-Got to see this movie in hardline festival, Germany. -Really enjoyed it. -It's different than what we usually get to see as thriller and horror movie, kudos to Talal Selhami for his second feature film with a creative creature design, great locations and set decoration (I especially loved the Haunted House) Well done. -I couldn't understand the language at all so to me the actors performed pretty well. -A bit lost in some parts of the movie with the storyline. This could be improved with a bit of re-cut -Really good music by Romain Paillot. IMHO, we rarely get to hear such scores in modern movies. Much better than what some A-list composers can write in Hollywood.

With me having the opportunity to sit down and watch the 2018 Moroccan horror movie "Achoura" here in 2022, needless to say that I did so. Of course I did, especially because the movie's cover was actually interesting, and this was, after all, a horror movie that I hadn't already seen.

I had never heard about this 2018 horror movie from writers Jawad Lahlou, Talal Selhami and David Villemin, so I wasn't sure what I was in for here, nor had I seen a trailer or anything. I just picked up the movie, as my attention was caught by the cover. And I gave it a chance.

And I guess that "Achoura" is Moroccan for "boring". I am just kidding here, about the translation, of course. Boy, oh boy, talk about a swing and a miss of a movie from director Talal Selhami. The movie never got off to a flying start, and it was so difficult getting into the groove of the movie or the atmosphere of the movie. Maybe it was because the movie had zero appeal, characters with the appeal of cardboard, dialogue as rigid as wood, or simply because the only thing scary about "Achoura" was how utterly boring it was.

The storyline told in "Achoura" was boring and pointless. So it never caught on with me. And after 32 minutes of sheer and utter boredom, then I was good and ready to call it quits on this movie. Yeah, it was exactly that boring.

I wasn't familiar with a single performer on the cast list, and that is usually something I enjoy when I sit down to watch movies. But for some reason, then not so much with "Achoura". Again, it was because everything was so utterly boring and pointless, from the characters and dialogue to the very events that made up the storyline.

If you enjoy horror movies, do yourself a favor and stay well clear of "Achoura".

My rating of director Talal Selhami's 2018 horror movie "Achoura" lands on a very generous two out of ten stars. It is the special effects alone that prevents the rating of scraping a mere single star.

First horror movie by this guy, perhaps first Maroccan horror movie ever to make it internationally. This alone and the base for the film scores all the way up to 6. (A for the spine to see this project though! ) This film, however, has a really great idea and lots of faults that have not been thought through- both in the story as well as in the timeline and the quality and feel. It feels like the director somehow didn't really trust his idea and so had to drag in random momentums from previous horror films. The movie could be mistaken for a poor filmatisation of a Stephen King novel. The base of the story is SO good it can stand on its own feet- it does NOT need copied scenes from Hollywood movies.

The music is an ambitious high-end orchestral sound track that sadly is composed by someone who doesn't really know anything about classical music and instead copies straight from American classics. My guess is the team that composed the music has no one who's gone through music school and are "self-taught" so to speak... I could be wrong, of course, but the music is not advanced (actually a bit flat and childish) and not original- however, the string section HAS to be original studio recordings- which is great! And played by professional orchestral musicians- THAT is something you can't miss. The fact that the foley is a bit obvious and out of place along with the music being too intense and overpowering leaves very little to the imagination, and sadly steals a lot of the intended creepiness of the movie. (Rule number ONE in horror- the sound is (usually) 80% of the movie!!!)

The child actors are not that great- but better than 90% of Hollywood (which is not much of an achievement). The trowel between the bricks is non existing and so the story, which has many great bricks (points, finesses)- falls apart. The finesses in the story leads to nowhere or are not properly focused on. It's like trying to juggle with 10 balls and catching only 5. Some stereotypical characteristics in characters occur, but that can of course be expected.

I would love this movie to be "re-cut" and with a new soundtrack (I mean, keep the original, just don't shove it in every intense scene) and make more sense in the story (have someone else read it and screen it for people first to get feedback)- and then have someone properly grade it (no "auto-detect" gradient, which at the moment feels like the case). Then the movie would be so much more!

Oh- and Achoura is NOT only a Maroccan celebration. It's an Islamic celebration (which stretches beyond Marocco, for the ones that didn't know). If you write: Ashura in Google- you will find it.

Enjoy the movie! It's worth a watch as, like I wrote, it still is the first horror movie by this guy. (Imagine all the potential)