A Lenda de Golem

The movie was a bit slow, but the acting was great, and the sets and cinematography were spot on. there was nothing new as far as horror tropes go, but i enjoyed watching!

This movie was well shot, well acted, and the special effects were adequate. The plot, action, and horror were all just missing for the majority of the movie. The story is really simple, it's centered around a small Jewish community in Europe during the 1700's when a bout of plague starts ravaging a neighboring community of Catholic's. The Catholic's blame the plague on Jewish "magic" basically because their community was left untouched due to how remote and segregated their lifestyles are.

Well an angry mob of Catholic's arrive with a very sick child and demand the Jewish folk cure her or face death. One of the towns folk takes it upon herself to summon the Golem, an ancient protector formed out of clay and tasked with defending the Jewish people. Which it...kinda does?

So far everything is fine, simple and easy to understand as that's essentially the whole plot. The problem is almost NOTHING happens for the majority of the movie and it's extremely slow paced. When the "horror" finally happens there's only about 10 minutes of movie left and they rush right through it without showing much of it. And then it ends.

So not terrible, but that's the best review I can personally write without giving any spoilers. It's watchable but you're not missing anything if you skip it.

The reviews of this being "too slow" or "not a horror" are honestly missing what makes a horror movie a horror. It doesn't have to be slashers or jumpscares, horror can be tales of the strange and macabre. Like the monumental classics. This film would stand right alongside the classics of the 30s, though it has more gore. This movie is an excellent example of those alternatives. A dark story of loss, vengeance, and fear. One set in a very interesting historical time period and based on actual lore. With this, the film itself has gorgeous cinematography and a wonderful score. If you love classic horror, dark dramas, or just fine cinema then ignore the unnecessarily low reviews and check this one out.

Look we get it: the movie is slow. Though it's very unique, at least in my opinion and it seems to be super overlooked by impatient viewers. It's very stylized which you can take as you will, but pulls it off in a way that's not too over the top or anticlimactic. I feel like this movie was more a drama about dealing with your grief (albeit in a mystical way) rather than just a monster horror movie. There's not much to be said without spoiling a lot as the movie is a bit easy to figure out with a a few details.

Like The Witch or Hereditary, this is a simple, slow-moving film that's about atmosphere and isolation and creepiness, not horror or jump scares. The telling of the Golem tale is very accurate to the most common versions, so if you are a folklore fan you will be satisfied. And it's only 90 minutes long.