User reviews

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.

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.

Quite original with the setting and the scare-jumps for this movie. I enjoyed it from start to end, and found the main actor to be a very good and believable character. The only reason that I did not rate this movie even higher was because the main climax of the horror lasted less than 5 minutes and I was expecting more from that aspect.

Set over the course of a single evening in Brooklyn's Hassidic "Boro" Park neighborhood. Having lost his faith, Yakov (Dave Davis - Greyhound) isn't eager to go back to the insular religious community he only recently fled. But when Reb Shulem (Menashe Lustig - Menashe), a rabbi and confidante, approaches Yakov after a support group meeting and offers to pay Yakov to be the shomer - a respected position of someone who watches over the body overnight to keep it from demons - for a recently deceased Holocaust survivor, he reluctantly accepts the job. Shortly after arriving at the dilapidated house, Yakov realizes that something is very, very wrong.

The concept of The Vigil looks good enough on paper to get excited about. The film could've explored territories that are fairly unknown for many of us who aren't part of the Jewish community, with stories that often involve the supernatural and afterlife. Instead of turning into a 21st century "Jewish Excorcist", it rather takes the easy route and goes for a more lighter version of 'The Autopsy of Jane Doe'. The film takes place in one extremely underlit house, where creepy knocks and creaks help build an ominous atmosphere. What starts off strong quickly gets annoying when rough sound design and annoyingly ineffective jump scares take over, unfortunately losing any emotional impact the story could have created by the end of this haunted night.

Director Keith Thomas seems lost in his own screenplay and never elevates what makes his first feature film stand out: the atmosphere. Those dark rooms sure raise questions, as to why Yakov doesn't turn on more lights and keep them on when he starts witnessing shadows in the corners of the room. The problem with the overpowering darkness is that at one point, that isolating feeling loses its effect and every shadow just becomes a blur. Luckily Davis knows how to handle himself, in what's basically a one-man show.

The Vigil never reaches for that light at the end of the tunnel, relying too much on clichés and overused scare tactics. By keeping it all a bit too vague, it loses any sense of terror it so successfully built up in the first half of the film, making it an unfortunate mishap that could've been an unforgettable original addition to the horror genre.

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.

To fully understand the film, you have to understand what a shomer is. A Shomer is a Jewish tradition, where a family member usually watches over the body of a deceased person. If a family member is not available, a shomer can be hired. His job is to comfort the deceased's soul.

Dave Davis delivers a good performance as Yakov, who is hired as a shomer. Still coming to terms with the death of his younger brother, Yakov is on medication and seeing a psychiatrist. This played a big part in the believability of the events to come.

Yakov is escourted to the home of Mrs Litvak, where he is to watch over her deceased husband. She suffers from Alzheimers and Yakov is assured she would be asleep for most of the night. Yakov must watch over the body until the mortuary men arrive at 5am.

Not long into his watch, Yakov starts hearing creepy sounds...and this already gave me gooseflesh because it was so spooky! The film maximizes the small cast and limited setting, and thanks to director Keith Thomas the film remains creepy and captivating from beginning to end. There were so many moments here that sent a chill down my spine!

Yakov is terrorized by a Mazzik - an invisible demon, and he must find a way to break free or he will never be able to leave the house. Dave Davis makes every moment believable. 'The Vigil' is a creepy and truly scary film which will give its audience a reason to fear the dark!

Don't really want to spend much time on this review since I know people have/will address similar gripes.

It doesn't help that the previous movie I watched before this has the exact same themes of the effects from a traumatic tragedy (Daniel Isn't Real), but while that one was surprisingly fun and upbeat at times, this movie has me thinking that I'm getting slow burn Horror fatigue.

The direction, the editing, sound/music, and the acting are fine, but the script... the plot and the story just don't do it for me... at all... not even a little bit. Story always comes first to me, and this one missed in that department. The plot wasn't there either; there's only so many times you could write a guy going into different parts of a house and getting spooked before it becomes one-note redundancy ad nauseam. A groan of tedium escaped me throughout the entire 2nd and 3rd acts.

Maybe, I missed something, but the entire setup was pointless to me (the whole thing with texting the girl and meeting his friends at the beginning), literally none of them are ever heard of again after the first 10 minutes (except the the girl... I know she's supposed to represent his arc, but ehh).

If you're up for a derivative and a contrived experience, check it out, but it's a no from me, dawg.

This probably should've been a 20 minute short film.

A simple story and a well told tale of mysticism, the supernatural and occult that's grounded in personal realisation and spirituality.

A man who has lost his faith in god and in himself is literally forced to confront his demons.

Some excellent moments, good jump scares and deeper consideration of the human condition. A beautiful ending.

Although not perfect, I felt this was an extremely solid debut from Keith Thomas.

There's a lot to enjoy here for fans of horror, the most interesting part being its unique Jewish perspective. The lead was great and I appreciated the different take on the typical haunted house story. The feeling of dread never left my body, the atmosphere it created is exactly what I'm looking for in a horror movie. Unfortunately, there are a couple of cheap jump scares which seemed needless.

Overall a very well rounded horror film with an interesting take and a pretty awesome final act. Highly recommended.

Waited a long time and was excited to watch it, it started great but it was nothing but a typical hollywood movie with the same generic formula. Sadly there aren't any good horror movies but hopefully, indie filmmakers will come up with some original concepts.

The premise had potential. That's about it. One hour into the movie, we realized the plot still hadn't moved and lacked density. Scenes worked on your nerves, but every time you expected a payoff in the form of a jump scare or plot progression, they dragged you forever. It felt like the movie was 4 big scenes. That'd be about 20 min a scene. All I'm saying is you shouldn't have to pay to catch up on your sleep.

A very well made creepy horror with very unique freaky small moments. It is definitely well made and very different.I would have never thought I would give a 7/10 to a horror movie.

Tries to match the Babadook formula only instead of being about grief, this one is about survivor's guilt. Slow start with some awkward acting evolves into an interesting narrative and arc.

Credit for putting this in a community we don't get a lot of horror from (the Hasidic community), and taking the stereotypes - the friend, the mentor, the potential girlfriend, the old lady - and giving them something different to do in the film. Effects are well done for the most part, and it's more story heavy than showy.

Boo for the constant clanging noise-centered jump scares, the very slow pace revealing things we guessed in the first few minutes, the look of the antagonist at the reveal. Nice allegory, but not the Babadook.

Sorry about the title, I'm not familiar with Jewish culture and religion.

As for the movie, I thought it was mostly enjoyable, but the reason for the 5 stars is because there isn't enough scares throughout the movie to call it a good horror flick.

According to me a waste of time absolutely waste of time.

I have seen the film in the cinema and after the promising trailer I was also very excited about it. The mood of the film is very dark, the tension level is high throughout. The creepy effects suffer from the camera work, because this movie is shot so dark that you just can't see anything. The protagonist Yakov is played very convincingly by Dave Davies, so that you can really put yourself in his place. On the positive side: The story takes a lot of time in the beginning, but then it convinces with its credibility. The horror the movie is about is portrayed in a very abstract way and there is no final explanation, which is something I think is always good in the horror genre. It's a pity, though, that the other actors remain rather marginal figures and thus the movie becomes a one-man show around the protagonist.

Conclusion: Not an easy fare, but you can see that. A bit of an exotic among horror movies.

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.

Was okay, Its a blumhouse horror, so solely relies on jumpscares and tense music to create the atmosphere in the room. Although in the cinema I believe it was a good horror (Definalty scared me) however as soon as the movie is over. Boom forgotten and calm. As I said at the start it's a jumpscare film. Not a phycalogical scare that affects you afterward.

If this movie had stuck to the way the first half had played out then I would be awarding this film either a five or six but I found the second half of the movie ruined the film for me. The first half, a man who has lost his faith in an old house where a spirit dwells. This part had some good scenes in it and most of them worked. The second half, once again I feel that film makers are ruining films by making them to arty and trying to be pretentious in their film making. Just make an out and out horror film without being arty. A good first half, not so good second half.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"The Vigil" (2019) isn't the best horror movie around. But for me who was searching some horror movie escapism before Halloween in 2021 it did its job. Its a descent horror flick with creepy premise and setting. Its a small budget flick and you can clearly see it, yet it wasn't bad at all. I liked acting by few main actors as well claustrophobic setting. The whole idea of taking premise into Jewish culture and religion was pretty original in my opinion - you won't see this premise very often to say the least.

Overall, "The Vigil" was not heavy on jump scares but if focused on mood and setting and its Jewish culture premise. For that i liked this movie - for what it is it did its job for me and nothing more.

I don't agree with all the negative reviews on this one. I thought this movie was put together quite well. The dark music score meshed great with the frightening scenes and the film didn't have to rely on overt jump scares to be scary. The jewish religious theme added something out of the ordinary to the saturated field of horror.

The director did a good job of character development that made you feel for for the lead. The tension and anguish the lead character felt were palpable and made the movie that much more interesting. Also, the cinematography made me feel claustrophobic and tense, always wondering when the danger would arrive.

While this may not be one of the greats, I think it is a great horror entry worth your time.

[7/10]