A Dybbuk is what the Jewish refer to as a demon, a wayward soul clinging to the living with nefarious intent. Polish writer/director Marcin Wrona enlightened us to as much with his 2015 horror/drama Demon. He was showing and promoting the film at the Gdynia Polish Film Festival when he took his own life in his hotel room. Demon is his legacy, a festive, morbid, eerie entry which redefined horror storytelling with its subtle style, and its glimpse into Polish culture on the skids.
Demon tells the story of Piotr, who has been living and working in England for a number of years, and his return to Poland to marry the girl he met on the internet, Zaneta. Her brother, Jasny, who knew Piotr previously and referred to him fondly as Python, welcomes him back with open arms. Everything unfolds swimmingly at first, with Piotr and Zaneta moving into an old, rustic home once owned by Zaneta's grandfather. They have a place together and their love blossoms as they plan for their wedding, set to unfold the following day.
A backhoe, winding its way through a derelict village, serves as the opening to the film. It's the same one that begins all of Piotr's troubles, the one he's borrowed from his father-in-law to clear away the fallen brush and mangled limbs surrounding his new abode. Driving the digger around his front yard, he accidentally backs into a tree, which completely uproots it. There, splayed in the dirt, Piotr finds a cache of human bones buried in the soil. He wants to let Zaneta and his family-to-be in on the morbid find, but decided against it, as he doesn't want to stifle the celebration of the upcoming wedding.
Piotr begins to experience some strange things, though he moves ahead with his plans, as he and Zaneta are head over heels in love. The day after he arrives to the small town, he and his beloved are married. What ensues is a celebration to literally end all others, surging with both festivity and immense tragedy. The happy couple dance to a Polish-Jewish tune with surrounding celebrants nearby before being carted off to the new home, where they rejoice and consummate their union. Along the way, we get subtle glimpses of the nightmare to come in the faint hauntings of the rustic home, the staring funeral mourner on the ride to the reception, and the ever-falling rain that drenches nearly every scene.
When the couple return to the reception, Piotr is haunted by the demon ghost of Hana, whose skeleton he uncovered with his backhoe mishap. She attaches herself to him because she is a jealous spirit who was promised a Polish boy in her living years. She refuses to remain unearthed, as she must claim what is rightfully hers. Before she even appears, Hana is already having her indirect effect on Piotr, moving in on the man Zaneta has just married.
Something is clearly happening with Piotr, and not only Zaneta notices. In his drunken speech, he mentions starting a new life with Hana, only to realize his mistake, and to write the slip up off as the pet name he's given to the backhoe. He quickly begins having seizures, throwing the reception into awed chaos, and it's not long before the shocking discovery of Hana's skeleton is revealed to Zaneta. Piotr begins speaking in Yiddish, possessed by the malevolent spirit of Hana.
A significant moment comes when we see Hana standing over her own shallow grave, peering down at the body of Piotr in her place just before the backhoe fills it in. This signifies that Hana has taken over the soul of Piotr, and that he himself is dead and buried. This is when the sad disparity of the movie really kicks in, as the town priest and doctor apply religion and reason to the sudden upheaval unfolding before them. When Piotr, or Hana in his body, disappears from sight completely, nothing is left but the metaphorical expression of the lost love Hana was promised when she was still alive.
Demon is a rustic, subtle, slow-burning tragedy, wrapped into the foreign package of a horror/drama. Had writer/director Wrona not ended his own life, I feel he would have had many successes in Poland, so many that he could eventually make the crossover to American film. Demon provides the similarities between Polish and Russian cultures in terms of linguistics and the excessive consumption of vodka, mixed in a blender alongside Polish Jew tradition. It's excellent story, one full of jubilee and booze, heartbreak and decay. It's an unconventional, metaphorical, atmospheric possession movie, one that easily escapes the tropes we've all seen far too many times to count. The movie is essentially about a demon-infested wedding that quickly morphs into a funeral, one with an all too cryptic, The Shining-like symbolism in its ending.
A Dybbuk is what the Jewish refer to as a demon, a wayward soul clinging to the living with nefarious intent. Polish writer/director Marcin Wrona enlightened us to as much with his 2015 horror/drama Demon. He was showing and promoting the film at the Gdynia Polish Film Festival when he took his own life in his hotel room. Demon is his legacy, a festive, morbid, eerie entry which redefined horror storytelling with its subtle style, and its glimpse into Polish culture on the skids.
Demon tells the story of Piotr, who has been living and working in England for a number of years, and his return to Poland to marry the girl he met on the internet, Zaneta. Her brother, Jasny, who knew Piotr previously and referred to him fondly as Python, welcomes him back with open arms. Everything unfolds swimmingly at first, with Piotr and Zaneta moving into an old, rustic home once owned by Zaneta's grandfather. They have a place together and their love blossoms as they plan for their wedding, set to unfold the following day.
A backhoe, winding its way through a derelict village, serves as the opening to the film. It's the same one that begins all of Piotr's troubles, the one he's borrowed from his father-in-law to clear away the fallen brush and mangled limbs surrounding his new abode. Driving the digger around his front yard, he accidentally backs into a tree, which completely uproots it. There, splayed in the dirt, Piotr finds a cache of human bones buried in the soil. He wants to let Zaneta and his family-to-be in on the morbid find, but decided against it, as he doesn't want to stifle the celebration of the upcoming wedding.
Piotr begins to experience some strange things, though he moves ahead with his plans, as he and Zaneta are head over heels in love. The day after he arrives to the small town, he and his beloved are married. What ensues is a celebration to literally end all others, surging with both festivity and immense tragedy. The happy couple dance to a Polish-Jewish tune with surrounding celebrants nearby before being carted off to the new home, where they rejoice and consummate their union. Along the way, we get subtle glimpses of the nightmare to come in the faint hauntings of the rustic home, the staring funeral mourner on the ride to the reception, and the ever-falling rain that drenches nearly every scene.
When the couple return to the reception, Piotr is haunted by the demon ghost of Hana, whose skeleton he uncovered with his backhoe mishap. She attaches herself to him because she is a jealous spirit who was promised a Polish boy in her living years. She refuses to remain unearthed, as she must claim what is rightfully hers. Before she even appears, Hana is already having her indirect effect on Piotr, moving in on the man Zaneta has just married.
Something is clearly happening with Piotr, and not only Zaneta notices. In his drunken speech, he mentions starting a new life with Hana, only to realize his mistake, and to write the slip up off as the pet name he's given to the backhoe. He quickly begins having seizures, throwing the reception into awed chaos, and it's not long before the shocking discovery of Hana's skeleton is revealed to Zaneta. Piotr begins speaking in Yiddish, possessed by the malevolent spirit of Hana.
A significant moment comes when we see Hana standing over her own shallow grave, peering down at the body of Piotr in her place just before the backhoe fills it in. This signifies that Hana has taken over the soul of Piotr, and that he himself is dead and buried. This is when the sad disparity of the movie really kicks in, as the town priest and doctor apply religion and reason to the sudden upheaval unfolding before them. When Piotr, or Hana in his body, disappears from sight completely, nothing is left but the metaphorical expression of the lost love Hana was promised when she was still alive.
Demon is a rustic, subtle, slow-burning tragedy, wrapped into the foreign package of a horror/drama. Had writer/director Wrona not ended his own life, I feel he would have had many successes in Poland, so many that he could eventually make the crossover to American film. Demon provides the similarities between Polish and Russian cultures in terms of linguistics and the excessive consumption of vodka, mixed in a blender alongside Polish Jew tradition. It's excellent story, one full of jubilee and booze, heartbreak and decay. It's an unconventional, metaphorical, atmospheric possession movie, one that easily escapes the tropes we've all seen far too many times to count. The movie is essentially about a demon-infested wedding that quickly morphs into a funeral, one with an all too cryptic, The Shining-like symbolism in its ending.
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