Watching another culture’s horror movies can provide a fascinating glimpse into what makes them collectively tick. The Polish Demon offers an intriguing, deceptively comedic spin on the dybbuk legend, while also exploring an unthinkable whopper of a party foul. While the second half’s tendency towards small-scale conversations may occasionally betray the script’s origin on the stage, late director/co-writer Marcin Wrona’s talent for whipping up barely contained group hysteria is really something special.
Adapting a play by Piotr Rowicki, the story follows a packed-to-the-rafters wedding at an ancestral estate in the Polish countryside. After the foreign groom (Itay Tiran) discovers a skeleton in the garden, however, things go… astray.