Horror just gave us a casting choice nobody saw coming, and it might be the most intriguing one of the year.
Steve Guttenberg is starring in The Dybbuk, a Jewish folklore-based horror film. He plays Rabbi Azrael, a mystic who must perform a dangerous exorcism. A dead man’s restless spirit has possessed a young woman in his congregation. It’s a sharp, unexpected pivot for an actor best known for Police Academy, and that contrast alone makes this one worth watching.
Tony-nominated Craig Bierko (Cinderella Man) plays Sender, the possessed woman’s father. Meanwhile, Beth Grant (No Country for Old Men) plays Frayda, the grandmother. Together, the three leads form a compelling ensemble. Lee Amir-Cohen writes and directs in his feature debut, with Ashley Bua co-writing and producing. Filming has already wrapped in Los Angeles.
The film adapts S. Ansky’s classic Yiddish play of the same name. In Jewish folklore, a Dybbuk is a malicious spirit that clings to the living, one of horror’s most underexplored mythologies. If this film gets it right, it could do for Jewish folklore what Hereditary did for grief-soaked occultism.
No release date has been announced yet.
