to wonder if this is because filmmakers fear audiences are anti-Semitic: Jews in

entertainment have long felt pressured to change their names so they sound less "ethnic" and,

therefore, it stands to reason that producers may believe people won't like genre pictures that focus on

Jewish culture. (The same principle would not apply to dramas about issues like the Holocaust, which

are intended for an "artsy" crowd, but rather for those intended to be mass entertainment.)

I don't know this for sure, but it is a niggling suspicion I've harbored for some time. Fortunately, the rich

ore of Jewish mythology has not gone completely neglected among horror filmmakers, which is a good

thing because frankly there are a lot of terrifying entities in Judaic folklore. In recent films you have had

malevolent ghosts called dybbuks, as seen in the David S. Goyer/Michael Bay film "The Unborn"

(2009) and Ole Bornedal/Sam Raimi film "The Possession" (2012), and monsters made of mud or clay

that come to life known as golems, most prominently featured in the Israeli movie "The Golem" (2018).

Now we have a mazzik, the supernatural baddie featured in "The Vigil." Written and directed by Keith

Thomas in his directorial debut, "The Vigil" focuses on an invisible demon that Jewish mythology

teaches will torment people in big ways and small during their day-to-day lives. It also incorporates a

second feature of Jewish culture: The practice of shemira, or a religious ritual of making sure that

someone watches the body of a recently deceased person from their time of death until they are

buried.

Using these two elements, "The Vigil" is a straightforward tale: A lapsed Hasidic Jew named Yakov

Ronen (Dave Davis) is asked by his friend Reb Shulem (Menashe Lustig) to be shomer (someone who

performs shemira) over the body of a Holocaust survivor who died in Brooklyn's Hasidic Borough Park

neighborhood, even though he is warned away by the deceased's widow Mrs. Litvak (Lynn Cohen).

Before long, a mazzik begins to psychologically and physically torment him, actions that take up the

bulk of the film's running time.

As a horror movie "The Vigil" falls qualitatively below a masterpiece like "Midsommar" but better than

dreck like the "Pet Sematary" remake. There are a lot of nice touches here that make it intrinsically

interesting. One is that the characters often speak in Yiddish, a language that was nearly extinguished

during the Holocaust but is spoken in an increasing number of Hasidic Jewish communities. Another is

the matter-of-fact way in which Jewish culture is explained to the audience; when Yakov says he is

going to sit shomer, for instance, this is viewed simply as an ordinary reality rather than trumped up to

be something ominous, demystifying it in a satisfying way. Thomas also wisely decides to rely on

building tension and suspense for his scares rather than piling on the gore, which works well with this

kind of psychological material. 

That last point — that "The Vigil" aims to be psychological horror — deserves more unpacking

because it is perhaps the most intriguing part of the film. In "The Vigil," the mazzik is an allegory for

the trauma that Jews can bear after being victimized by anti-Semitism. This includes the horrors

witnessed by acts of brutality and bullying, of course, but it is not limited to them. When facing

discrimination, people often expose the weaknesses in their own characters — their willingness to do

wrong to others, or their cowardice — and feel plagued with shame and guilt afterward. These

emotions can literally torment their victims for years after the traumatic episodes have occurred and

that is where "The Vigil" is particularly clever: In Thomas' story, the mazzik feeds off of that psychic

pain to select its victims. It is an adroit way of allowing the supernatural theme to become a character

study without seeming forced or heavy-handed.

"The Vigil" is not without its flaws, however. There are too many jump scares, and because the

audience can see them coming from a mile away, they feel like padding rather than earned moments

of fright. While Cohen does a great job as the creepy-but-sympathetic Mrs. Litvak, her character falls

into another horror cliché: The side character who knows that the main character (or characters) is

about to face a terrible evil, but only speaks in mysterious riddles rather than being direct. (I'm not

saying I'd automatically believe someone if they told me that performing shomer for a specific body
would mean that the demon that tortured him for 50 years would go after me, but the

information would at least give me pause.) Then there is the problem with the film's climax. Though

emotionally satisfying, it feels a bit rushed, and is one of those occasions where a denouement works

on paper but the execution falls a little bit flat. It could have been fleshed out a bit more.

These aren't minor quibbles, but they also aren't reasons to stay away from "The Vigil." It is smart

enough, scary enough and unique enough to be worth a watch both for horror fans and for people who

want to see more Jewish culture represented on the screen. Thomas is obviously a talented director

and, for an initial outing, this is a good start. Hopefully it will perform well enough to convince other

horror filmmakers that Jewish mythology, like that of Catholics and other religious groups, can be used

to make compelling cinema.

"The Vigil" is available in select theaters, digital platforms, and VOD on Friday, Feb. 26.

The Vigil - O cial Trailer | HD | IFC Midnight

MATTHEW ROZSA
Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer for Salon. He holds an MA in History from Rutgers University-Newark
and is ABD in his PhD program in History at Lehigh University. His work has appeared in Mic, Quartz
and MSNBC.

MORE FROM MATTHEW ROZSA

Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Jewish Judaism Keith Thomas Movies Review The Vigil Trauma

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