The Vigil product reviews

Christianity has no doubt been a great source of supernatural subjects in the horror genre; whether it be antichrists, demons, the devil, hell, purgatory, or exorcisms, the mythology and lore certainly have a lot of depth to it. What is often overlooked, is the supernatural phenomena from other religions. The Vigil attempts to fill a niche by introducing mainstream audiences to facets of Judaism. This niche of Jewish-faith-based horror has generally been filled with nothing but a variety of films about the "golem". With his feature film directorial debut, Keith Thomas tries something new.

That is to say that the development of the main character Yakov (portrayed by Dave Davis) explores elements of the Jewish religion through the eyes of a secular Jew, recently separated from the orthodox population. Allowing consideration to the triangle of relationships between orthodox, secular, and non-Jewish, there is a rich seam of conflict that Thomas would be able to delve into.

Ultimately, this is not the direction that Thomas chooses to take The Vigil, instead, sticking to the traditional "haunted house" horror tropes from a slightly different perspective. Davis does an amazing job in the film as Yakov, and as the only person on screen for the majority of the film, he does a brilliant job at conveying the torment, trauma, and anxiety that his character is riddled with. Adding a psychological level to the film is the only thing that keeps the intrigue going as the usual culprits of the haunted houses are again and again brought into play. There is only so much shadowplay and loud noises that one can take before you start to become desensitized to it.

The psychological side manages to build intrigue as the immediate events start having less of a role as the character's own past comes back to haunt him. Combine this with some imaginative cinematography from Zach Kuperstein, and The Vigil starts to look like two separate and conflicting films. There are plenty of interesting ingredients to the plot, but few are properly delved into or developed, and it leads to a visually exciting final act that has no impact at all. The significance and power of the scene are all but absent as the context, build-up, and correlation between past and present events are not well-defined.

The Vigil is packed full of intriguing concepts that are visually well-executed, but from a narrative standpoint, there is no reasoning nor explanation to anything that occurs. Three are no boundaries set, nor capabilities explained, and it leaves the audience watching a film that is only able to create scares by preying on the human instinct to jump when presented with an excessively loud noise. And excessively is not an understatement. Caution is to be heeded if you have sensitive hearing as the soundtrack from Michael Yezerski is much more jarring than the usual musical compositions.

Dave Davis absolutely shines in this minimalist haunted house-style horror, with well-placed support from Lynn Cohen as Mrs Litvak. There is a certain novelty to seeing a horror from a Jewish perspective; to see a different boogie monster, and expand knowledge of others belief systems. The Vigil, however, exhibits much of the same visual entities that we have seen many times before; simply with a different name, and fewer restrictions. Nonetheless, it is entertaining and, in the end, that is all that really matters. While there is plenty of room for improvement in the writing, I certainly don't feel like my time was wasted.