Immediately the film endears you to Yakov, the young man at the center of the story. He's so sad and vulnerable over a trauma that is unclear for the first act, but it's made clear that the trauma was sufficient to required medication. His awkwardness coupled with the reluctant circumstances of his acting as a shomer or "vigil" for the Orthodox Jewish community which he has just left, makes for a vulnerable and touching opening. The atmosphere is relentless, every shadow looks like something, the body under the sheet on the altar about to move at any second and when the dread is revealed, the mythology is frightening all on its own. Highly recommend, really liked it, some good jumps, and the overall bad feeling stays with you for hours after.
162 Reviews
Good low budget unsettling and disturbing horror film.
mulcahyj-075457 January 2021
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.
I recommend this as a frightening, slow burning movie despite it not being overlong so overall a solid 7/10.
Enjoyable, and a few jump scares!
Molly_flower1 January 2021
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.
A really strong middle period holds the film together
jtindahouse27 July 2020
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.
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.
A well told tale
richardwworkman14 January 2021
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.
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.
A promising premise turns out to be an unfortunate mishap - intoscreens.com
eelen-seth18 July 2020
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 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.
A Solid Creepy Horror
ue-5366031 December 2020
Original but unsatisfying
borgolarici24 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The premise was interesting: there's a demon that attaches himself to traumatised people, in this case victims of antisemitism. This particular demons has to exorcised following a special Jewish rite.
Sadly, the movie doesn't really explore this aspect and it's mostly a slow burn with a lot of jump scares and not much backstory.
The ending doesn't fully explain the situation imho and it's up to interpretation.
Sadly, the movie doesn't really explore this aspect and it's mostly a slow burn with a lot of jump scares and not much backstory.
The ending doesn't fully explain the situation imho and it's up to interpretation.
Creepy but also informative
davlaw-206385 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This is a creepy 'ghost' story and informative for non-jewish viewers. I now know what a shomer is for example. The movie is as much about Rubin's redemption for the death of his brother. He suffers badly mentally because of this and is taking medication, so one cannot perhaps rule out the effect of his medication for what he sees, rather than the mazzik which possessed the deceased after he was forced to shoot his sister (?) by the concentration camp guard?
Been here before
danielnunez-815182 March 2021
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.
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.
Extremely solid
zuppafresh22 October 2019
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.
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.
Exotic amitious horror movie
Finnick-at-Nuernberg11 August 2020
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.
Conclusion: Not an easy fare, but you can see that. A bit of an exotic among horror movies.
I learned what a shomer is
Vince60413 December 2020
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.
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.
Expected more from this indie film
baka_land2 December 2020
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.
Too dim to guess anything
acroking8715 July 2021
I'm not sure if it was my room's bright lighting or the movie was actually very low lighted. So low lighted that the viewer unfortunately misses style of the most exciting moments of this otherwise creative and high on potential movie. I somewhat felt dizzy trying to make out what's going on in several scenes altogether.
The premise of the movie is quite powerful coming to the horror elements. An unknown dead body lying near you in a shadowy room all night raises the bar for possibilities of everything scary one can think of. The movie packs several slow burn horror sequences in a short time frame and the musical accompaniment to accentuate the scary build up doesn't disappoint either.
Not a bad watch for once keeping in mind the Blumhouse genre, though certainly could have been much better.
The premise of the movie is quite powerful coming to the horror elements. An unknown dead body lying near you in a shadowy room all night raises the bar for possibilities of everything scary one can think of. The movie packs several slow burn horror sequences in a short time frame and the musical accompaniment to accentuate the scary build up doesn't disappoint either.
Not a bad watch for once keeping in mind the Blumhouse genre, though certainly could have been much better.
A waste of 90 minutes.
nelsonmd-620362 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Man sits around in the dark being afaid of noises and shadows. The one time he switches on a light switch to check out a disturbance, he immediately switches it off again. I think I saw this in a Geico commercial. They obviously couldn't come up with an ending, so he just kills the demon, no problem.
80% Good, but Missing One or Two Elements
sub780lime4 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
There's a lot to like here. The movies does a great job of providing and maintaining suspense through act 1 and 2. Sadly, act 3 seems to fall on it's face a bit trying to get to a resolution. There's elements that seemed like they were cut or decided to be expanded that seemed to be an important tie-in to the end. The creepy basement with the husband and wife video - why was this not the method with which the lead learned to resolve the issue. It was there, the husband even indicating that he was recording info so that the 'next person' may not end with the same fate. Yet, it wasn't truly used to provide information the main character needed. Having the main character be forced back downstairs to seek needed information would have provided more suspense and a turning point. In the end, the resolution seemed to just sort of plop out there and lost it's suspense because it was really fast. It's really too bad, because up to then, everything was very methodical and had you on that edge you seek with this type of movie. It's still worth a watch, but it could have been much better.
They gave up after exposition
schamarande31 July 2020
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.
Wow
HeyHay3720 March 2021
Loved this movie. It wasn't something that I expected myself to enjoy as much as I did.
It actually made me look up the what a shomer is, and different things about Orthodox Judaism-super interesting. Really well done -great acting, lovely atmospheric movie steeped in traditions and and our own fears.
Definitely worth it
Waste of time
pareshjain-8180013 September 2021
I don't know why noobs even come here to rate movies
yuvraj_95 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
It's a pity that a bunch of amateurs have given this movie such a low rating. But I'm certain the ratings will go up real soon!!. About the film - it's possibly the most intelligent horror movie in recent times. The atmosphere drains you and consumes you. The movie doesn't end up being cheesy towards the end, which is difficult for most horror movie when they have to stitch it together to give the complete package. The Demon is well crafted and tbh without a demon there is no real horror. I have seen the length and breadth of horror and you can take my word for it this movie won't disappoint you.
Not bad with a pretty unique premise
85122227 October 2021
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.
"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.
It had potential
ten-thousand-marbles27 July 2021
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.
Good
kathmummybear21 February 2021
A good solid start it just needed to keep the suspense which wained towards the end .I did however enjoy it and liked the originality. The lead actor did a very good job indeed infact everyone put in good solid performance .I would like to say the lighting and camera work was very good creating atmosphere while still being able to see
Typical blumhoise horror.
vinneysufc8 August 2020
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.
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