The Vigil Review: Dave Davis' horror movie is just the right tinge of spooky with 'grief' as the main villain

The Vigil

The Vigil Cast: Dave Davis, Lynn Cohen, Menashe Lustig

The Vigil Director: Keith Thomas

Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video

The Vigil Stars: 3/5

Memories; whether good or bad, they're always a part and parcel of our existence. When they're memories you're trying to run away from or simply take up the 'ignorance is bliss' approach, one day, it all boils down and explodes. In the case of The Vigil, using Jewish mythology with Mazzik, an "animalistic parasite" of a spirit, our titular character Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis) is forced to battle his past demons. But how effectively scary is The Vigil for thirsty horror movie aficionados?

For that, let me get you acquainted with the storyline first. Unlike the recent array of horror flicks, which relies heavily on Christianity-driven supernatural beings, The Vigil director and writer Keith Thomas sinks deep into his Jewish heritage for his directorial debut to add some spice into the 'been there, seen that' genre. The Vigil chronicles five hours in the life of Yakov; inside a caricaturish haunted house, a troubled man who has recently strayed away from the Orthodox Jewish community and is instead trying his hand at the millennial life in New York which he doesn't understand due to his strictly conservative upbringing.

This includes learning how to save a contact on his mobile phone to google-ing "How to talk to women." Given his financial issues, Yakov grudgingly agrees to Reb Shulem's (Menashe Lustig) request at being a last-minute shomer (because the previous one mysteriously back out for unspoken reasons) and keeping vigil over Mr. Rubin Litvak (Ronald Cohen), a Holocaust survivor's dead body for USD 400 dollars. However, within minutes of being left alone in the dimly lit house, where he's left alone with the body and Rubin's wife Mrs. Litvak (Lynn Cohen), who battles with Alzheimer's, things quickly spiral out of control for the already frenzied Yakov. Given how Yakov is laced with medication due to therapy from a past memory that's left him traumatised, he starts hallucinating (or not!) screeching nails being broken, subtle movement in the body that's supposed to be dead, pretend phone calls from his therapist Dr. Marvin Kohlberg (Fred Melamed) and potential love interest, Sarah (Malky Goldman), etc.

Yakov is eventually made aware of the Mazzik spirit and is trapped in his own mind battles where he tries to figure out if what's present in front of him is real or a figment of his imagination, all the while a tragic memory infuses itself to add more chaotic mayhem to his already deteriorated mental health. In just under one hour and 30 minutes duration, Keith's screenplay tightly knits a simplistic story with deep emotional attachment added in every wrong turn made by Yakov.

While jump scares have a 50-50 success ratio to truly spook the audience, surprisingly, Keith is overtly dramatic and plays around with screechy roars, moody lights, acute darkness and frilly shadowy figures. In particular, the sound mixing deserves major applause for not shying away and being the hero of the story. You're truly invested in following alongside Yakov (or pretending to be him!) as a make-believe sidekick. Zach Kuperstein's observant cinematography is perfectly balanced by Michael Yezerski's eerie music. There's a particular terrifying basement scene that is spine-chilling in the best of ways.

ALSO READ: The Tomorrow War Review: The exhilarating action in Chris Pratt's movie is shot down by an incoherent script

As for the performances, Dave delivers a fine performance as he oscillates like a true leading man between Yakov's defeated mindset and reinvigorated soul. The late Lynn, whose last works before her death on February 14, 2020, included The Vigil, truly shines in her ghostly yet maternal act. As for Menashe, Reb is nothing but a MacGuffin in leading Yakov to his path of redemption or death bed. Depends on who's doing the watching!

Ultimately, The Vigil doesn't overstay its welcome in spite of how intricately complex the storyline could have been, and maybe, that's a good thing. Human emotions are overtly complicated when truly, all we have to do is accept rather than delve too deep into our past, no matter how hard it may have been, and focus more on the aspect of moving on. The Vigil is more like a spooky therapy session where you're able to put yourself in Yakov's mind-bending shoes and maybe persevere through your own grief.