THE GOLEM (2018) BRINGS 17TH CENTURY HORROR TO LIFE

This movie drew my attention because I always wanted to know more about the Jewish mythology of the golem. It’s a term that has been used countless times in all forms of fantasy fiction, in books, roleplaying games, computer games and movies. But there had been scant few that honoured the original traditions and mythology.

This Israeli produced film is based in Lithuania, 1673, in the small Jewish village of Shtetl. Their life is idyllic until people from a neighbouring village blame them for a recent plague and terrorise them. Driven to desperation, and against the wishes of the rabbi, Hanna (Hani Furstenberg) raises a golem to protect them. But not knowing what she has summoned or how to control it, compounded by it looking uncannily like her dead son, results in devastation for anyone who crosses its path. This film is the sort of tightly scripted, small scale, cautionary tale that I love about folklore adaptations. The acting, script, pacing, and special effects are all great. The action is gruesome, and visual design and cinematography really support the brutality of the golem’s power.

Written by Ariel Cohen (as his debut international release) and directed by the Paz Brothers (JeruZalem), the screenplay is loosely based off the story The Golem of Pargue. This movie looks like a lot of care was taken to respectfully depict the period, religion, culture and people of this faith and background. There are a few unfortunate anachronisms, especially with the costumes technically coming from a later period, but I didn’t find it detracted from the setting or story (especially since the average audience won’t know there difference between different eras of medieval Jewish fashion).

The boy who plays the golem, Kirill Cernyakov, has the intensity I’ve only seen from children in movies like Pet Semetary and Children of the Corn. He never speaks a word, but the look in his eyes would honestly freeze me in place if I was confronted by him. As his first ever credited role, he is spectacular and I sincerely hope he does more horror since he has such a great screen presence at such a young age (being only 10 at time of release).

At only an hour and a half run time, nothing is wasted in this film and is an easy, but intense look into a culture and story that many, I’d wager, are not particularly familiar with.

RATING: 8/10

WHERE TO WATCH: Amazon Prime