Even among contemporaries of the New French Extremity wave, Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo‘s 2007 debut Inside was a gore-drenched electric shock. Painting the walls with blood, its savage blend of Christmas Eve home invasion, pregnant widow and one huge pair of scissors had genre fans eager to see what the directing duo would unleash next. What came next ranged from the Grimm-Gothic fairy tale Livid to the Texas Chainsaw prequel Leatherface; their latest film Kandisha is exactly on-brand for the duo’s grisly gritty style while also being a familiar yet effective tale of supernatural terror.
Set among working-class predominantly-Arab French projects, its multi-ethnic trio of protagonists encompass a swirl of influences. Maury and Bustillo embrace the trappings and beats of ‘90s teen horror to a fault, much like their film Among the Living was a warped Amblin adventure. Bintou (Suzy Bemba), Morjana (Samarcande Saadi), and Amélie (Mathilde Lamusse) are a tight friend trio with a shared passion for trap and tagging; the three women are immediately likable, sharing a snappy energetic chemistry that pairs well with the directors’ touch of social-realism grit. Their latest tagging excursion ends with hushed whispers about the myth of Aicha Kandisha, a figure of Moroccan folklore awakened by uttering her name five times. After a rape attempt by her ex-boyfriend, Amélie summons the entity in righteous fury…but its cursed wrath will not be so easily sated.
While Kandisha draws comparisons to the 1992 Candyman, that doesn’t extend far beyond the urban legend mechanics, folkloric haunting and few similar scenes. If Bernard Rose’s movie explored America’s racial sins, Aicha Kandisha is a specter born of Portuguese colonialism, awakened to slay men within the teens’ orbit of family and friends. Maury and Bustillo follow the well-trodden formula of demonic horror to a T, as the girls gradually uncover the myth amid a growing body count. When the inevitable exorcism occurs, an ex-imam replaces a priest as the genre’s reluctant religious figure, further cementing the film’s refreshing shift away from Christian and Western horror trappings.
Despite the genuine bond between Bintou, Morjana and Amélie, the first half of Kandisha is its weakest. The exposition-heavy early acts are further leadened by a slow-to-start pace, overly familiar scares and a disappointing preference for off-screen deaths or CGI effects. But much like its transforming eponymous menace – from serpentine black burqa to monstrous hooved siren – Maury and Bustillo‘s direction becomes more grisly and terrifyingly raw. An air of inescapable bleakness hangs over the horror, a growing desperation that seemed starker than the typical demonic fare. A steamy gym shower becomes the site for an encounter that’s wincingly brutal and surreally haunting. Amid vibrantly tagged walls, the final act is awash in chunky practical gore and impressive creature effects that realize Aicha Kandisha as a striking primal terror.
Despite an abrupt, anticlimactic ending, Kandisha delivers an entertaining horror ride. Not quite scary as much as eerie, the film’s characters, sense of place and unique choice of monster result in an experience that’s entirely familiar while engrossing through its own merits. Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo have another rock-solid slice of horror cinema under their belt.
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