‘The Acolyte’s Latest Episode Is Basically A Horror Movie — and I Love It

Editor’s Not: The following contains spoilers for ‘The Acolyte’ Episode 5.

Star Wars has some fairly iconic lines, but one that’s always stuck out to me is the way Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid) describes the Dark Side of the Force in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: “The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.” He was more or less saying that the Dark Side lends itself to some frightening visuals. Darth Vader is a cyborg monstrosity clad in black, Darth Maul looks like a demon who crawled up out of the pits of hell, and Sidious was even a zombie at one point. Say what you will about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but the sight of a half-alive Palpatine was jarring as hell. Bottom line: Star Wars villains work best when they have a horror element to them. The latest episode of The Acolyte, “Night,” further proves this theory with how it depicts Qimir (Manny Jacinto) as the Sith lord.

In the previous episode, “Day,” Qimir was confronted by a legion of Jedi — and then the audience had to wait a week when the episode ended on a cliffhanger. “Night” immediately picks up after said cliffhanger, establishing Qimir as one of the most frightening antagonists in the Star Wars universe. The first half of ‘Night’ also feels like a horror film thanks to Alex Garcia Lopez‘s directorial work, and it hooked me from the opening to the end credits.

Qimir Looks and Moves Like a Slasher Villain Instead of a Sith Lord

The thing that immediately stood out to me about Qimir was his design. Not only was he covered in a loose-fitting black robe, but his arms were covered in burn scars — hinting that he had more ties to Mae (Amandla Stenberg) and her sister Osha since the two were separated by a fire on their home planet of Brendok. The real kicker is Qimir’s mask; it bears a strong resemblance to the helmets of Darth Vader and Kylo Ren, only it has what appears to be a jagged row of teeth lining the bottom and a lack of a visor or anything that he could potentially see out of. This gives him the appearance of a fanged, grinning shadow, which is unsettling enough, but Qimir takes it one step further. In a sequence where Mae is running through the forest, he splices in a close up of Qimir’s helmeted face as the Sith Lord calls her a “coward”. This was so jarring and unexpected that I nearly leaped a foot in the air; of all the things The Acolyte has been doing, I did not expect a full-on jump scare.

Another frightening element about Qimir is how he moves. Each of the Dark Siders, up to this point, have had a distinct fighting style. Maul and Asajj Ventress have an athlete’s grace, making their lightsaber duels into literal dances of death. Vader moves slowly, but each strike of his comes with immense power. Kylo Ren fights like a wounded animal, full of rage and pain. Qimir is ridiculously fast; there are whole sequences when he runs into the Jedi Knights, and they barely have time to pull out their lightsabers to block him in time. There’s also the fact that his helmet is made of cortosis, a material that’s able to short out lightsaber beams. The Jedi’s lightsabers are their primary means of defense; having an enemy who can disable that defense is absolutely terrifying.

Qimir’s List of Victims in ‘The Acolyte’ Hit Me in the Heart

Like any good horror villain, Qimir leaves a trail of bodies in his wake. The episode opens with Osha waking up and coming face to face with a dead Jedi, and she later witnesses Qimir impale one Jedi…then use the Force to pull another one into his blade. But the real horrifying moments come in his fights against Yord (Charlie Barnett) and Jecki (Dafne Keen). Both Jedi manage to hold their own, but Qimir eventually stabs Jecki three times and then snaps Yord’s neck. I have to admit: this was one of the most shocking moments in The Acolyte to date. What made it so shocking wasn’t just the brutality of the kills but the fact that both Jecki and Yord were growing on me. Despite being a bit clueless, Yord’s dynamic with Osha and Jecki was a highlight of the series. Jecki was also a scene stealer herself, having some hilarious moments as well as a connection with Osha, so seeing her fall in battle was absolutely horrifying. It also had an effect on Sol (Lee Jung-jae); up to that point, he’d been a calm and compassionate Jedi Master, but after Jecki and Yord’s death, he flies into a rage, pummeling Qimir with his bare hands and even trying to cut off his head until Osha stops him.

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‘The Acolyte’s Latest Episode Reminded Me of Another Horror-Tinged ’Star Wars’ Moment

Qimir’s decimation of the Jedi actually reminded me of another shocking Star Wars moment that had its fair share of horror. You guessed it: it was Darth Vader’s massacre of Rebel troops in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. That sequence only lasted two minutes but has become iconic among Star Wars fans, especially the context. Up to that point in Star Wars movie history, Vader had only fought against Force users. This time, he was up against mere soldiers, so seeing the Rebels getting cut in half and impaled was a shock. Qimir has a similar presence, which is completely intentional on Jacinto’s part. I’d say that he and series creator Leslye Headland more than succeeded, as Qimir is going to be lurking on the edge of my nightmares for a week or two.

New episodes of The Acolyte will be available to stream on Disney+ on Tuesdays in the U.S.

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