Perhaps the Arab countries are not the first ones that come to your head when it comes the time for legendary creatures and evil spirits, but you better be sure that ancient culture is filled with scary stories that have been told from generation to generation through the centuries. Supernatural creatures like the demonic Jinns or the monstrous humanoids Ghouls have been in the pre-Islamic Arabian folklore since memory can reach.
Achoura (2018) is a horror thriller centering on three friends who had lost contact and they meet again when one of their friends, who disappeared twenty-five years ago, suddenly comes back into their lives. Together, they will have to confront the terrifying events of their youth and fight a monstrous creature born from a horrible spine-chilling Moroccan legend.
This is the new movie produced, written, and directed by French-Moroccan filmmaker Talal Selhami after his debut with awards-nominated Mirages (2010). he has been also the writer of the story together with Jawad Lahlou and David Villemin.
The main cast for Achoura (2018) is formed by Sofiia Manousha, Younes Bouab, Omar Lotfi, Iván González, Moussa Maaskri, Mohamed Choubi, Mohamed Wahib Abkari, and Abdullah Bakhsh.
About Achoura (2018), its director Talal Selhami has said “The times we are living in are going through a terrible period, between economic crisis, terrorism, disease, natural disasters, and the Arab world is unfortunately not spared. That is why I think that the Arab world also has today, and more than ever, its own fantastic stories to tell”. He follows “Achoura (2018) tells the story of a Djinn, who during a religious festival, very specific to the country (the celebration of childhood), seizes the youngest in order to devour them.[…] In this sense, the creature of Ashura is none other than the allegory of adulthood that devours childhood and thus generates troubled beings. Childhood and the loss of innocence are subjects that haunt almost all of my projects. Achoura (2018) is, therefore, a way for me to exorcise this fear“.
Described as It (2017) meets The Babadook (2014), Achoura (2018) had its world premiere at the Paris International Fantastic Film Festival in 2018. Alongside 2019, it has been present in several film festivals including Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival, Cinepocalypse, Brussels Fantastic Film Festival, Bucheon Fantastic Film Festival, HARD:LINE Film Festival, where it won the Golden Razor Blade for Best Film, and Sitges Film Festival where it got the Special Mention at the Secció Oficial Fantàstic.
Now, the movie is scheduled for a DVD and digital release by Dark Star Pictures on December 14, 2021. Watch here the official trailer for Achoura (2018).
