Jewish horror certainly isn’t new. ‘The Dybbuk,’ a play by S. Ansky about the Jewish folkloric demon, was first performed in 1920. Since, there have been many stories of the mythological nightmare, from stage to screen and otherwise. The dybbuk is named for the word “to cleave” or “to cling,” referencing the demon’s way of latching onto a living body. It’s a soul of a dead person that takes up a living host, possessing them until it is able to accomplish its goal.
Unlike Christian demons we’re used to seeing in films, dybbuks aren’t cohorts of the devil, but souls of the dead who are unable or unwilling to move on due to unfinished business. Movies like The Unborn (2009), The Possession (2012), and Ezra (2017) used the dybbuk, but each fell into a common trap. We won’t spend time tackling the 2003 created “dybbuk box,” but suffice it to say that film adaptations that used it were leaning on a bit of a modern ruse rather than ancient lore.
Now, in a post The Vigil world, Jewish horror has again begun to lean on Jewish folklore, and Gabriel Bier Gislason’s Attachment has given us a new dybbuk story with the scent of the old world. Inspired by this beautiful film’s use of Jewish folklore and mysticism, here are five dybbuk stories worth checking out.
Attachment — Shudder/ AMC+
Of course, we should start with the inspiration. Attachment, which recently landed on Shudder, is a tale of two women in love struggling to fit into each other’s lives. After a fast and furious love connection, Maja (Josephine Park) follows Leah (Ellie Kendrick) back to her London flat that’s part of a duplex shared with her mother, Chana (Sofie Gråbøl). There, Maja witnesses what seems like religious fanaticism turned into mental illness where Chana is constantly and meticulously controlling Leah’s space using amulets, potions, and obsessive organization. Getting hints from Leah’s uncle, Lev (David Dencik), Maja tries to grasp the strange happenings and to rescue Leah before her mother harms her. But as the mystery progresses, it becomes less clear who the real danger is, Chana seeming to believe that Leah might be hosting another soul. This special movie leans heavily onto ancient Jewish mystic practices and demonology to tell a stunning tale of love, fear, and possession. Staying close to the folkloric roots, it makes for an exciting adaptation of fear and what it might push a religious person to do to handle it.
Demon — Roku/ Tubi/ Kanopy
With shades of S. Ansky’s infamous play, Marcin Wrona’s Demon centers on a possession at a Jewish wedding. This Polish feature from 2015 tells the story of a groom, Piotr (Italy Tiran), possessed on his wedding night by the soul of a bride who was buried near his home. Demon is a rich story that leans on Ansky’s play (about a bride being possessed by her would-be groom) to create an allegory about the Polish and Jewish relations before and after the second World War. Historically, dybbuks were a common scapegoat for many illnesses, particularly mental illness. In this story, a doctor and a priest disagree about Piotr’s ailment, and it’s the Jewish teacher who suspects he is being tormented by a dybbuk. Demon is a stunning horror story that captures all the messiness of a possession at a grand affair and uses ancient lore and early Jewish horror texts to create something magical.
A Serious Man — VOD
Joel and Ethan Cohen’s story of a physics teacher’s series of unfortunate events is mostly a pitch-black comedy leaning on Jewish culture for its themes. While the Coens allege the film’s opening scene has no bearing on the rest of the story, it suggests a Jewish curse might be following Larry (Michael Stuhlbarg). In a spooky prologue set in a nineteenth century shtetl, a man is convinced he’s spent time with a chum named Reb. His wife is less convinced, knowing Reb to have passed long before, insisting the man he saw was a dybbuk. It’s not certain what they encountered when a seemingly living Reb comes by their home for some soup, but the unphased woman plunges a sharp object into his chest and happily sets evil on its way. Not spending much time with the dybbuk lore, the greater film focuses on stumbling through faith for comfort in trying times and this story of a Jewish curse sets the stage.
Possessions — HBO Max
This French and Hebrew language series is more murder mystery than demon haunt. Reminiscent of Ansky’s play and Demon, this story starts with a tragedy at a wedding. Natalie (Nadia Tereszkiewicz) has just been wed to Eran (Imri Biton) and is about to cut the cake to celebrate their union. Before the knife has a chance to slice the confection, the lights go out, and turn back on to reveal Eran has been stabbed to death with it. Of course, Natalie looks guilty, but with her insistence of her innocence, the story turns into an investigation into who really killed Eran and what might be behind Natalie’s perplexing behavior. The secrets of this six-episode HBO Max thriller are best kept, but by leaning on weddings, mysterious happenings, denial of violent behavior, and Jewish superstition, Possessions (I mean, really, the title alone) is dusted in dybbuk themes. Though nothing like The Exorcism of Emily Rose in style, the stories share the method of pitting folklore and rituals to remove a curse up against the rational world’s desire for a scientific explanation. Intentionally blending the two, Possessions gets to have a murder mystery soul attached to a supernatural story’s body.
Difficult People — Hulu
Billy Eichner and Julie Klausner’s riotous comedy series often highlights their Jewish roots, including when Billy’s character visits his brother who lives Orthodox. In the third season episode, Code Change, Billy is summoned by his sister-in-law Rucchel (Jackie Hoffman) when she suspects she might have a dybbuk in her house. Though dybbuks aren’t particularly known to haunt homes like a lost poltergeist, the show’s writers probably leaned on the comedic theory that words with the sounds “kuh” are funny and wanted to use that piece of Yiddish lore for the bit. This theory is completely evidenced by how funny it is when Billy keeps repeating “dybbuk” as he argues with Rucchel about what is really making the clanging sounds in her basement. The reason this whole gag works is because it allows the show to take Billy’s version of Judaism and bring it to his brother’s Orthodox house, showing the different versions of the religion and ethnicity that all exist within his family. Then it has a big laugh when Billy is forced to gather a minyan and create a sure-fire way to exorcise the demon from his brother and sister-in-law’s home.
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