The Vigil - Die Totenwache

A solid slow burn that really heats up. Dark and unsettling. The type of film that gets under your skin and stays with you. Jewish horror films are an untapped well. We need to see more!

The Vigil has the merit of taking place on a road rarely trodden by horror films: Jewish folklore. And that's about the only original thing about the film, which follows scenes already seen hundreds of times, with a hero with heavy post-traumatic stress in the background.

Despite an original starting idea and an interesting horrific setting, The Vigil seriously struggles to excite the viewer. The usual jump scares and sudden appearances do not work. The soundtrack, all shrill saturated screams, seems more frightened than the viewer. The misadventures of the protagonist are underwhelming, and the feeling of déjà-vu that reigns makes the film banal.

Quite disappointing, as the first half of the moving was promising, and I was excited to watch a horror movie with a Jewish backdrop.

A good and original premise in a genre that recycles ideas to death. The problems were it was slow and hard to follow in spots. The other being the cinematography. The whole movie is very visually dark. Perhaps their attempt at film noir, but it was too much. It was distracting and again, made it hard to follow.

The title cards at the beginning of 'The Vigil' made for very interesting reading to me. I had never heard of the Jewish process of watching over the soul of a dead body soon after it dies. It does present itself as a great set-up for a horror movie though. For some reason it was very strange watching Hasidic Jews as the characters in a horror film. I can't think of another film in that genre based around them (I'm sure there is, I just haven't seen it). The film has some good moments but ultimately falls short of turning into anything great.

The film is well paced. It starts out with the usual character introductions and some exposition, but then once we get to the house where the action is due to take place the film kicks into gear pretty quickly and doesn't relent for a long while. The middle of this film is by far the strongest third. There are some good scares and a little mystery element as to exactly what is going on.

Sadly the ending of 'The Vigil' let the film down in my opinion. It was very "meh" and left the film as a very forgettable experience unfortunately. Playing it safe when it comes to endings is never the way to go for my liking. However, even though it ends on a bit of a flat note there is enough quality horror through the middle to make this worth a watch. It will probably be a film you will enjoy the most if your expectations aren't too high however.

Whilst this is a low budget film the tight story doesn't really need a big budget. It would have added nothing to what you will see here. Good script, acting, directorship and editing. It becomes quite clear, no spoilers here, that evils forces here feed on past guilt even if guilt should not be felt for events you had no control over. I was a bit unsure if the main character had been purposely offered the Vigil to deal with his mental trauma or if it was coincidental. I may have lost focus on whether it was as the film is unsettling and quite disturbing at times. I will not go in to the plot anymore in case of spoilers but being a Catholic it was very interesting to see this from a Jewish religion and culture perspective and the second I have recently the other being the 2012 film The Possession which I found excellent. The Possession was a more of a more frightening and big event film but this film is more gentle and disturbing story. I can't say how accurate the portraying of Jewish religion and culture is of either but for me from a different perspective as I am not an expert on their beliefs actually added to the effect and power of both.

I recommend this as a frightening, slow burning movie despite it not being overlong so overall a solid 7/10.