The Vile (2 Stars)

This is the 14th film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Amina lives with her husband Khaled and teenage daughter Noor in Abu Dhabi. She's happy, even though Khaled works away from home. Her idyll is shattered when Khaled comes home one day with a second wife, Zahra. He's angry that Amina doesn't accept the new wife, because it's allowed by Islam. Allowed, maybe, but he should have told Amina in advance.

Khaled goes away again for a few weeks, leaving Zahra alone with Amina and Noor. Zahra makes an effort to be friendly, but Amina totally rejects her. She does whatever she can to make Zahra feel unwelcome.

Most of the film is a twisted family drama. It only becomes clear in the last ten minutes that there's also a supernatural threat. This isn't what I'd call a twist, it's simply a new thought slapped onto the end of the film. The film is poorly written.

Roqia (1 Star)

This is the fifth film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

Just when I thought the films couldn't get any worse, along came "Roqia", a film made by a Nigerian director living in Algeria. The film takes place in Algiers in 1992. Ahmed returns home with amnesia after an accident at work. He no longer recognises his wife or children. The police question him about a crime that he's supposedly committed, without telling him what he's supposed to have done.

Ahmed's wife tells him that he and his best friend both lost a finger on the same day. Ahmed goes to his friend and finds out that a group of ex-soldiers all cut off their fingers to make a pact. Ahmed was actually the ringleader. They belong to a strange religious cult that chants words in a foreign language.

I sat through the film waiting for an explanation. None came. The film is awful.