Critic's Pick — International Lens: 'Zalava'

The folks over at Vanderbilt’s International Lens series will be giving moviegoers a pre-Halloween ghost story before they slap on Spirit Halloween gear and do God knows what on All Hallows’ Eve. Coming straight outta Iran, the 2021 thriller Zalava takes you back to the pre-Iranian Revolution days, as a skeptical military sergeant (the Lee Van Cleef-looking Navid Pourfaraj) deals with a Kurdish village full of people who believe a demon is among them. More moody than scary, this sometimes comical, sometimes exasperating yarn from co-writer/director Arsalan Amiri uses supernatural horror tropes (it looks like most of the budget went toward smoke machines for the really tense scenes) to address how much chaos and disorder can bubble up when fear and paranoia take over. Even in a horror-drama from the Middle East, demons ain’t got shit on heavily armed people who are steadfast in their beliefs. Keep that mind when you go to the polls on Election Day. 

7:30 p.m. at Sarratt Cinema

2301 Vanderbilt Place