The Vigil

Writer/director Keith Thomas's impressive debut combines an eerie set-up with a thorny subtext. Lapsed Orthodox Jew Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis) is asked by his former rabbi (Menashe Lustig) to act as a paid "shomer" for recently deceased Holocaust survivor Mr Litvak (Ronald Cohen). This means spending a night in the Litvak residence watching over the corpse to protect it from evil spirits. The cash-strapped Yakov reluctantly agrees - a decision he soon comes to regret: the house is spooky and shadow-filled; Mrs Litvak (Lynn Cohen) suffers from Alzheimer's disease; and Yakov begins hearing and seeing things. "They're not nightmares, they're memories," explains Mrs Litvak, who says that something evil followed her husband back from Buchenwald concentration camp, and now it's after Yakov. Atmospheric, well-acted and freighted with survivors' guilt, this is thoughtful and frightening horror fare.