Kandisha is a French horror film directed and written by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury. The film stars Mériem Sarolie, Walid Afkir, Suzy Bemba, Bakary Diombera, Mathilde Lamusse, Félix Glaux-Delporto and Sandor Funtek. It focuses on a teenage girl who must fight to protect her younger brother, with help from her two friends, from the wraith of a Moroccan figure from folklore she has inadvertently summoned.
Contents
Plot
Three teenage childhood friends invoke the spirit of Aïsha Kandisha, the avenging creature of a Moroccan legend. When one of them, Amélie, suffers at the hands of a former boyfriend, she asks Kandisha to punish him. The seemingly innocent game turns into a nightmare when Kandisha, not satisfied with only one sacrifice, starts venting her rage on any male she comes across, including their nearest and dearest family members. The three friends must now do everything possible to stop an evil who wants to be reborn by using one of them as a human host. Thus, Amélie and her friends seek an Islamic father-and-son team of spiritualists for help, as Kandisha herself has set her sights on Amélie's younger brother Antoine.
Cast
Mathilde Lamusse as Amélie
Suzy Bemba as Bintou
Samarcande Saadi as Morjana
Mériem Sarolie as Aisha Kandisha
Maria José Cazares Godoy as Aisha Kandisha (early stage)
Brahim Takioullah as Demon Aisha Kandisha
Sandor Funtek as Erwan
Walid Afkir as Rector
Félix Glaux-Delporto as Antoine
Nassim Lyes as Abdel
Dylan Krief as Ben
Bakary Diombera as Ako
Mariam Doumbia as Amimata
Brahim Hadrami as Farid
Lotfi Yahya Jedidi as imam Ahmed Ibn Fahlan
Production
Filming took place in Belgium in June and July 2019.
Release
The film had its world premiere in the Oficial Fantàstic Competición section at the Sitges Film Festival on October 16, 2020.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 33 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Although Kandisha engages unevenly with its more thought-provoking aspects, it remains viscerally effective as a memorably brutal slasher." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.