Dachra

Given the review score, I went into this movie rather intrigued, but there are essentially no original ideas here. Every plot point and revelation is one you've seen before, and nearly every character is dumb to a point that not even the suspension of disbelief can justify it. The film's cinematography is noteworthy but brought down by the color grading and lack of budget for real sets. I did like the grandfather character, as each of his scenes were unique and striking compared to the rest of the by-the-numbers story beats and visuals.

And just to take up the last few characters to meet the review criteria, what kind of genius character would put their face near a pot of offal and hooves and expect any other smell beyond utter wretchedness?

Also, the number of perfect scores for this movie strikes me as very suspicious.

I have seen thousands of horror films, but I do not recall a single one which begins, in quite a matter-of-fact-way, with the decapitation of a child (not explicitly shown, fortunately). That really got my attention.

A group of three film students visit a mental hospital in order to film a patient who is considered a witch, and based on a clue she provides seek out a remote hamlet. Once there, they find it to be inhabited by very strange residents and end up facing a horror far beyond anything they imagined...

It turns out that DACHRA, evidently Tunisia's first horror film, is very good at amplifying horror by presenting it in a mundane way, yet at the same time it oozes with atmosphere. Judging by the scarcity of horror movies which are successful in their attempts to do that, this is a credit to the film.

Also, I loved the feistiness of the female leader of the group during the interview with the hospital director. Unfortunately, by the end of the movie, her character has undergone an arc for the worse. In fact, the development of the characters and the poor choices they make are the weakest aspects of the movie. They fail to provide critical information to each other, they seem unreasonably unconcerned with the increasingly unsettling events they witness until there is no room left for ambiguity, and shortly before the end there is a twist which seems too implausible because it was not set up properly (for example, the twist contradicts the seeming surprise of one of the characters when he discovers they have been filmed while sleeping).

These flaws do not completely mitigate the strengths of the movie, they just reduce what could have been a great horror film to merely a good one. On a final note, DACHRA feels strongly like a found footage (FF) film without being one. As a FF fan, I appreciated the ambience.

Yes I know and you probably know, that in order for most horror movies to work, the characters can not be smart when it comes to decision making. The characters here though seem to go out of their way to always decide the most blatant illogical and just plain bad decision that is at their disposal.

It's cringe-worthy to say the least. And even the twists cannot save this. Not to mention that especially the one towards the end is just completely ... out there. It takes everything you've seen and shoves it down the chimney ... or drain or whatever else makes sense to you. There is some slight atmosphere this can create which is the only reason I don't rate it lower ... but overall this is reaching and almost an insult to any movie and horror afficionado

Ok, so it is different cinematography, but how different seriously now? I do get it, we have to encourage foreigners to do their best and show us their vision, which usually differs from the common Hollywood productions, or in my case African vs European. But all in all, for me, it was a familiar production, one very easily to anticipate, the only struggle I had with this movie was trying to understand the characters: all they do is fight yet we suppose to somehow feel they are a team.

After you watch this you will realize that not only it was very difficult to root for them, but they did the very absolute in taking the wrong decisions throughout the entire movie. So if I can not relate to them or even sparkle some empathy, why even go with these characters? After this first set back, we have the plot itself: well clearly not original in any way, I do understand the themes explored here, but the development is weak, far stretched and annoyingly boring.

For the first Tunisian horror ever, I will grade it a 4 thanks to the effort and courage into making it, but that is it. It showed nothing new, different, it was a movie I've seen it 1000 times only longer and more frustrating. A lot of the scenes could have been cut off and if the movie would have proved to be a huge success, perhaps added in the director's cut. But they have no place here, and as the run time is close to 2h, perhaps less quantity and more quality. Also...the plot itself is weird and non sense at time, as a lot of the things presented on screen either make no other appearance or no difference later on.

Anyway sadly I can not recommend it whatsoever as it is a difficult watch, even for those that want to put an eye on a different type of cinema, simply expect nothing than a movie which will seem to last for at least 3 hours.

Cheers!

Wonderful movie.

The dark scenery and the general theme of this movie are just epic, pretty dark and uncomfortable. Visually immersive and captivating, the camera skills are something between video games movies style and solid original cinematography.

The plot is well written and have good twists, love it.

I highly recommend it, a unique Tunisian horror movie.