The Invocation of Enver Simaku

THE INVOCATION OF ENVER SIMAKU documents the effort of a man who tries to find out what exactly happened during a particular night in 1997 when his wife and dozens of local Albanian villagers were murdered by a seeming madman, and a period of upheaval began in the entire country.

This is a slow-burn story which takes its time to follow various leads and in the meanwhile introduces us to various topics of Albanian culture, geography and history. For a movie that is not a real documentary, it contains quite a lot of such information, and I found this aspect the most interesting. Now I know, for example, that Albania during Communist times was declared the world's first atheist country, prohibiting the exercise of religion altogether until the regime's downfall in 1990; that superstition and belief in folk myths such as the kukuth, a demon-like creature that is supposed to make people do horrible things, began to occupy the vacuum of belief in at least in some people; and that the fall of the Albanian right-wing government in 1997 was catalyzed by the failure of Ponzi schemes and subsequent losses in which the overwhelming majority of the population had invested based on the irresponsible endorsement by their government.

When it comes to the story itself, it doesn't generate too much excitement, save for a couple of unsettling scenes, of which the seeming slow emergence of a kukuth from behind a couch (or was it just the imagination?) is probably the most notable. The ending, which recapitulates the beginning, seems to have been conceived as poetic but ends up being anticlimactic.

The film is at pains to say that it is based on true events. Whether it really is or not I can't tell, but all the background info I checked turned out correct. So, this is probably most suited for people who like to learn more about other cultures in general and Albania in particular.

The Invocation of Enver Simaku: Albanian Folk Horror film involving possession, Pagan Rituals, Exorcism and mass murder. 1997, Spanish documentary makers Julien & Angela are deep in rural Albania when they gear gunshots. Angela is killed by two brothers who go on to murder dozens of locals. Twenty years later Julien returned to solve the mystery of what happened. It seems to be related to the death of the brothers' older brother Enver who had been in a coma since 1978. The film is presented mostly in the form of a faux documentary, similar to the found footage style. Julien interviews various people as he traverses Albania finding evidence of an official cover up of mass deaths of children in 1978, the survivors were dispersed and those who complained were imprisoned, but not for the usual reasons. They were charged with engaging in witchcraft and sorcery, Hoxha had his own X-Files unit - the Anti-Paranormal Brigade. We hear of the Kukuth, a Pagan Demon who possesses people and devours their souls, finally escaping to inhabit others. An Orthodox Priest describes this in terms of Satanic Possession. The horror here is mostly psychological but the sense of fear, even terror builds as the narrative unfolds, Julien even seems to detect presences in his peripheral vision. Slow moving at times but well worth watching. Written and Directed by Marc Lledó Escartín. On Netflix. 7/10.

The fact that this film has very low ratings doesn't surprise me: in order to understand it, you need a wealth of historical knowledge that is not taken for granted. The horror plot intertwines with the recent history of Albania, of which it is necessary to have at least some notions to understand different elements of the film. The story also proceeds quite slowly, while remaining in a climate of constant anguish. Visually however it is very interesting and the acting is good. It's a raw, gritty, non-commercial horror film that evidently isn't to everyone's taste (understandably, shall we say).

During the first few minutes, I was skeptical- thought it was some student project. And then it was getting better and better every moment. Some real history, political impact, folk myths, paranormal investigation- it had everything. Was there any scientific explanation of the incidents? Or all of the said story was mass hysteria? Or really something occult? You'll start to ask these within half hour.

It is indeed a different kind of movie, and a good one. And no, don't expect any ghost or gore from this movie.

First i wouldn't call it horror, a bit creepy at best.

The movie is a documentary style story, mostly interviews and not much happening except for a few mysterious shots of creatures lurking in the shadows.

Most of the time it's in english, but some parts aren't which didn't bother me, i have subtitles on anyway.