THE GOLEM (2018)

Studio:      Dread Presents
Director:    Yoav Paz, Doron Paz
Writer:      Ariel Cohen
Producer:  Shalom Eisenbach
Stars:     Hani Furstenberg, Ishai Golan, Kirill Cernyakov, Brynie Furstenberg, Lenny Ravitz, Alexey Tritenko, Adi Kvetner, Mariya Khomutova, Veronika Shostak

Review Score:

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Summary:

In 1673 Lithuania, a Jewish woman haunted by the death of her son conjures a mythical creature to protect her village.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Prague – As a young girl, Perla sees a rabbi interacting with a golem he conjured that ended up slaughtering innocents as well as enemies. The golem supernaturally splits the rabbi in two.

Lithuania 1673 – Because women are forbidden from religious studies, Hanna hides beneath the floor of her village’s temple to eavesdrop on its rabbi’s teachings. Hanna overhears the rabbi, who is her father-in-law, remind her husband Benjamin that it has been seven years since the death of their young son Josef. Benjamin rebukes his father’s suggestion that he should find a new wife capable of giving him a child. Benjamin also sneaks home a copy of the Kabbalah for Hanna to secretly study.

Villagers gather for the wedding of Hanna’s sister Rebecca to her husband Jacob. Vladimir, a Russian from a neighboring village, interrupts the ceremony by presenting his ill daughter Svetlana. Flanked by fellow Russians wearing masks, Vladimir accuses the Jewish settlement of being responsible for the plague killing his people and making his daughter sick. One of the Russians shoots a wedding guest. Now working as the village’s healer, Perla volunteers to treat the girl to prevent further bloodshed. Vladimir and his men threaten that no one will be able to leave the village until his daughter is healed.

The rabbi advises everyone to repent and pray to make the trespassers leave. Hanna suggests fighting back by using the Kabbalah’s instructions to create a golem for protection. The rabbi refuses, warning that a golem is an uncontrollable threat.

The Russian invaders cause Rebecca to miscarry. Her desire for vengeance renewed, Hanna performs the golem creation ritual, which ends with her putting a small scroll containing the secret name of God inside a dirt effigy’s mouth.

Benjamin finds a tincture revealing that his wife had been secretly preventing pregnancy. Hanna tries explaining that she couldn’t risk possibly losing another child. Benjamin angrily leaves their house.

A frightened horse summons Hanna to her barn. Hanna briefly sees her golem, who takes the form of a little boy clutching a doll that belonged to Hanna’s son Josef.

Russians chase Hanna through nearby woods. Several men capture Hanna and hang her by her neck from a tree. The golem supernaturally kills the men and rescues Hanna. Realizing that the golem resembles Josef, Hanna hides the creature in her barn.

Angered over his wife’s miscarriage, Jacob shows Benjamin a gun and proposes taking action against the Russian trespassers. Benjamin advises against retaliatory force.

Hanna reads more about the golem and discovers it is connected to the secret wishes of its creator. Hanna presents Josef’s doll to the golem.

Perla finds Hanna bathing the golem. Perla warns Hanna to destroy the creature before it is too late. Hanna stresses that the golem is the only way to stop Vladimir. Perla recounts how she saw the golem destroy her village in Prague when she was a little girl. Perla advises Hanna to take the parchment out of the golem’s mouth as soon as Vladimir is vanquished.

Hanna spies Benjamin with a village woman who had been repeatedly wooing him. The golem mirrors Hanna’s anger. Hanna realizes that she and the golem can feel each other’s physical pain when she pricks her finger and the creature reacts.

The golem murders the other woman during the night. When her body is found, Benjamin and the villagers presume Vladimir’s men were responsible. Hanna realizes the golem killed her when it presents Hanna with the woman’s heart. Hanna seemingly relishes the golem’s destructive power.

Angered, Benjamin rallies Jacob and other men to confront the Russians, even though the rabbi warns against it. During their subsequent fight, Benjamin shoots one of the Russians. Vladimir shoots Jacob. Another Russian begins choking Benjamin.

Acting under Hanna’s direction, the golem supernaturally bursts the head of Benjamin’s attacker. Vladimir shoots at the golem, but his bullets have no effect. Hanna stops the golem from killing Vladimir when Perla reveals Svetlana can walk under her own power again. Hanna expels Vladimir from the village.

The villagers hail the golem for having protected them. Benjamin returns home to tell Hanna she was right about standing up to Vladimir.

Hanna assures Benjamin that the golem will not harm him as Benjamin joins them for dinner. The golem stabs its leg under the table. Mary feels the pain, but says nothing about it to Benjamin. Benjamin plays his fiddle for the golem.

While Hanna and Benjamin have passionate sex, Perla sneaks into the house to confront the creature. The golem kills Perla. Benjamin finds Perla’s body the next morning and insists that golem must be destroyed. Seeing the golem as a reincarnation of Josef, Hanna refuses. Benjamin consults the rabbi, who has Benjamin gather men from the village to destroy the creature.

Svetlana dies. Vladimir gathers his men to raid the Jewish village.

Led by Benjamin’s fiddle, the rabbi and his men begin the ritual to destroy the golem. Hanna feels the golem’s pain and unsuccessfully tries to stop the ritual.

Russian raiders set fire to the village. Hanna allows Vladimir to strike her with a torch in order to provoke the golem through her pain. The golem kills the rabbi and most of his men.

Vladimir prepares to kill Hanna. The golem supernaturally kills Vladimir. The golem lays waste to the Russian raiders as villagers also die in the massacre. Hanna collapses.

When Hanna recovers, she, Benjamin, and the golem are left as the sole survivors. Benjamin tells Hanna that the golem is not their son. Hanna professes her love for Josef to the golem. She then kisses the golem, and uses her mouth to pull out the scroll that gave it life. The golem crumbles into dirt. Hanna and Benjamin embrace.

The scroll blows away in the wind. Abigel, whose mother was murdered by the golem, picks up the parchment.

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Review:

The road to healing their relationship as well as themselves has been hard for Hanna and her husband Benjamin. Although Benjamin and his rabbi father believe the time has come to further their family once again, Hanna remains haunted by the death of her young son Josef seven years ago.

The small settlement where they make their humble home faces a crossroads of its own when an uninvited guest interrupts a wedding for Hanna’s sister. Cradling his dying daughter, Vladimir accuses the Jewish village of bringing a plague to his people. Flanked by fellow raging Russians, Vladimir warns that if his daughter dies, so will everyone in Hanna’s encampment.

Although women are forbidden from religious studies, Hanna has been hiding under the floor during the rabbi’s lessons for village men, and reading sacred texts sneaked home by her husband. While the rabbi recommends repentance and prayer as the main means of combating Vladimir’s raiders, Hanna suggests an offensive approach stemming from scripture.

Hanna wants to create a golem according to the Kabbalah’s instructions. Village witch Perla warns from firsthand knowledge that the mythical monster is an uncontrollably evil force. Hanna cares not for caution. Enraged by the Russians, Hanna creates the creature to protect her people. When the golem takes shape as Hanna’s dead son, the woman’s wonder renews regarding whether the dirt-caked being is a blessing or a curse.

Of course, no movie appeals to everyone equally. There are undoubtedly those who will find “The Golem’s” 1673 Lithuania setting and thick swaths of melodrama too slow, too soapy, or too something to placate individual palates. But speaking as a jaded genre fan overfed killer puppets, masked slashers, and haunted asylum investigations, it’s exceptionally refreshing to see a horror film have a uniquely intriguing historical and cultural hook like “The Golem” does.

Considering the incalculable number of movies featuring devils, demons, and exorcisms, I’m comfortable concluding that Christian and Catholic beliefs are well represented in horror. As for Judaism’s fearsome folklore, only “The Possession” (review here) comes immediately to mind as a contemporary film steeped in those superstitions. “The Golem” taps deeper into that vein with a distinctly Jewish terror tale, giving gentiles like myself insight into how another religion incorporates scares all while entertaining everyone using a lesser-known legend about dangerous desires and uncontrollable evil.

“The Golem” bases itself on mythology as much as it mirrors Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” As if to visually emphasize the echo, the golem even wears a hand-sewn garment whose patchwork construction contains conspicuous stitching.

Directors Yoav and Doron Paz clearly learned one of Shelley’s critical lessons by proving that including a monster does not mean a movie must focus exclusively on it. The inhuman creature is not the center of this story. Human relationships are.

Realistic characters ground a fantastical premise through emotionally engaging performances. As Hanna and Benjamin, Hani Furstenberg and Ishai Golan ensure that every expression heartbreakingly mirrors internalized conflict while angry inflections seethe with their burdensome pain. “The Golem” goes grim in both setting and story, yet the cast capably captivates by vitalizing dourness through relatable drama.

Every set looks fantastic. Rich imagery receives additional allure from horses, cabins, and costumes that read as authentic whether they actually are or not. Ardent attention to detail in every aspect of production design breathes life into a bleak world. Anachronisms are rendered inconsequential by virtue of how fully “The Golem” functions as a period piece concurrent with an immersive parable that is both hopeful and horrific.

For a film founded on suspenseful smolder heavily favoring style over slaughter, “The Golem” repeatedly punctuates plot points with surprising splatter. Many moments of extreme visceral violence depict bodies bursting in spectacularly supernatural ways. If character arcs miss their marks, gore can rescue wandering attention spans with sudden shocks.

The Paz Brothers’ sense for cinematic storytelling has accelerated exponentially since “Jeruzalem” (review here). In a just industry, the effort and execution displayed here would rocket them to the top of any list noting rising fright filmmakers to watch, as they are assuredly growing into greater showmen.

Horror movies rarely operate with themes so universally relevant. “The Golem” succeeds by being sincere about its story, emphasizing humanity over inhumanity, and presenting classic chills with elegant eeriness only occasionally indulgent in gruesomeness. Of the ten or so titles released thus far, “The Golem” easily leads the pack as the best looking and most satisfying movie wearing the “Dread Central Presents” banner.

Review Score: 85

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