During an outbreak of a deadly plague, a mystical woman must save her tight-knit Jewish community from foreign invaders -- but the entity she conjures to protect them is a far greater evil.
Something that we don't get too often, are horror films that revolve around non-Christian religions. The Golem is reasonably well known as a part of the mythology of Judaism, partially helped thanks to its inclusion in an episode of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horrors XVII. A creature usually made from dirt or mud that acts upon orders that are placed upon parchment in its mouth.
As well as providing a creature feature where the creature may be able controllable, The Golem also provides a look into the Jewish faith in the 17th Century; specifically that of the role of women as a means of producing children and looking after the home, banned from taking part in religious learnings. As the subversion of traditional gender roles is a common occurrence in this day and age, this facet has also been interwoven into the story to create additional conflict points in relation to bodily autonomy and exposure to religious teachings that are only allowed for the male gender.
Due to the date and location that the film is set (17th Century Lithuania), it takes place during the second plague pandemic, where the bubonic plague (also known as Black Death) was spreading rife through Europe. This creates the second conflict point, where the afflicted start to see the isolated unafflicted Jews as harbingers of death. So there is a fair amount going on in this story with a personal story arc that revolves around our main character, and a foreign invader plot that affects the whole community and places a ticking timer on the arc.
There is a lot to like about The Golem. Where there is the plague, there are plague doctors, and the costuming and cinematography around them are incredibly well done. They embody that chaotic neutral stance perfectly for a medical physician facing a plague that can take any steps they deem necessary (as the memes have put forward, "yeah you got ghosts in your blood, you should do cocaine about it"). The entire setting has an overall well-done production design that looks very much like what you would expect from an isolated 17th Century Jewish community.
Where the visuals are let down is on the special effects side of things. More practical effects would have had a much better impact, but while the CGI looks cheap, it is used rather sparingly (expect some gore). The creature design does go against what popular culture have led us to expect, but it works brilliantly to reduce the need for CGI and fit perfectly in with our protagonist's personal story arc. It's amazing how effective black lenses and a lack of dialogue can be at building a sense of fear and tension.
Admittedly, the first 20 minutes are incredibly slow and the opening scenes look cheaply made. Once you get past that and we get to the foreign threat the pacing starts to improve. Our antagonists are very engaging, and their motivations are well communicated. It could have done with a little more development on the antagonist's side of things as the narrative is very one-sided, and I happily wouldn't have minded the film running a little longer to develop the characters further to create a bigger impact in the climax.
In the end, The Golem does a satisfactory job at entertaining. Definitely leaning more towards the drama than horror, the premise is refreshing, with a well-balanced protagonist's and antagonist's (all characters having sufficient flaws to make it easier to empathise with). The score does not fit well with the atmosphere of the movie and is jarring, but is a small issue that is more than made up for by the well-built set designs that feel used, thanks to a muted colour palette. The narrative could be a bit smoother, with some story points seemingly left on the cutting room floor, but The Golem still puts forth an intriguing conflict that just needed a little more runtime to simmer.