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The Djinn Movie Review

The Djinn is a 2021 supernatural horror film directed by David Charbonier and Justin Powell and starring Ezra Dewey in the main role. It’s such an underseen gem.

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“What is done cannot be undone“

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A mute boy becomes trapped in his apartment with a sinister monster after making a wish to fulfill his heart’s greatest desire. This is a very minimalist movie for better and for worse. I prefer movies that are like this, so I didn’t have a problem with it myself, though I could see that some would maybe wish for more ambition.

The movie’s flashbacks were excellent. They explained everything there is to know about the boy’s condition and his drive to even summon this evil genie in the first place. It’s such an emotionally charged, heartbreaking film that actually ended on an unexpected note. It seemed to go toward a happy ending, but then we get that twist at the end that was just brutal and very memorable.

What Ezra Dewey did here was remarkable. This boy reminds me of Jacob Tremblay of ‘Room’ fame. He is just so believable as Dylan that I was blown away by his immense talent as a young actor. He sold all of his scenes, which was essential as the movie was literally all his own. The father should have gotten more to do, but the tragic mother backstory was very well told and the titular creature was very creepy and well portrayed.

The Djinn is somewhat slower in its pace. The first half was definitely too much of a build up and the movie is rather uneventful in that stretch of time, but the second half was excellent and the flick mined a lot of genuine chills from this simple premise done on a shoestring budget. The editing and the minimalist script are particularly worthy of praise and so are David Charbonier and Justin Powell. This is their sophomore feature and they did such a great job that they should receive more attention from a larger horror audience as the guys definitely deserve it.

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