Anything for Jackson

Canadians are starting to deserve my recognition more and more often and they are coming up with fresh gusts into outdated scenarios. This satanic B-movie piece has really had enough of it. From the unconventional idea, through decent gore, to almost A-level atmospheric horror scenes. However, what I must name as downsides would probably be mostly unsympathetic characters and the fact that the film as a whole was a bit of a mess for me. I was never sure if it was intentionally funny or not intended at all and so some moments bordered a bit on parody for me. Maybe if it focused more on just one string, whether serious or comedic, it would be a bit more digestible for me. As it is, I give it a decent average and will definitely follow another potential horror creation by Dyck. (18.02.2021)

This highly praised and so far overlooked horror film is ultimately a pleasant surprise, it can definitely be classified among the better ones. The story focuses on an older couple of Satanists who kidnap a pregnant woman and attempt to place the spirit of their dead grandson into the unborn child using a witchcraft book, but they accidentally summon more spirits than they intended. The film has a slower pace, there are no jump-scares, but the atmosphere is excellent, the apparitions are very nasty (the scene where a ghost pulls out its teeth with dental floss was perfect), and I also liked the twisted black man with a burlap bag on his face. I praise the make-up effects and the unexpectedly decent number of corpses, something I always welcome in the realm of ghost stories for me. Story***, Action>No, Humor>No, Violence***, Entertainment****, Music***, Visuals****, Atmosphere****, Tension***. 7/10. (12.12.2020)

A pleasant surprise. I was expecting a more-or-less daft horror movie, the actual horror consisting in an abominable load of boredom, so I was surprisingly entertained by the conspiratorial activities of the operatives of the local satanic cell. (17.04.2021)

Silent Hill in the family home of an elderly married couple, who hold satanic rituals as firmly as Trump holds the state budget. It suffers from genre indecisiveness and the stumbling continuity of individual scenes. However, the snowblower inspection, excessive care for gums, or a few final minutes come with the required intensity, and the casting choice of male leads was successful, as their faces are not exactly from a magazine. Hats off for pulling it all together for $250,000. That looks like a deal with the devil. (18.12.2020)

I was very happy to see after quite some time a rookie director who basically at home managed to put together such a good, little cheap horror movie, but then I looked him up in Filmbooster and I was flabbergasted. Justin G. Dyck is an experienced Canadian specialist on romantic and Christmas TV movies and now he comes out with this? Not that I’m complaining, we are getting a lot of value for money! Very well acted characters a sensibly written script and, what’s more important, very effective scary scenes. The quality of those demonic manifestations swings between decent and brilliant, and some of them could even appear in more expensive movies. (14.12.2020)