THE STATE OF THE GENRE: Another Kind of J-Horror
My latest "State of the Genre" column is up at Fear Zone. This time I throw a menorahful of spotlights on a little known subgenre near and dear to my own heart: Jewish Horror.
The Dybbuk, a demonic spirit that takes possession of the living, hasn't fared quite as well as the Golem in popular culture. Aside from the 1937 movie THE DYBBUK and a small handful of novels, this spectral fiend hasn't been given much attention at all until this year's THE UNBORN, which features a Dybbuk possessing a young Jewish woman. Though the movie contains a run-of-the-mill exorcism scene, at least it's probably the first exorcism anyone has ever seen in a horror movie that involves the blowing of the shofar-- the traditional ram's horn trumpet sounded during the Jewish New Year services!
Don't mind me, I'll just sit here in the dark while you go read. No, no, I'm fine, don't make such a fuss. I only gave birth to you after seventy hours of labor.
The Dybbuk, a demonic spirit that takes possession of the living, hasn't fared quite as well as the Golem in popular culture. Aside from the 1937 movie THE DYBBUK and a small handful of novels, this spectral fiend hasn't been given much attention at all until this year's THE UNBORN, which features a Dybbuk possessing a young Jewish woman. Though the movie contains a run-of-the-mill exorcism scene, at least it's probably the first exorcism anyone has ever seen in a horror movie that involves the blowing of the shofar-- the traditional ram's horn trumpet sounded during the Jewish New Year services!
Don't mind me, I'll just sit here in the dark while you go read. No, no, I'm fine, don't make such a fuss. I only gave birth to you after seventy hours of labor.
