What to Watch This Weekend: The Vigil, Night of the Kings, The Little Things, Croods A New Age, Billie Eilish, Greenland, Finding Ohana, Tom and Jerry

For The True Crime Buffs: The Little Things (HBO Max and Theaters)
The Little Things takes an all star cast and piles on some unsettling scenes, great writing, and some amazing characters in this creepy police procedural.  For more information, check out the review!

For The Kids: Tom and Jerry (HBO Max and Theaters)
Tom and Jerry translates the classic cartoon for the big screen, with all the craziness, slapstick humor, and lovable fighting from this cat and mouse duo that you would expect.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Slow Burning Night of Storytelling: Night of the Kings (Theaters)

Night of the Kings highlights the power and magic of storytelling, with a palatable energy and excitement accompanying this compelling, imaginative story.  For more information, check out the review!

For An Unsettling Night of Horror: The Vigil (Theaters and Digital)

The Vigil takes a wonderful, old school horror style and steeps it in Jewish tradition, with a masterful use of light, shadows, sound, and suspense.  For more information, check out the review!

For An Imaginative Kids Adventure: The Croods: A New Age (Digital and Redbox)

The Croods: A New Age adds some great new characters and plenty of silliness in this prehistoric family animated adventure.  And this film has quickly become my kids favorite movie!  For more information, check out the review!

For An Action Packed Disaster Film: Greenland (Digital and Redbox)

Greenland is the summer blockbuster you need for the wintertime, with exciting special effects, a great cast, wonderful sound, and some interesting moral choices.  For more information, check out the review!

For An Enlightening Documentary: Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry (Apple TV+)

Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry offers an enlightening and sometimes uncomfortable close look at the rise of this teen phenom.  

For A Needed Dose of Feel Good Film: Finding 'Ohana (Netflix)

Finding 'Ohana has a mix of comedy, drama, and family in this film that stays true to the Hawaiian culture.  It is a heartwarming adventure that might give you a much needed dose of the feels. 

The Vigil Review: Old School Horror Steeped In Jewish Tradition

Release date: February 26, 2021
Running time: 90 minutes
Stars: Dave Davis, Menashe Lustig, Malky Goldman, and Lynn Cohen
Written and Directed by Keith Thomas

Steeped in ancient Jewish lore and demonology, THE VIGIL is supernatural horror film set over the course of a single evening in Brooklyn's Hasidic Borough Park neighborhood. Low on funds and having recently left his insular religious community, Yakov (Dave Davis) reluctantly accepts an offer from his former rabbi and confidante (Menashe Lustig) to take on the responsibility of an overnight "shomer," fulfilling the Jewish practice of watching over the body of a deceased community member. Shortly after arriving at the recently departed's dilapidated house to sit the vigil, Yakov begins to realize that something is very, very wrong.

The Vigil has an old school horror feel with a limited setting, good practical effects, and a text that evokes the 80s classics that influenced this film.  Much of the film takes place in the dilapidated house, and much of it is in a single room at night.  The house is an old style house with lighting that leaves plenty of unknown space and shadows.  The film masterfully uses these to keep you on edge, with little visions here and there and sometimes no visions.  It forces you to look at every nook and cranny to see what is and isn't there, keeping the viewer constantly on edge.  And this makes sense due to the subject matter of the film.  Having a corpse in the room at all times at night just makes for an unnerving experience, before all the tricks that the filmmakers used to heighten that.  

The Vigil is just a well constructed horror film.  I loved the smart use of paranoia, where you are not certain what exactly is going on and the film smartly introduces plenty of doubt throughout the night.  Was that voice that you just heard someone in the house, or something otherworldly?  And the Vigil is steeped in Jewish tradition, which makes for an interesting setting.  I really liked the lore that was introduced as well as the fact that the characters freely switched between Hebrew and English.  It made for a much more natural feeling film with bilingual characters speaking as they normally would.  On top of the great sound effects, the film also occasionally has some otherworldly music to accentuate what occurs on screen.  It is a nice touch and helps to bridge the gap between the older, classic setting, and the younger protagonist.  And the story of The Vigil just builds and builds towards a climactic conclusion.  The film is a wonderfully done, self contained throwback horror film.  

The Vigil takes a wonderful, old school horror style and steeps it in Jewish tradition, with a masterful use of light, shadows, sound, and suspense.

Watch it.

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The Vigil is in select theaters, on digital platforms, and VOD on February 26th.

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Interview: Keith Thomas and Dave Davis from The Vigil Julian Kim Horror Film Based Steeped in Jewish Tradition

Keith Thomas and Dave Davis discuss The Vigil, how they filmed the amazing atmospheric sound, and what they personally brought to the film. They also discuss their own experiences with dead bodies and how they respected the traditions and culture in this film! So give it a watch and make sure to check out The Vigil, in theaters, digitally, and on demand on February 26, 2021! Stars: Dave Davis, Menashe Lustig, Malky Goldman, and Lynn Cohen Written and Directed by Keith Thomas Synopsis: Steeped in ancient Jewish lore and demonology, THE VIGIL is supernatural horror film set over the course of a single evening in Brooklyn's Hasidic Borough Park neighborhood. Low on funds and having recently left his insular religious community, Yakov (Dave Davis) reluctantly accepts an offer from his former rabbi and confidante (Menashe Lustig) to take on the responsibility of an overnight "shomer," fulfilling the Jewish practice of watching over the body of a deceased community member. Shortly after arriving at the recently departed's dilapidated house to sit the vigil, Yakov begins to realize that something is very, very wrong.

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