The Vigil (2019) Hey what's up guys. Today I'll
show you a horror-thriller film: "The Vigil"! Spoiler ahead, watch out and take care!
The movie begins in a dark misty forest. A soldier wearing a Nazi uniform,
forces another man to shoot a young woman. The man hesitates; but ultimately, the soldier
makes sure he pulls the trigger. The scene cuts to a man named Yakov,
in present-day Brooklyn. He stares at himself in the bathroom mirror and swallows his
medicine. He heads back to the dining table, where a group of his acquaintances gather.
This support is composed of men and women, who left the orthodox Jewish community like Yakov,
and are coping with the adjustments to their new lives. Orthodox Judaism is a
particularly conservative branch of Judaism, that eschews many modern practices and beliefs.
A woman tells the group that while she was on the subway, a man made advances on her,
which creeped her out. the others tell her that this experience is exactly what the rabbis tried
to keep them away from，back in the orthodox Jewish community. The group then asks Yakov if he got the
job he interviewed for. He tells the group that he didn't get the job, and is struggling to pay rent.
The group tells him to keep on moving forward, and the struggle is part of the journey.
The group says goodbye to one another, and goes their separate ways. Yakov notices a man waiting
near the entrance of the apartment. A blonde woman from the group asks Yakov out for coffee, but he
tells her that he doesn't drink. She gives him her number either way, and tells him to call.
The leader of the group confronts the man waiting at the entrance, telling him not to harass members
of his group; but Yakov tells him it is okay, and the man only wants to speak with him. The
leader of the group allows Yakov to speak to the man. but strongly warns the man that if
something happens, he will call the police. The mysterious man is revealed to be a member
of Yakov's old orthodox Jewish community. The Jewish man offers him a job to keep vigil over
a dead holocaust survivor. It is a common practice in Judaism, to keep vigil over dead bodies until
they are buried to protect them from robbers and animals. Nowadays, it is a sign of respect,
and many Jews often hire other Jews to sit vigil at their deceased loved ones' funerals.
Yakov hesitates but accepts the offer, because he is cash-strapped. He reveals to Yakov that
he previously hired someone else to do the vigil; but they ran away afraid. But since
Yakov had previous experience with doing vigils, the Jewish man sought him out instead.
They walk to the house where the body of the holocaust survivor is being kept. They
greet the widow; but she gets angry because she thought the Jewish man would bring a Schomer,
meaning someone who closely adheres to the Jewish teachings. The widow tells the Yakov
to leave quickly, but suddenly a strange banging sound can be heard from the ceiling, which prompts
the widow to tell them to leave at once. The widow goes upstairs while muttering a song.
While the widow was upstairs, the Jewish man tells Yakov to perform the vigil either way,
and gives him a pat on the back, and leaves. Yakov tries to get settled in, and removes his
jacket. He looks around the home, and sits down in the kitchen. He puts on his headset, and listens
to music to pass the time. The strange banging noise could still be heard in the background;
but he pays no mind to this. He browses his phone, but the noises get louder and louder,
urging him to pay more attention. He reads from the book that the Jewish
man left for him. He takes a seat near the body, and examines it closely. He
notices that the covers would move ever so slightly, and a bug crawls up his foot,
which scares him. He hears a sound coming from behind him, and calls out if someone is there.
He stands up to investigate, and he breathes in relief when he sees that nobody is there.
A picture falls out from the book he was reading earlier. He examines the people in the photo,
and sees the family of the dead holocaust survivor, with a strange shadowy figure
behind them. He tries to fall asleep, and falls into a nightmare.
He dreams about the time he and his older brother were attacked by a group of men. He
wakes up from his nightmare, and feels that his hands have gone stiff.
The blonde woman from earlier texts him. They respond back and forth for a while;
but the strange happenings around the home start to unnerve Yakov. The lights in the
living room start flickering out of control; but he ignores it, and continues to text the
blonde woman. Suddenly all the lights around the home start flickering. He tries to fix one
of the lamps, but the light bulb breaks. He receives a video that he thinks is from the
blonde woman, but notices that it is sent from an unknown number. He plays the video,
and finds that he was being recorded while he was sleeping earlier. The camera pans close to him,
and a woman's hand ruffles through his hair. This unnerves him, and he calls out for the widow.
He hears a weird breaking sound in the kitchen, and sees a leg being dragged across. He panics
and retreats to the living room. He begins to think that he's having hallucinations due to
his psychological condition, so he calls his doctor, but it goes to voicemail. He tells him
that he's starting to see and hear things, and he stresses that he is almost out of pills. He leaves
a recording for the doctor, telling him that he wants to talk to him, but not at the hospital.
He ends the voicemail and walks to the sink. Yakov washes his face and drinks water from the
faucet, until he hears another disturbing sound coming from the walls. He takes his medication,
in hopes that this will stop all the things he's hearing and seeing; but the water suddenly turns
into a black gooey liquid as he drinks it. He drops the glass and spits out the contents. Yakov
notices one of the pieces of glass moving away from him. The widow comes back down, which snaps
Yakov out of his confusion. She reveals to him that what he is experiencing are not nightmares,
but memories that are not his. He apologizes for the mess and promises to clean up.
The widow asks him what he is doing here. He tells her that the Jewish man insisted that he
replace the supposed shomer and comfort, and protect her husband's soul. She reveals to
him that she drove her children away from here, because this is not a place where people return
from. She also tells him that her husband was also haunted by memories that Yakov is starting
to experience. She suddenly grabs a shard of glass from the floor, and intentionally wounds her hand,
Yakov tries to help her, but after muttering some words, she goes upstairs instead.
In the basement, Yakov notices a television that is playing a recording of the widow and
her husband. In the video, the holocaust survivor explains how he's haunted by a spirit, who latches
on to broken people, and it only could be banished if its true face is burned before the first dawn
that it appears. The widow from the video silently mutters the words, which makes Yakov slowly
turn his head around, and the spirit appears behind him, causing him to run away from the
basement. He sprains his ankle along the way. He gets a call from his doctor, who tells him that
he's not doing well. He explains the visions and weird sounds he has been hearing. the doctor asks
where he is, and he tells him his location. The doctor advises him to take a seat and calm down;
but Yakov explains all that has happened with the spirit and the widow and her husband. The
doctor explains that he might be experiencing PTSD, and asks about his current state.
Yakov tells him that he has been seeing people in the shadows. The doctor asks if the figure's head
has turned around, and Yakov tries to answer. but another call is pushed through his phone. A
disfigured voice calls out his name, and asks why he let him die. The widow suddenly appears again,
and asks if Yakov wants tea. Yakov tries to get the widow to leave,
but she explains that she has tried that already, and the spirit won't let anyone leave. Yakov
leaves the house despite the widow's warning. He walks on the sidewalk in the freezing cold.
Suddenly, his body starts cramping, and his bones start breaking apart. He crawls
away and tries to maintain his balance. A figure approaches him as he tries to scurry
away. He desperately walks back to the house, despite his bones beginning to break apart.
Before he gets inside the house, he collapses on the stairs, and comes back to his previous dream,
as the men attack them and grab his brother. He tries to save his brother; but he gets
pushed into the street. His brother manages to slip away, but gets hit by a car instead.
After he relives his traumatic experience, Yakov wakes up inside the house, seated in the living
room. He cries tears of grief and regret, as he blames himself for the death of his
brother. He looks around his surroundings, and he suddenly gets a call from the blonde woman,
which he answers. He apologizes for waking her up early in the morning. She asks him where he is,
and Yakov explains what is happening within the house, and how the spirit
was feeding off the widow's husband, and now the spirit has attached itself to him.
The blonde woman begins to mumble nonsense, and tells Yakov to die. Suddenly, black hands
emerge behind her and attack her. The call gets disconnected. Suddenly the body from the table
rises up once more, and mutters his name using his brother's voice, asking him why he let him
die. Yakov approaches the body and hugs it, while begging it for forgiveness. The body
suddenly disappears, only leaving behind the white cloth that was used to cover the
body. He hears sounds coming from upstairs, and he quickly goes up to investigate.
He goes into the room where the widow is, and thanks her for cleaning his wounds and wrapping
them with a bandage. She tells him she didn't do it, and it was actually her husband who did
it. Yakov asks her where the body of her husband went. She tells him that her husband is just down
the hall. She gives him the box where the spirit came from. The widow reveals that her grandfather
back in 19 19, saw his parents murdered in Kyiv, and neighbors smuggled her grandfather
out. Yakov prepares to confront the spirit, using the items that the widow gave him.
He lights a candle, leaves the room, and goes into the hall. He mutters a prayer,
while slowly making his way down the hall. The hall is dark and long, with only his candle
to provide light. Yakov approaches the end carefully. He sees a figure holding a candle
at the end of the hallway. He finally reaches the figure, and sees a faceless entity that
changes its face to look like Yakov. The walls of the hallway grow narrow and
deformed. Despite his fear, Yakov manages to burn the spirit's face, just like the
holocaust survivor instructed in his video. He chants a prayer, hoping to banish the spirit.
The spirit's face bursts into flames. Later, he walks down into the living room,
to see the body of the widow's husband beginning to twist around. He grabs a chair,
sits down next to it, and finishes the last of the prayer. The spirit tries to resist heavily，
holding onto the husband's greatest regrets. A flashback reveals that the holocaust survivor
was the young man shown at the beginning of the film, who was forced to shoot a young woman by a
Nazi soldier. Ever since that night, the survivor carried with him immense guilt and regret. When he
opened the box containing the spirit, the spirit latched on to him and cursed him. Yakov fights
back with his prayer, finally setting free the restless soul of the holocaust survivor,
and banishing the spirit from the house. He opens the curtain, and reveals that a new
day has come. The widow thanks him for what he has done. She tells him she often wonders
what would have happened differently, if her husband wasn't affected by the curse. Yakov
looks out the window, to see the widow going outside to get a breath of fresh air.
The movie ends with the Jewish man coming back, and asking if Yakov had any problems with the
vigil. Yakov brushes off the question, and tells him everything went smoothly. The man then offers
if Yakov wanted to join him for his morning prayer. Yakov declines and shuts the door behind
him. He walks down the street back to his home, but feels a sharp pain in his chest. He texts
the blonde woman if she wants to get coffee, but he gets no reply. The movie ends with Yakov still
walking down the street, oblivious to the fact that the spirit has now latched on to him.
This's Daniel CC movie channel! Stay safe and enjoy your day!