Achoura – Movie Review (3/5)

ACHOURA is a Horror Fantasy Thriller coming out now. It’s from Morocco and features a familiar legend – though by a new name. It feels a bit too long but is otherwise a strong indie genre production. Read our full Achoura movie review here!

ACHOURA is a Horror Fantasy movie coming out in the US now. It’s actually from 2018 and had its world premiere at the Paris International Fantastic Film Festival 2018.

However, the fact that it took a while to get a US release says nothing about its qualities. It is both well-produced and very entertaining – and heartbreaking!

Continue reading our Achoura movie review below and check it out when you can.

A familiar folklore legend

While Achoura is from Morocco and the creature has a name, I was not familiar with, it is a folklore we’ve heard before. They do also mention this in the movie, so it’s not like I’ve had to research this subject any further.

The more familiar name is “The Djinn”. We’ve seen both the Netflix series Jinn about this legend and an IFC Midnight movie (the latter is in English). If you do enjoy the story in Achoura, then make sure you check out that IFC Midnight release. It was surprisingly good.

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Our review of The Djinn movie released by IFC Midnight >

And again, these stories tend to be quite heartbreaking as it’s often the case when kids are at the center of the story. Their innocence and wish to help everyone else is always a strong plot driver in these stories.

Also, the horror movie Kandisha by French horror duo, Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, touches on these folklore legends as well. You can watch Kandisha on Shudder!

Full of strong performances

This time the story plays out in Morocco, which is why the otherwise familiar legend now also has a name used in that particular country. The strength of Achoura is in the fact that the movie has so much heart. We meet a group of kids, who grow up and suddenly realize that their friend (who went missing when they were kids) is still alive.

They want desperately to help their friend, but it might just be too late. To watch these friends, now very much adult people with adult problems, turn into pre-teens again as they are reunited with their long-lost friend, really draws you into the story.

Also, it should be said that both the child actors and the adult actors deliver strong performances. And yes, sure, there are some CGI elements that we could do without. At the same time, this is probably the best way to illustrate this monster.

Watch Achoura on DVD or On-Demand

Achoura is directed by French-born director, Talal Selhami, who also came up with the original idea for this story. This is only the second feature film from Talan Selhami. His first movie was the 2010 horror, fantasy, action hybrid Mirages. I haven’t watched that one, but it certainly sounds very interesting as well.

His most recent project was the 2020 sci-fi mystery video game Tell Me Why.

The screenplay was written by Jawad Lahlou and David Villemin, who have both worked on either TV series or movies in the past. Again, nothing I’m familiar with, but they have quite a bit of experience between them.

For me, the only minor downfall of Achoura was the fact that it felt a bit too long. There was a lull in the final half, that I could have done without. Having said that, I was still very entertained and impressed with both the story, acting, and overall style of Achoura.

ACHOURA premieres on DVD and Digital on December 14, 2021, from Dark Star Pictures.

Details

Director: Talal Selhami
Stars: Younes Bouab, Sofia Manousha, Moussa Maaskri, Omar Lotfi