Demon

I was thoroughly enjoying this and it just ended. What's up with that? I wanted more answers. That was disappointing. I will say that one of the best and somewhat comical aspect was just how much drinking went on. These folks were lit! I mean all of them were wasted to the point that it could've passed for a zombie flick. I like it but I had to lower the rating because of all the questions that were left unanswered.

Ok, so this guy gets a plot of land and property as an early wedding present and, while using a backhoe to dig out a new pool, unearths a skeleton. Not wanting to upset his bride to be, he doesn't mention it. However, on the night of the wedding ceremony and reception (held on the same premises), it appears that the subject can't really be ignored. This is a very interesting, and fast-paced, take on a classic demonic possession tale - in this case, the Jewish dybbuk legend - and it gets creepier and creepier as it continues along. Sure, it's in Polish, but as with many horror movies there's no overabundance of thick dialog. I'd say it's slick and mildly plausible. Well, in the arena of demonic possession, anyway.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie until the last 15 minutes or so. The wild polish wedding in rural isolation with the foreshadowing of a death and funeral a few miles away, the clueless, friendless groom from out of town London and the Father of the bride trying desperately to keep everything seemingly normal, "It's food poisoning", while his son in law gets possessed by the spirit of a, probably murdered, young Jewish girl from over a generation ago and does a St. Vitus Dance at the wedding.

The groom finds a skeleton near his new home right under the nose of his wedding venue and tries to keep it a secret as the spirit begins to take possession. The hilarious cowardly priest and the rather sad scene where one old Jewish wedding guest realizes the groom is now speaking Yiddish and the spirit talking through the groom is of a young Jewish girl he once knew who thinks her whole family is still alive waiting for her.

The build up is fantastic and the location and characters reactions all make this story feel very real, as if it could be taking place right now somewhere in Poland, but the ending gives nothing. You must decide what happened with the spirit and the poor groom. All said, I still really enjoyed the movie.

On the big day for an engaged couple the groom uncovers a grim secret, and the celebrations don't go quite as intended ...

This seemed so intriguing, and I was rubbing my hands as the action kicked off at a lively pace with good humour from the actors. Then we switch to a Polish-Jewish wedding, with great music and dancing and lots of knowing observations. But where's the horror? Instead we get an oblique reflection on the secrets buried in sad soil - it's worth the telling, but doesn't dare to be explicit. I guess the aim was to achieve a haunting atmosphere, but it doesn't really make it - although the fate of the director after the movie was released adds a terrible twist. Is there any such thing as a Jewish horror movie?

Performances are good, but the plot and characterisation are uneven. There's a running joke with characters getting soaked in rain and vodka, and the photography is good. One scene is captured brilliantly, when the couple emerge from the church and get caught in a flurry of snow and umbrellas.

Music is OK, with a joke about Chopin that then fails to switch the music from electronic to piano. Lots of play with several languages and a few puns.

Overall: Spirited but not demonic.

Through his best friend in London, Peter (Itay Tiran) meets Zaneta (Agnieszka Zulewska), and soon he travels to her home village in Poland to marry her and settle down in the large, if somewhat isolated, house of her parents. Left there overnight, he does some digging and appears to uncover a skeleton; but the next morning, the hole and the bones are gone, and Peter has spent a rather strange night. Shrugging it all off, Peter and Zaneta marry and a huge party is held at the house; much dancing, speechifying and, especially, drinking of vodka ensues. But Peter isn't feeling quite himself shortly after the party begins, and soon he's acting *very* much out of character…. This is a retelling of the Yiddish tale of the dybbuk, a kind of ghost story, and it's very well done here - the acting is excellent, the atmosphere alternates between wild partying and sheer creepiness, and the horror, while striking, is more of the quiet variety than the blood-splatter type (for which I was grateful). I don't know how available it is in North America - I saw it at Montreal's always-brilliant Fantasia Festival - but it's well worth searching for!