The Vigil puts meh in menacing

The Vigil

Cast: Dave Davis, Menashe Lustig, Malky Goldman Director: Keith Thomas Duration: 1 h 29 m Available: On demand

The Vigil, a first feature from writer-director Keith Thomas, starts with a fascinating premise — a horror movie set in New York's Orthodox Jewish community — before devolving into a series of cliché candlelit jump scares, backed by a bombastic soundtrack. Ultimately, it puts the meh in menacing.

Dave Davis stars as Yakov, who has just left the ultraorthodox community. In the opening scene we see him meeting with a group of others, discussing the finer points of hugging etiquette and cellphone use. “I'm still learning the rules,” he says.

Knowing this was a horror, I half-expected to learn that Yakov and his friends were a group of vampires. But nope; they're just sheltered and socially backward. So when he agrees to perform the duties of a shomer, we see him passing the time by Googling “how to talk to women.”

A shomer, as the film explains, is a guardian who watches over a deceased body until it can be buried.

In this case, it's an elderly Holocaust survivor and shut-in. Nothing says it needs to be done in a dimly lit room, but Yakov seems OK with that. He even casually turns his back on the shrouded corpse, which decades of horror movies have taught us You Should Never Do.

Filmmakers who take on this genre have a common concern — how much backstory do you give a demon? Do you make it a mere intimidating creature, or explain how it got to be that way? The Vigil seems to want it both ways. In the early going, the creepy noises that assault Yakov seem deliberately random. But as the film progresses, the plot widens (notice I didn't say it thickens), with details of a traumatic event in Yakov's life, as well as anti-Semitism more generally, and the Holocaust more specifically. It all culminates in a video recording left by the deceased, in which he helpfully faces the camera and explains the concept of a demon known as a Massik. It's a little too convenient.

Davis does a good job as the frightened watchman, although the script demands a sudden change of heart late in the film that doesn't ring true to the character. And in crafting its scares, The Vigil settles for far too many tropes. It's especially disappointing given the unique and intriguing setup. ★★