First outings are a very mixed bag. Some are spectacular displays of an up-and-coming director’s talent. Some are dark stains on a resume that can seriously wreck the chances of one’s career taking off. And for first-time director Abdelhamid Bouchnak, the stakes were even higher: his 2018 debut, Dachra, is the first horror film to come out of Tunisia – and one of only a few in the Arab world at all. But, to watch it, you’d have no idea. Despite some occasional jank with regards to sound quality, Bouchnak writes and directs like an old pro. The concepts in Dachra may feel familiar, but the social and cultural influences of its North African setting make for an experience that feels brand new.

The film opens with a murder. “He has the key in his eye,” says a shadowy someone, before cutting the throat of a young boy. We have a murder mystery on our hands! Then, we cut to journalism students Yasmine (Yassmine Dimassi), Bilel (Bilel Slatnia), and Walid (Aziz Jebali) as they pull together to come up with a story for their final. They discover the case of Mongia (Hela Ayed), a woman found with her throat cut at the side of the road some 20 years ago. She’s being kept in an asylum, where the staff refer to her as a “witch” for her abnormal and often violent behavior. A visit to the asylum seems to confirm this, and Yasmine must hide the origins of the resulting injuries from her loving yet protective grandfather, Bashir (Bahri Rahali).

But Bashir has his reasons for fearing for Yasmine, fears which go beyond the ordinary religious superstitions of old men. As Yasmine and her companions trek out to the spot where Mongia was found, Bashir begins experiencing sickening visions that warn of danger. Because Mongia is not the witch Yasmine and her friends need to worry about.

According to Bouchnak, witchcraft is a major problem in North Africa to this day, with children often the victims of witches seeking personal gain. It seems like a stark contrast to the urban setting of Dachra, but Bouchnak blends the conflicting themes of old vs. new, “superstitious” vs. “logical” very well, playing them against each other and in doing so, keeping the audience guessing about the outcome right up until the mystery’s end. Dachra is a bloody, gory, anxiety-inducing sucker punch of a debut. And I loved it.

10 out of 10