Writer-director Yerkezhan Baizhan’s feature debut, ÜREI is the arrival of a very promising filmmaker. Adapted from Baizhan’s 2024 short of the same name, the film opens on Kalima (Akerke Kozaiyr) as she rides in the car with her bickering parents. After catching her drinking, parents Askar (Asset Eszhan) and Aliya (Gulbahram Baybosynova) decide to take Kalima for an extended visit in the country to stay with her grandmother, Amina (Tynyshgul Sultanberdieva). What first begins as a welcome change for Kalima soon turns into grueling nightmare as granny snaps, becoming a violent, psychotic monster. ÜREI is an effective, if at times shocking horror film.
When Kalima’s parents drop her off and things seem fine. Gramma is at first consoling and effusively accommodating. That is until Kalima begins to hear granny wailing in the middle of the night. Another alarming sign appears when Kalima spots cuts on her grandmother’s arms. When questioned Amina plays dumb, aloof, laughing things off as silly. But Baizhan makes sure we don’t fall for it and neither does Kalima. There is a dark mystery that slowly unfurls like a poisonous blossom. In short Gramma has been living a dark secret since the death of her husband that has gone unchecked. Grief and regret unite to turn granny from dotting caregiver into menacing captor leaving Kalima little chance of escape.
Hoenstly I never thought I would long to be back in the car with the parents arguing, but my guess is that Kalima felt the same.
What is interesting about ÜREI is how it transforms from a vague, psychological horror film, into a full blown extreme horror movie. I wouldn’t call it torture porn or body horror, but what Amina ends up doing to her granddaughter is painful to watch. Fair warning there are a few pretty brutal moments, one of which includes off-screen animal cruelty. Yes, when granny snaps, she snaps hard. It reminded me of Martyrs in some ways though not as numbingly extreme.
ÜREI translated from Kazakh to mean fear or terror, and this one actually had a few solid jump scares. The score by Abai Akbaev really seemed to love being a part of them. In fact, there were scenes where the score went a bit too hard. A minor quibble when compared to the two leads. Emerging Kazakhstani actor Akerke Kozaiyr delivers a powerful performance as troubled teen Kalima. She hits the right beats when playing the sullen, upset teen. Then she transforms further with a harrowing turn as a victim of captivity. Impressive new talent here. That said this is Sultanberdieva’s film. She eases from nurturing elder to menacing monster with such breathtaking ease. Marrying the motivations of her character’s iterations, we understand, at all times, where she is coming from. This is a credit both to Baizhan’s writing and directing, as well as Sultanberdieva’s ability to rationalize and perform a truly frightening character.
One of the rewards of being a film critic is that you are exposed to a literal world of cinema. When you see a film from a part of the world that you will probably never visit, you are gifted the chance to observe the common humanity. Thanks to Yerkezhan Baizhan we are reminded that horror is alive in Kazakhstan and remains an important genre however discounted. The demons of anguish, regret, and sorrow are universal.
