*** This comment may contain spoilers about The Amityville Horror (1979) as well***
In terms of the Egyptian cinema, the horror genre wasn't as popular as other genres like comedy, musical, and action. Enough to say that during the Egyptian cinema's whole history, the horror movies were very few. But anyhow they do exist. And in the 1980s, some experiments were made in that area, especially with the ambition and the efforts of new generation of directors like (Mohamad Shebl) and (Yassin Ismail Yassin).
(El-Ens Wa El-Gen) or (Humans and Demons) is from the same time, however done by older artists. The story is about an engaged woman (played by Youssra) who finds herself being chased by a mysterious gentleman (played by Adel Emam) who seems crazy in love with her. After she sees his supernatural skills, the truth is discovered; he's one of the (jinn) who can't fight his feelings for that female, and wants eagerly to break the rules of his people and marry a woman of the human race. In the same time, the woman's family attempts to solve the problem unsuccessfully by trying some foolish superstitions, till the woman's fiancé (played by Esit El-Alaiyli) manages to face that demon, and beat him by the power of faith.
(Mohamed Othman) is a professional screenwriter who made a lot of movies since his first one (El Gassd) or (The Body) in 1955 till he died in 1987. Once in 1959, he wrote a movie named (El Mabrouk) or (The Blessed Man) about a sorcerer who could deceive ignorant people by his quackery. Then in 1971, he wrote (El Ba'd Ya'eesh Mryteen) or (Some Live Twice) about a dead man who brings himself back to life for some days to fix his family's problems. This time, (Othman) comes back to the matters of superstitions, and spirits to show us a one-of-a-kind strange love story which the Egyptian movies didn't deal with before that much, or that serious.
This is the tenth movie directed by (Mohamed Rady) since his first movie (El Hagess) or (The Hindrance) in 1972. He's one of the most distinct and cultured directors of his generation. He graduated from the Egyptian high cinema institute in 1964, and became a founding member of (The Group of New Cinema) which appeared at the end of the 1960s to present new line of movies other than the commercially ruling ones. Here he made a solid job, with sedate pace, creepy atmosphere and some frightening moments. True that he didn't use much of special effects to sense the jinni's oddity, for instance; his sudden appearance and disappearance, but if that was for the sake of low budget; then it was effective as a realistic factor which - for my taste - increased the horror's influence.
As usual, (Youssra) got that unique capacity to make any role believable, touching, and charming even if it was a role of a scream queen. The movie's biggest surprise was (Adel Emam) as the jinni. Knowing his reputation, as the Arabic cinema's top comic star, I believe it took a lot of bravery from the moviemakers' side to cast him as the Jinni, and the same bravery from his side to agree. He played the character convincingly as so calm and confident man, who - under the surface - was living a desperate love story. He kind of represented today's businessmen; who are insensitive, influential, and suppose that everything they want has to theirs.
I didn't like the cinematography. It didn't give the story its own peculiarity. Moreover, there is some chatter in the script which made the movie feel like a soap opera for quite sometime. Sure it could have been better with running time shorter than 133 minutes. But still the weakest point is the climax when the fiancé (played by Esit El-Alaiyli) exorcised the demon by the verses of the (Holy Koran). Yes, it's a common religious fact that the verses of the Islamic holy book can drive the demons away, but the thing to bother is that why nobody in the movie didn't use such a solution earlier?! It's nearly the same question which a lot of people asked about the end of (The Amityville Horror - 1979); why they didn't leave the haunted house from the start?! Let alone that more than 2 hours conflict made many viewers long for visually hotter climax than this sudden brief one.
Despite some reviews that didn't like (El-Ens Wa El-Gen) at its time, nothing can deny that its idea, as for the Egyptian cinema, was exceptional. It, as a whole, managed to be far from idiocy and exaggeration. And it is still interesting to watch.
In terms of the Egyptian cinema, the horror genre wasn't as popular as other genres like comedy, musical, and action. Enough to say that during the Egyptian cinema's whole history, the horror movies were very few. But anyhow they do exist. And in the 1980s, some experiments were made in that area, especially with the ambition and the efforts of new generation of directors like (Mohamad Shebl) and (Yassin Ismail Yassin).
(El-Ens Wa El-Gen) or (Humans and Demons) is from the same time, however done by older artists. The story is about an engaged woman (played by Youssra) who finds herself being chased by a mysterious gentleman (played by Adel Emam) who seems crazy in love with her. After she sees his supernatural skills, the truth is discovered; he's one of the (jinn) who can't fight his feelings for that female, and wants eagerly to break the rules of his people and marry a woman of the human race. In the same time, the woman's family attempts to solve the problem unsuccessfully by trying some foolish superstitions, till the woman's fiancé (played by Esit El-Alaiyli) manages to face that demon, and beat him by the power of faith.
(Mohamed Othman) is a professional screenwriter who made a lot of movies since his first one (El Gassd) or (The Body) in 1955 till he died in 1987. Once in 1959, he wrote a movie named (El Mabrouk) or (The Blessed Man) about a sorcerer who could deceive ignorant people by his quackery. Then in 1971, he wrote (El Ba'd Ya'eesh Mryteen) or (Some Live Twice) about a dead man who brings himself back to life for some days to fix his family's problems. This time, (Othman) comes back to the matters of superstitions, and spirits to show us a one-of-a-kind strange love story which the Egyptian movies didn't deal with before that much, or that serious.
This is the tenth movie directed by (Mohamed Rady) since his first movie (El Hagess) or (The Hindrance) in 1972. He's one of the most distinct and cultured directors of his generation. He graduated from the Egyptian high cinema institute in 1964, and became a founding member of (The Group of New Cinema) which appeared at the end of the 1960s to present new line of movies other than the commercially ruling ones. Here he made a solid job, with sedate pace, creepy atmosphere and some frightening moments. True that he didn't use much of special effects to sense the jinni's oddity, for instance; his sudden appearance and disappearance, but if that was for the sake of low budget; then it was effective as a realistic factor which - for my taste - increased the horror's influence.
As usual, (Youssra) got that unique capacity to make any role believable, touching, and charming even if it was a role of a scream queen. The movie's biggest surprise was (Adel Emam) as the jinni. Knowing his reputation, as the Arabic cinema's top comic star, I believe it took a lot of bravery from the moviemakers' side to cast him as the Jinni, and the same bravery from his side to agree. He played the character convincingly as so calm and confident man, who - under the surface - was living a desperate love story. He kind of represented today's businessmen; who are insensitive, influential, and suppose that everything they want has to theirs.
I didn't like the cinematography. It didn't give the story its own peculiarity. Moreover, there is some chatter in the script which made the movie feel like a soap opera for quite sometime. Sure it could have been better with running time shorter than 133 minutes. But still the weakest point is the climax when the fiancé (played by Esit El-Alaiyli) exorcised the demon by the verses of the (Holy Koran). Yes, it's a common religious fact that the verses of the Islamic holy book can drive the demons away, but the thing to bother is that why nobody in the movie didn't use such a solution earlier?! It's nearly the same question which a lot of people asked about the end of (The Amityville Horror - 1979); why they didn't leave the haunted house from the start?! Let alone that more than 2 hours conflict made many viewers long for visually hotter climax than this sudden brief one.
Despite some reviews that didn't like (El-Ens Wa El-Gen) at its time, nothing can deny that its idea, as for the Egyptian cinema, was exceptional. It, as a whole, managed to be far from idiocy and exaggeration. And it is still interesting to watch.
