Kandisha: Review

16th August 2021

Amélie (Mathilde Lamusse), Bintou (Suzy Bemba) and Morjana (Samarcandi Saadi) are all friends that live in a council estate in France. They’re just like any other teenage girls and like to have fun with drugs, alcohol and men, but they have a real talent for art and graffiti and use their talents whenever they can. However, their world turns upside down when Amelie comes across a name on a wall ‘Kandisha’.

They learn that Aicha Kandisha is a Moroccan urban legend about a woman betrayed and tortured by six men who comes back from the dead when summoned in order to kill six more men for her sacrifice. Although intrigued by the idea of a female vengeful ghost, the girls laugh it off, never thinking that such a thing could really happen.

Then while on her way home one night, Amélie is accosted by her ex-boyfriend who is finding it hard to move on, they get into a fight and Amélie bites him. Covered in blood, she goes home and as if possessed by a spirit, starts drawing a symbol on her bathroom wall and chants Kandisha’s name over and over.

Then the next day Amélie gets the news that her ex-boyfriend has died in a tragic accident and despite her denial that Kandisha is real, she can’t shake off that she may be responsible.

Kandisha is a French horror film which evokes Candyman in the way of a new urban legend that’s seemingly created in order to spawn a franchise. While Kandisha may be an original idea for a vengeful spirit which may sit alongside the Nineties horror classic, it’s unfortunate that so many of the finer details are left out.

Whilst Amélie does unleash the demon by painting the symbol in her ex’s blood and despite the detailed exposition about where Kandisha came from, there really isn’t anything else to go on. There’s little to no explanation as to why Kandisha attacks her victims other than that they’re connected to the main characters and no reason for the solution to banish Kandisha other than ‘it is written’.

Despite some interesting visuals and creature design, this makes Kandisha a formulaic and somewhat disappointing slasher movie.

Facebook

Google

Twitter

We hope you're enjoying BRWC. You should check us out on our social channels, subscribe to our newsletter, and tell your friends. BRWC is short for battleroyalewithcheese.