Early in the Tunisian supernatural thriller “Dachra,” three journalism students consult their instructor about a documentary assignment and receive specific instructions: Be original, engage the audience and avoid politics. So inevitably, they end up hauling their equipment to a spooky remote village, where they’re bedeviled by what appears to be a cult of cannibalistic witch worshipers.
Sure, they’re in danger of being eaten. But at least they never mention the revolution.
“Dachra” is the debut feature film from writer-director-producer-editor Abdelhamid Bouchnak, who delivers an atmospheric and regionally specific version of a familiar horror premise: the sickening, inexorable journey into the heart of darkness. This is one of those movies where one bad decision begets another, until the heroes find themselves lost in the woods and surrounded by stockpiled meat of indeterminate origin.