They may look cute and innocent, but don’t be fooled! Golems are not good business. Courtesy of Epic Pictures Group.Golem. It’s a word I’ve heard and seen a thousand times since joining PJFM in 2016, and yet I still don’t know what it means. Any time I search for “Jewish horror movies,” “golem” shows up everywhere. Golem Golem Golem. (And incase you aren’t familiar with the word, it’s pronounced like “go-lem,” not like that creepy creature from The Lord of the Rings…) It’s either that word or “dybbuk,” the latter of which I’m a little more familiar with. A golem, for those who don’t know, is an immensely popular figure in Jewish folklore and was first made famous in Paul Wegener and Carl Boese’s silent German classic, The Golem (Der Golem) (1920). Years later in 2018, Doron and Yoav Paz, the brothers behind the goofily fun Jeruzalem (2015), revitalized the legend onscreen in THE GOLEM, a stylish, not so much “scary” but more so psychological horror film from Israel. After watching the movie and doing research on the golem, one thing was certain: I was VERY wrong about this creature.
For starters, I thought the golem was supposed to be an evil demon from Hell. Not exactly. Well, although you probably wouldn’t want to have a golem residing in your home for fun, the creature’s reputation is slightly misleading. There are articles and writings galore about the golem, but the best definition is from a 2017 Moment Magazine publication.
“In Jewish folklore, a golem is a powerful but erratic humanoid formed from earth and brought to life through Kabbalistic magic,” says writer Marilyn Cooper. “While the golem is often created with good intentions, or even to save the Jews, ultimately it runs amok and must be destroyed.”
Basically, you know how you’re not supposed to keep exotic pets like chimps or lions? That’s similar to a golem. Even if you were to conjure one with good intentions, like defending yourself from enemies, the creature would inevitably lose control and…yeah. LOTS of death, if you know what I mean.
It’s all fascinating – and not to mention entertaining – folklore that can make for some really wild horror movies. I think the concept of a golem, more so than a dybbuk, is more unique in its personality. A dybbuk is a demon, and so we know it’s simply evil already. A golem is like an untamed animal, created with good intent and then fatefully transformed into a true monster. It’s quite sad, actually. If you were to remove the folklore of it all, you can compare “golems” to people themselves. All of us are created with good intent, and then some of us go to a very dark path.
Anyway, that’s enough metaphors for now, although you may find more in the Paz Brothers’s film. If you love Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, folklores and more, THE GOLEM is the perfect film to watch this “Halloweekend.” Set in a small Lithuanian shtetl in 1673, this story follows Hanna (Hani Furstenberg, excellent), a brooding young woman stuck in a rut with her husband, Benjamin (Ishai Golan). The two lost their child seven years prior, and Hanna cannot get pregnant for the life of her. It’s so bad that even Benjamin’s father, the rabbi of the town, suggests he divorce her. Luckily, Benjamin still loves his wife and will do no such thing. He even steals a Torah from his father’s synagogue for her for good luck but warns her to not dive too deep into it because some men have gone crazy doing so… (Foreshadowing? You bet!)
In addition to marital troubles, things in the shtetl aren’t looking so well either. There is a Great Plague happening and the non-Jewish, peasant neighbors seem to be the only ones getting sick. Because of this, they blame the Jews, of course, further exacerbating tensions. Low in numbers and strength, the town needs a warrior. Hanna suggests that they conjure up a golem to protect them but is shut down. A golem, they warn, always looks like a good idea but ends in carnage.
The final call for Hanna happens after discovering that her sister suffered a miscarriage after being raped by one of the peasants. Hanna enters the woods at night and performs the ceremony, sculpturing a golem out of mud and lighting ablaze a Star of David. The next morning, the peasants appear and brutally hang her from a tree. Out of nowhere, the men are slaughtered by some supernatural force. Hanna breaks free from her rope and looks up. The golem has arrived. Except this isn’t a scaly creature with wings or claws. It’s a little boy covered in mud, and it much resembles her dead son.
The golem, played by Konstantin Anikienko, is wide-eyed and emotionless. It’s safe to say at this point that things won’t go well in town, despite Hanna’s intentions. While she is reprimanded for her actions and the golem’s inevitable rage, Hanna can’t help but feel sympathy and love for this “little boy.” Don’t be fooled, Hanna! Like any good horror movie, you know that if there’s a cute-looking yet creepy kid who doesn’t smile and loves to stand catatonically in creepy parts of a house, things won’t end well. Except this is 1673, and so Hanna hasn’t seen any horror movies to learn of this fatal mistake.
The Yoaz Brothers sporadically pump up some blood throughout THE GOLEM, a campy but likable addition to the slowly growing Jewish horror genre. Their film opens up with a giant golem roaring like a dinosaur in a synagogue, followed by a rabbi spontaneously exploding, his blood splashing onto the windows. The film is different from what I imagined, seriously made and yet gleefully light in its approach. The fact that the film is entirely in English with American accents is one example, even though Furstenberg is an Israeli actress. The production design and special effects are especially effective, including the shots of the murderous golem as it mentally tortures Hanna with its innocent-looking face. It’s all a beautiful picture book, like a visual representation from what we read about in the Kabbalah.
Although I can’t say I was scared by this movie, I was certainly enthralled. Like they showed in Jeruzalem, the Paz Brothers are having the time of their lives with their horror movie, crafting original stories that are equally campy and emotionally effective. I don’t know of any other scary Jewish folklore, but I have confidence that this duo will certainly explore another legend soon.
Until then, PLEASE don’t conjure a golem! It’s not worth it.
THE GOLEM is now available to stream on Tubi, Peacock, The Roku Channel, Vudu, and Amazon Prime.