Amani (Bdoor Mohammad) is a happy mom and wife at the beginning of the new psychological horror pic The Vile. She and her teenage daughter Noor (Iman Tarik) share a strong bond and, as far as Amani is concerned, life is good. That is until her Khalid (Jasem Alkharraz) decides to bring a second younger wife, Zahra (Sarah Taibah,) into their home. This triggers a series of events, both internal and supernatural, that sends the home into chaos. Shot in Abu Dhabi, this thriller from the UAE is a slow burn look at the horrors of family and the constant fear of no longer being needed.
At first, Amani is stunned by her husband’s desire for another wife. He selfishly explains that Zahra can actually give him the son he never got with Amani and announces that Zahra is pregnant. Determined to maintain her place and the matriarch of the home, Amani leans on her daughter for support and stands firm. At first the new wife plays it cool, but we know there is something she is hiding. Zahra has the odd habit of bringing stinky flowers into the home, then strange, unexplainable events occur. Amani tries to bring things up to her husband, but he is far to, uh, “distracted.” Amani then speaks with her daughter Noor, but Noor is far too busy dealing with a bunch of bullies at school who know about her family turmoil.
What begins as Amani’s fight for relevance in the family becomes a supernatural mystery. Or is it just her descent into madness? Writers Majid Al Ansari and Johnnie Alward do a good job of grounding the film in reality but always hinting at the frayed edges of sanity. What I appreciated the most about the script is that time is allowed for character development and motivation. We understand Amani’s decision to remain in the home and fight for her family. We buy it when Noor starts to warm up to the new woman in the house. We even start to fall for Zahra’s charms. The film is, admittedly, slow. But it isn’t slow without purpose. There is time used to really understand these people, selling the horror of the situation.
Mohammad delivers a towering performance as Amani. She is a woman desperate to be recognized as the heart of the home. Her scenes are riveting pieces of work balancing strength and vulnerability. I was also impressed with Taibah‘s Zahra who could nimbly switch from warm to calculation with the raise of an eyebrow.
The third act of the film does wobble a bit when the action comes to a climax. What starts off as a clever balance of paranoia and psychological horror becomes a heavy, surrealistic dreamscape that doesn’t effectively stick the landing. Director Ansari proves a formidable director in the more realistic, grounded scenes with a deep knowledge of horror. However the his elegant touch vanishes when he attempts dream logic. It’s not a dealbreaker, but you can see the difference.
The Vile is a welcome addition to the pantheon of psychologically driven horror from a fresh voice. Sharp-eyed genre fans will catch references to everything from Rosemary’s Baby to Hereditary as Ansari navigates his own tale of familial terror. This isn’t a pulse-pounding nightmare, but a queasy fugue state that we are invited to savor.
