Do we really need another movie based on the legend of the Jinn? Ok, maybe we do. We’ve yet to see one executed to perfection, and the idea of an evil spirit roaming a desert is not only cool, but slightly relevant. An Abu Dhabi production company has brought in a Hollywood director to make the UAE’s first feature-length horror film, local daily The National reported on Friday. Imagenation, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC), said the film is entitled The Jinn and is based on the genie in Arab folklore of the same name, according the newspaper. The film follows the life of a couple who return to the UAE and start to experience strange and unexplained happenings. The production company will not reveal who they had teamed up with to produce The Jinn only teasing “I can say that he is one of Hollywood’s horror genre masters,” Daniella Tully, Imagenation’s vice-president of development and a producer of the film, was quoted as saying. Any guesses?
“The film is in Arabic with some English in it. Casting has begun in the UAE, Cairo, Amman and the US for Emirati and Arab characters and an American one, generally representative of the natural character and make-up of UAE society,” Rami Yasin, head of production at Imagenation and another of the producers, was quoted as saying.
Jinn are supernatural creatures in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings that are made of fire and usually invisible to humans.
They can be good, evil, or neutrally benevolent, but the evil ones have the ability to torment humans. Local newspaper reports of jinn kidnapping children or convincing people to do bad things are not uncommon.
