Keith Thomas's upcoming supernatural horror movie The Vigil will feature a dybbuk box, which is not entirely new to the genre, but The Vigil may be one of the few movies where its use will actually make sense. Recently acquired by IFC Midnight, it's set to release on February 26, 2021, just in time for the Jewish commemorative celebration known as Purim. Due to the fact that the movie is heavily influenced by Orthodox Jewish practices, its use of the dybbuk box makes perfect sense in comparison to uses of it in other horror movies.
The legend of the dybbuk spirit has existed for centuries in Jewish mythology but the dybbuk box itself is relatively new in popular culture in comparison to other haunted objects such as the Annabelle doll of The Conjuring franchise. It first came into mainstream conversation after a man named Kevin Mannis listed the box for sale on eBay with a horror story to accompany it. The dybbuk box is an old wine box that, according to Mannis, was owned by Havaleh, a Polish survivor of the Holocaust. While it has never been proven Mannis's story was real, several individuals who have since acquired the box have reported supernatural happenings if they came near it, touched it, or opened it.
The movie known for using the box as its inspiration is 2012's The Possession. It contains elements of the story Mannis told in the beginning and quickly transforms into a horrifying tale of the dybbuk's supernatural capabilities. While the dybbuk box was an interesting framework for a paranormal horror movie, the movie didn't retain the religious importance behind the creation of the box or the origins of the spirit within it. The Vigil, however, focuses on the dybbuk spirit within, not the box itself.
The Vigil follows Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis, The Walking Dead) who is spending the night watching over a recently deceased member of the Orthodox Jewish community. While he has become detached from his faith over time, the horrifying experiences he encounters may cause him to turn toward it once more. Yakov is acting as a shomer, an individual trusted to care for the recently deceased's objects. As the night progresses, it becomes evident the dybbuk is seeking a new host and has its sights set on Yakov.
In the context of The Vigil, the dybbuk makes far more sense because of its close ties with Judaism. Its entire past is derived from a story of a Holocaust survivor who fled Poland and purchased the item in Spain, who then brought it to the United States. The dybbuk isn't a spirit that haunts a box but is a dislocated entity searching for a new body to accomplish the goals it did not while it was alive. What keeps the dybbuk contained is the Hebrew word "shalom," which translates in English as peace, completeness, wholeness, and serenity.
It is a Jewish myth, making the dybbuk's inclusion in a Jewish supernatural horror movie like The Vigil incredibly symbolic. This isn't to say the dybbuk can't be included in non-Jewish horror movies, but it's far less effective and, typically, doesn't stay true to the original source of its mythology when the containment box is the focus rather than the historical significance of the demon it contains.