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Guys! Guys I went to see a horror film! I got to attend the World Premier of this wicked Israeli Film, from brothers Yoav and Doron Paz. They were adorable when they did their introduction, I`m sad I missed out on the Q&A.

But YES! I was a brave girl, and I went to see a scary movie all by myself. I was hoping Jon would join me so he could hold my hand through this scary first experience, but alas, he was way to tired. I stuck to it though. They let us in about 30 minutes late, and there were so many people in the VIP/Press line I for real thought I wouldn`t get to go in. I`m glad I stuck around though.

I had no idea what to expect. I didn`t know if I`d be scared, if after all this build up I`d just realized I hate the genre, or what. So I was sitting there, somewhat nervous, in this crazy packed room, and tried too keep an open mind. I`m so glad I did.

Right from the start this movie took this whole new vibe; The lead character is given a pair of Google Glasses. The entirety of the movie is filmed from her perspective. I thought this was so well done! It was the perfect set up for a few well placed geeky jokes, and allowed the audience to connect a bit more to the experience laid out before them.

Now I have very little experience with horror films, evidently, so many of the regular tropes and gimmicks are, well, new to me. I mean sure I know the basics, but I haven`t seen it all. This movie to me broke what I expected from these tropes. Or better yet, it played on them in a way I felt made them more interesting. You have your college party girls going on an exotic trip, they meet your usual hot boyz along the way, the night life is electric blah blah blah. But I liked it. They played off the character dynamics in a way that they knew you would be expecting, which made them funnier and more relatable  in a way, particularly because at no point did it become a parody of itself. It`s almost as if the characters knew what they are meant to be, and they had fun with that while still remaining real people.

I liked it. It had the mystique and religious turmoil out in plain sight, but from the view of an outsider in a social setting. It was interesting to see. When the scary stuff started emerging, it was all happening as if you were there, and had no clue what the hell was happening beyond wild theories and sparse historical tid-bits. No scientist or or specialist there with a flawless explanation, no plan to fix the problem, nothing. Just, holy shit the rumours are real, omg people are dying. Panic. No super-male or alpha female taking over the rescue, just real people dealing with fucking demons out of nowhere.

I won`t give away the ending, I`ll just say I liked how the story concluded. I didn`t really scare me, though. I mean sure, there were jumpy moments here and there, and some tense scenes that were pretty freaky, but all in all I didn`t get freaked out. I think I was too busy enjoying the film as a whole to really get scared haha

Interesting fact: This movie was filmed on location, and without permission. As a result, we have areas of Israel that have never really been show on the big screen like this, certainly not for this genre, and a very natural feel as they shot on the fly. I didn`t know this until just now, noticed in the description on the Fantasia page 😛

Very worth the watch, and I hope I get to see more of the Paz brothers in future Fantasia presentations!