The storyline is quite familiar. A young boy mysteriously disappears while he is out playing with three of his friends. Twenty-five years later he reappears, and the gang of four team up to settle the case with the horrific monster from their childhood they have tried to forget all these years: a hungry, child-eating creature named Boughatate, that is once again loose in the streets of Casablanca.

Achoura clearly gets its inspiration from classical horror films of the eighties and nineties, and the most prominent source is probably Stephen King’s IT. A well-known formula, however, director Talal Selhami manages to breathe fresh air into old genre tropes by incorporating folklore and urban legends from Morocco. The final result is a delightfully dark horror film.

French-Moroccan Talal Selhami (b. 1982) has previously directed the short film Sinistra (2006), which was shown at Sitges International Fantasy Film Festival, and the feature film Mirages (2010) produced by Nabil Ayouch, which was screened at Marrakech Film Festival. Achoura is his second feature film and is inspired by Moroccan mythology.

Original title Achoura

Year 2018

Director Talal Selhami

Screenplay Jawad Lahlou, Talal Selhami

Cinematography Mathieu De Montgrand

Producer Lamia Chraibi

Cast Sofiia Manousha, Younes Bouab, Omar Lotfi, Iván González

Production Company Moon & Deal Films

Runtime 1h 30m

Links IMDb