The Vigil is a 2019 horror film written and directed by Keith Thomas. It follows the story of Yakov Ronen (played by Dave Davis), a young man who used to belong to the Orthodox Jewish community, but left it after a personal tragedy. Yakov is struggling to make ends meet when he is offered a job as a shomer, a person who stays overnight with a body until it is buried, by a rabbi from his former community. Desperate for money, Yakov agrees to take on the job, expecting it to be a simple and routine task.
However, things take a dark turn when he arrives at the house where the deceased is being kept. The house is eerie and unsettling, and he is warned by the rabbi that he must not leave the body alone at any time. Yakov soon discovers that the deceased was a Holocaust survivor, and that his spirit is haunting the house, seeking revenge on the Nazi officer who tormented him during World War II.
As the night unfolds, Yakov experiences increasingly terrifying phenomena, including strange sounds, unexplained events, and apparitions. He also encounters a malevolent entity known as a Mazzik, a mythological creature from Jewish folklore that feeds on negative emotions. Yakov must confront his own traumas and overcome his fear in order to survive the night and put the soul of the deceased to rest.
The Vigil received critical acclaim for its fresh take on the horror genre and its exploration of Jewish folklore and traditions. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019 and was released in the United States in 2021.