Sunday Matinee: The Golem [Film]

“During an outbreak of a deadly plague, a mystical woman must save her tight-knit Jewish community from foreign invaders, but the entity she summons to protect them is a far greater evil. In this stunningly reimagined period horror version of an old mystical legend, a Jewish community in a shtetl are besieged by deadly intruders. Set in 17th century Lithuania, Hanna (Hani Furstenberg) the wistful, conflicted wife of the local rabbi’s son Benjamin (Ishai Golen),  secretly turns to Jewish mysticism and The Kabbalah to conjure up a dangerous entity to protect her community. But the creature she molds out of mud and summons to life echoes her tragic past and becomes so dangerously connected to its creator, that Hanna can’t see what a heartless monster she has fashioned from abject fear and desperate loathing.” – Big Time PR

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It is absolutely no secret that we love horror films here at Trainwreck’d Society. We have embraced, and have graciously been embrace by, the horror community across the world wide web. We’ve covered some pretty amazing titles in our time. And today, we may be covering one of the best titles we have ever seen from the world of independent horror. On a personal note, I must state that The Golem just so happens to contain the two elements that often time find themselves within the theme of horror, but not always working simultaneously. But when they do, holy shit am I going to be scared. Those themes would be 1) Religion and 2) Children. As a father of three, the idea of children being possessed (or simply the incarnation of any sort of demon like entity) is just about one of the scariest things in the world. And religion? Well, that should be a no-brainer. There is so much eery text out there detailing absolute insanity within the religious landscape. Although I will say, The Golem is probably my first experience with the Jewish community being the ones doing the summoning of demons. I am not up on my 17th century Lithuania mythology, but I believe this may be the first I am hearing of this. This sort of subject matter tends to lend itself mostly towards Catholics, so it was absolutely refreshing to see a story told through this lens.

I do have to say that when it comes to production value, The Golem is particularly well done. Just like Lithuanian folklore, I am not entirely tuned into the world of the independent of Israel, but it certainly seems that the likes of Doran and Yoaz Paz and cinematographer Rotem Yaron either are, or should be considered, some of the best in the business. The images are stark and frightening. While not jump scare heavy, as everything these days seem to be reliant upon, they do exist within the concept of the film and are done far better than I would have ever expected.

In the end, The Golem is a film that is far better than it should have been. With such a elaborate concept and wild idea for a film that was penned by Ariel Cohen, this film could have turned wildly south. But alas, it did not. The film remains true to the concept of the evil that is hidden within the systematic stage of religion, and the extent that some will go to keep from fading into the Dylan Thomas’s “good night”. I truly believe that The Golem is a wonderful film for horror fans and casual horror movie-goers alike. Though it is early in the year, I believe it is safe to say that The Golem will be one of the best horror films to be released in 2019

The Golem opened in Los Angeles this last Friday (February 1st), and will be available on VOD, DVD, & Blu Ray this Tuesday (February 5th), wherever you purchase films. Check out the trailer right here: