Unsettling Indictment of Gender Inequality in UAE, The Vile (FANTASTIC) Invigorates with Supernatural Terror
Title: The Vile
First Non-Festival Release: October 30, 2025 (Theatrical Release)
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Writer: Majid Al Ansari, Johnnie Alward
Runtime: 97 Minutes
Starring: Bdoor Muhammad, Sarah Taibah, Iman Tarik, Jasem Alkharraz
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
This film’s review was written after its screening at the Fantastic Film Festival in 2025.
Polygamy has held an interesting place in cultures across the world with various interpretations of its legal, practical, and ethical considerations. As a practice, it is dying globally but that doesn’t mean the last death rattle has come.
Out of nowhere, Amani’s (Bdoor Muhammad) husband Khalid (Jasem Alkharraz) returns home one night with Zahra (Sarah Taibah), introducing her as his new, second wife. Their daughter Noor (Iman Tarik) is caught in the crossfire when she is forced to walk a tightrope of caring for her mother while accommodating her father’s insane ask of her to help him win Amani over to the idea. As Amani struggles to accept Khalid’s choice to expand their family in such a distasteful manner, she looks deeper into Zahra’s past. What she finds unsettles her deeply. With time running out, Amani races to uncover the truth and save her family from the evil forces deadset on tearing it apart.
A confident, powerful repudiation of archaic systems, The Vile is an important and harrowing supernatural horror from the United Arab Emirates.
Depicting a culture often maligned onscreen with this much care, The Vile dives deep into its messed-up dynamic early with excellent results. Director Majid Al Ansari injects pure anxiety into The Vile well before any shadow creeps across the screen with Zahra’s introduction. Infusing terror, confusion, and heartbreak into its cold open, Amani’s fury for Khalid’s betrayal becomes the emotional center of the film. This anger burns brightly. Al Ansari’s sympathetic depiction of the women’s plight becomes more evident in how Khalid is portrayed. Absent, proud, and foolish, he represents the failures of men too self-absorbed to pay attention to the real problems affecting their loved ones.
Focusing on its female characters, The Vile deconstructs the complicated dynamics and power structures within the family to explain how the cards are stacked against Amani in her fight for her family’s survival. Strong women endure in The Vile. Layered, despite their more archetypal roles, the women caught up in this messed up dynamic demonstrate agency even when society is against them. While there is certainly judgment thrown at Zahra for her choice to participate in such a backwards tradition, most of the ire is rightfully directed at Khalid. The choice to shine the blame on him directly allows the relationship between Amani and Zahra to fester, revealing more about the family’s values.
Strong performances from the cast bring the horror to the dynamic alive in a grounded yet terrifying way. Bdoor Muhammad and Sarah Taibah lead The Vile as the warring matriarchs. Each brings something special to the dynamic. Muhammad brings a resolute dignity to Amani, taking on the supernatural with a fierceness in her eyes that makes her mother character authentically badass. Taibah, however, plays Zahra more coolly. Dexterous in navigating social situations, Taibah gives Zahra an almost spritely quality about her, gliding out of each tricky social situation with grace and certainty. The dynamic isn’t exciting because of who they are fighting over but because of how they engage in their battle of wits.
Sleek camerawork and a strong attention to detail in color and lighting allow The Vile to get under the skin when Zahra’s true intentions, and powers, are brought to light. Awash in plenty of dark, trippy imagery, The Vile gets under the skin through its smooth hallucination sequences. The prime opportunity to get creative with its supernatural threat, the women are subject to more psychological tortures than physical. While there’s certainly danger present here, the mental load that this has on Amani and Noor is greater. The Vile understands this, ensuring that its horror never strays far from this approach.
The Vile is top-notch horror that proves the genre is at its best when it has something to say. Harrowing and affecting, the terror of The Vile manifests both in its supernatural horror and in its sociopolitical drama. Horror fans seeking out a high body count and bloodshed will be disappointed but those hoping for a more methodical approach to horror will be rewarded. Women have far too long faced the consequences for the choices of men. Make the choice to seek out films like The Vile that seek to expose and rectify.
Overall Score? 8/10
