The story. JeruZalem follows a group of American teenagers
whose visit to Jerusalem on Yom Kippur turns into an unimaginable
nightmare. Their vacation is cut short when they are caught in the
middle of a Biblical apocalypse, complete with hell unleashing upon them
as they try to escape anywhere to safety. The film was produced through
Epic Pictures, which is going to Cannes this year with other titles.
“Jerusalem is normally seen through the lens of news coverage. We wanted to show the city through the eyes of a backpacker. There’s no better way to do it than a genre film,” says Doron Paz. They are part of the new, emerging wave of Israeli genre films, and honestly, from the trailer, it’s nice to find emerging filmmakers from other countries. The brothers did one other film in the past called Phobidilia
Legend tells us that there are three gates to hell — one is in the desert, one is in the ocean, and the last is in the holy city of Jerusalem. So book your flights now, and bring the whole family to check out this hopping tourist destination before it’s too late! (I may be paraphrasing the film’s opening narration a bit.)
Sarah (Danielle Jadelyn) and Rachel (Yael Grobglas) are American best friends on a trip to Tel Aviv for some fun in the sun, but a chance meeting with a young archaeologist named Kevin (Yon Tumarkin) detours them to Jerusalem for the Yom Kippur celebration. The city is bustling with the faithful, and the trio hit the town with new friends in tow visiting churches, clubs and the Wailing Wall, but the celebration is cut short when that previously mentioned gate to hell opens and demonic/angelic winged creatures begin violently harvesting souls and turning prey into monsters. As the religiously-themed infection spreads those affected sprout their own wings, and soon creatures outnumber the humans as the end days approach.
The biggest element that the new Israeli horror film Jeruzalem gets right is its choice of locale — Jerusalem is a city filled with such immense and detailed culture and history that it can’t help but add a rich atmosphere to a tale steeped in the literature of the Bible. Directors/writers Doron Paz and Yoav Paz take full advantage of the city’s architecture and alleyways moving from beautiful and dense wide shots to claustrophobic confines with ease. Its historically diverse nature is present in the characters too as our main trio is joined by a young Arab man and a pair of Jewish soldiers, and while they never settle in for a thorough discussion on the area’s conflict an attempt is made to take jabs at all sides and include each faction in the unfurling plot.
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