{"id":59888,"date":"2021-02-25T22:02:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T04:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=59888"},"modified":"2021-03-09T07:13:02","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T13:13:02","slug":"mazzik-not-dybbuk-horror-film-the-vigil-brings-jewish-demonology-to-the-big-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/mazzik-not-dybbuk-horror-film-the-vigil-brings-jewish-demonology-to-the-big-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"Mazzik, not dybbuk: Horror film \u2018The Vigil\u2019 brings Jewish demonology to the big screen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By GABE FRIEDMAN<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 When Keith Thomas set out to write and direct a Jewish horror movie, he knew he wanted to go beyond the two most well known Jewish monsters.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59889\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59889\" class=\"wp-image-59889 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1.jpg 1920w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/169;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59889\" class=\"wp-image-59889 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-vigil-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-59889\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dave Davis as Yakov Ronen in &#8220;The Vigil.&#8221; (Courtesy of IFC Midnight)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Golems, creepy creatures usually formed out of mud or clay found in Jewish stories, were played out, he thought. So were dybbuks, a type of ghostly spirit mentioned in Jewish mythology.<\/p>\n<p>So he drew on what he learned from writing a master\u2019s thesis about Jewish monsters at Hebrew Union College over a decade ago and turned to a lesser-known demon: the mazzik.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In \u201cThe Vigil,\u201d Thomas\u2019 directorial debut, a mazzik provides the spooks for one of the most uniquely Jewish mainstream horror films ever made. The movie hits home streaming platforms on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Mazziks are invisible, low-level demons that, Thomas explains, were created with little \u201csparks of life\u201d left over from the days of creation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnimals have a spark of life in a body, and then a little tiny bit of a soul. And the more advanced the animal gets, the larger the soul pieces, until you get humanity, which has a spark of life, a soul and a body. Demons are entities that have a spark of life, no body, and no soul,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re not malicious in the sense that they\u2019re necessarily out to get us, it\u2019s more that if you encounter one of them, it can be dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the film, that encounter comes through a Jewish ritual that shares some elements with horror stories even under ordinary circumstances. The story centers on a young ex-Hasidic man named Yakov who is struggling to find his way in secular society. In desperate need of some money, unemployed Yakov agrees to spend a night as a \u201cshomer,\u201d watching over the body of a recently deceased old man in an apartment in an Orthodox neighborhood of Brooklyn. It\u2019s a process called \u201cshemira,\u201d meant to ensure that the body is looked over and kept safe before it is buried.<\/p>\n<p>The dead man\u2019s widow greets Yakov, but she is mentally disturbed and not much help with his task. Then Yakov begins to perceive strange sounds and movements, leaving him to wonder whether his anxiety medication is making him hallucinate. Eventually, he is forced to confront the source of evil torturing the house.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59890\" style=\"width: 195px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59890\" class=\"wp-image-59890 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas-185x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"185\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas-185x300.png 185w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas-631x1024.png 631w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas-768x1246.png 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas-947x1536.png 947w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas-1262x2048.png 1262w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas.png 1850w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 185px) 100vw, 185px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 185px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 185\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59890\" class=\"wp-image-59890 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas-185x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"185\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas-185x300.png 185w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas-631x1024.png 631w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas-768x1246.png 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas-947x1536.png 947w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas-1262x2048.png 1262w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-keith-thomas.png 1850w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 185px) 100vw, 185px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-59890\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The film is Keith Thomas&#8217; debut. (IFC Films)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thomas uses the words \u201cdistorted memory\u201d and \u201ctrauma\u201d often in talking about his film, which \u2014 without giving too much away \u2014 is rooted in the generational aftereffects of the Holocaust.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrauma is kind of like these ripples on the surface of water \u2014 you drop a giant rock and you\u2019re going to get all these ripples. But even a tiny pebble has ripples. And so what I was interested in was how one man\u2019s trauma, even just for 30 seconds \u2014 just an event that takes 30 seconds \u2014 can impact the rest of his life,\u201d Thomas said about a moment the dead man in the film had experienced during the Holocaust.<\/p>\n<p>Yakov (played by Dave Davis, a Jewish actor and New Orleans native who has appeared in shows such as \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d and \u201cTrue Detective\u201d) is a trauma victim himself, having endured violent anti-Semitism on the street as a member of Brooklyn\u2019s haredi Orthodox community, and an intense family tragedy stemming from that. He is also a member of a group fashioned after Footsteps, a real organization that helps transition people from the haredi world into broader society. The film\u2019s first scene mimics a meeting of Footsteps members in conversation with a counselor, and all of the actors in it are real Footsteps alumni.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping things authentic was challenging. Thomas knew bringing his large crew into haredi neighborhoods in Borough Park and Williamsburg would be disruptive, so the team set up real Orthodox rabbis around the perimeter of the set to explain the movie to passersby.<\/p>\n<p>Several members of the cast \u2014 including Menashe Lustig, star of his own separate film \u2014 also feature in the Netflix series \u201cUnorthodox.\u201d Even the soundtrack has Orthodox influence \u2014 the \u201cneo-Hasidic\u201d band Zusha provided a song for the closing credits, after being impressed with the film. Thomas said the band members told him they had never seen a horror movie before.<\/p>\n<p>The product is unlike anything else in its genre \u2014 a mix of Jewish ritual, yiddishkeit (some real spoken Yiddish included) and gripping indie horror. Jason Blum, the Jewish producer behind the influential Blumhouse company, which has helped make horror films such as \u201cGet Out,\u201d \u201cParanormal Activity,\u201d and many many, excitedly jumped on the film, in part because of its Jewish themes.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59891\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59891\" class=\"wp-image-59891 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2.jpg 1920w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/169;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59891\" class=\"wp-image-59891 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2-25-21-thevigil-2.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-59891\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the film, Yakov agrees to watch over a recently deceased body, a ritual in Orthodox Judaism known as shemira. (Courtesy of IFC Midnight)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thomas said he and Blum have talked about the potential of a whole Jewish horror subset genre, which could build off of the popularity of Jewish themes in recent mainstream film and TV. Beyond the realm of ultra-Orthodox tradition, Thomas said the world of mysticism and kabbalah is ripe for the horror treatment.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Thomas, who is 45 and on his third career \u2014 he started out on the track to become a Jewish day school educator (he didn\u2019t feel religiously Jewish enough for that) and then conducted clinical medical research \u2014 is currently working on another Jewish-themed horror flick. That\u2019s after a remake he is working with Blumhouse on of \u201cFirestarter,\u201d a Stephen King story that was made into a 1984 film.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas was mum on whether his new film would feature Orthodox Jews, but he agreed that viewers are fascinated by them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are very interested in cultures that they\u2019re not that familiar with. And I think the ultra-Orthodox in New York in particular are fascinating. Because they are living in the biggest city in the United States, they\u2019re in the middle of like this cultural capital surrounded by the most advanced tech and booming industries, and yet they live this sort of very 19th-century lifestyle in the middle of the city,\u201d he said. \u201c[People] are also kind of fascinated by a religious community that lives according to certain doctrines \u2014 they\u2019re not bothered as much by the kind of constant back and forth that we have in the kind of culture that we have, you know, all these up and downs every day. They\u2019re living in a very different sort of path.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also wouldn\u2019t say whether a mazzik would feature in his future movies. But he said that even though Judaism lacks a hellish \u201cbirthing place\u201d for demons, there is room for more horror to be made out of its traditions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a very superstitious religion overall,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cBut I still think there\u2019s definitely room to mine material from it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;<strong>The Vigil<\/strong>&#8221; starring Dave Davis opens nationwide on Friday, February 26. Directed by Keith Thomas, the 89-minute long film is being shown at the Prytania Theater Canal Place six times each day at 12 noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevigil.movie\/watch-at-home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">For those who wish to view the film online<\/a>, the on-demand options include iTunes\/Apple, Amazon, GooglePlay, YouTube, Vudu, PlayStation and Xbox. Cable platforms include Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum (Charter, Time Warner, Brighthouse) Verizon Fios, Altice (Optimum), Cox, DirecTV, AT&amp;T, Bend Broadband, Buckeye Guadalupe Valley, Hotwire Communications, Metrocast, Suddenlink, WOW Internet Cable, RCN and Micontinent.<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Mazzik%2C%20not%20dybbuk%3A%20Horror%20film%20%E2%80%98The%20Vigil%E2%80%99%20brings%20Jewish%20demonology%20to%20the%20big%20screen\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":59889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7139],"tags":[11221,394,8790,8795,11222,11223,8788,11224],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59888"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59900,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59888\/revisions\/59900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}