Good morning, House of Madness residents:
Have you ever had a job you didn't just dislike, but absolutely hated? There's nothing worse than hearing that annoying alarm on your cell phone, only to realize you've been awakened in order to spend your day doing abysmal tasks and chores for very little money. Money aside, some jobs are so bad, that the business in question can't keep a steady flow of employees, and the turnover rate is equivalent to that of a disorganized Trump campaign. For Yakov Ronen (Dave Davies), the job he takes on is so bad, he'd practically kill to get fired.
Yakov is down on his luck, and life is one big conundrum after the next. He barely scrapes by, and some days are so bad, he has to choose between medication and food, as he can't afford both. One night as he's leaving his friend's apartment, he runs into an old acquaintance named Reb (Menashe Lustig), who has an interesting proposition for him; simply spend the night being a shomen for a Jewish woman whose husband just passed, and he'll make a quick four hundred bucks. Yakov first declines, but the promise of money he so desperately needs cannot be ignored, and he accepts the offer with haste.
As he arrives, the old woman named Mrs. Litvak (Lynn Cohen) immediately tries to dissuade him, and asks him to leave her house entirely, to which Reb disputes, and the gig is on. The night begins slowly with Yakov sending a few texts while fading in and out of sleep, until he starts seeing and hearing things in which he's sure aren't really there. He takes his rescue meds to help deal with his anxiety, but horrors of his past have caught up with him, and would seemingly like to have a nice, long chat. Is everything simply in Yakov's head, or is there something more sinister that has manifested itself inside the walls of Mrs. Litvak's house? Morning is approaching fast, but not as fast as Yakov's demons.
"The Vigil" starts off having you think it's your standard, run-of-the-mill demon story, but has a few tricks up its sleeve to keep you on your toes. While it's certainly been done before, and told better, the story never gets boring and doesn't try to be anything more than it is, and that's a good thing - a pithy observation, yes, but in a genre currently overflowing with demons, it's an observation I found welcoming in a world full of imitation.
Madness Meter: 5.8/10
NB
