This chilly Tunisian debut follows young a female killer who traps her victims by pretending to need a voice app to speak
![Black Medusa review – deadpan North African vengeance noir](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c7075c4ba230efce5aee5554ff8e00ad3757b23f/23_0_1198_719/master/1198.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctcmV2aWV3LTMucG5n&enable=upscale&s=27c9ccf44b4c4c08d2340091e2b5cff0)
Here is a stylised and self-aware serial killer drama in black-and-white, broken down into nine “nights”. A young woman called Nada (Nour Hajri) picks up men in bars, playing on their protective gallantry or predatory instinct for weakness, by pretending to be vocally impaired and needing a voice app on her phone to speak. She goes home with them after a few drinks and horror ensues. But Nada finds herself vulnerable in falling for a young woman at her workplace, Noura (Rym Hayouni), who herself begins to realise what is happening in Nada’s after-hours existence.
Black Medusa comes from first-time Tunisian film-makers Youssef Chebbi and Ismaël, who may conceivably be fans of Ana Lily Amirpour’s cult monochrome vampire film A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. There is a scene when Nada is walking one of her victims back to his apartment and a couple of cats wander into view that reminded me of Amirpour’s very cat-friendly movie. And Nada’s deadpan and implacable avenger might put you in mind of Carey Mulligan’s assailant in Promising Young Woman.