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Dachra

Grisly, frightening, and stuffed with howling thrills, the new Tunisian horror film DACHRA won over both Frightfest and the Venice Film Festival. First-time director Abdelhamid Bouchnak weaves together North African folklore and tried-and-true B-movie magic. Beginning with a simple classroom assignment, three journalism students decide to seek new clues about a cold case involving witchcraft and a mad woman. The trio take their camera to the scene of the crime deep in the woods, led by the headstrong young investigator Yassmine. Soon they are welcomed to a secluded, hushed village where goats have free rein and raw meat hangs drying in the wind. Captured with eerie and atmospheric compositions and uncanny long takes, this foggy, isolated hamlet is the creepiest location in recent horror cinema. Daring depths of barbarity—and some seriously scary children—are around every corner.