Jack in the Box - Es lebt

Jack kept me in this, even though the story made no sense!

I had not even heard about this 2019 movie when I was given the chance to sit down to watch it here in 2020. But from the movie's cover, this most definitely was a horror movie, and that was what lured me in.

Well, for a horror movie, then "The Jack in the Box" was bland and rather generic. Sure, it was a watchable movie, but writer and director Lawrence Fowler just never managed to bring the movie out of the mediocre lane.

The storyline in "The Jack in the Box" was pretty straight forward, albeit very, very generic. And it was contents that you have seen in other previous horror movies many times before; a demonic entity being caged up inside a physical box, unleashed unto the world unwittingly by someone not knowing what powers they were meddling with. From that point on, the movie was just overly predictable and followed a very generic how-to-make-a-horror movie blueprint, which left very little room for surprises and plot twists, apparently, because there were none of such in the entire movie.

I will say, however, that the demonic Jack in the Box was actually nicely made and had a good, scary appearance. But it was just a bit under-used and didn't come off as being malignant and evil enough. It felt more like just a creepy uncle creeping around in a clown costume. So writer Lawrence Fowler didn't really manage to create something that was all that spooky or disturbing.

The acting in "The Jack in the Box" was adequate, but it was clear that the actors and actresses had precious little contents to work with in terms of script and character development.

All in all, "The Jack in the Box" was a watchable movie, but it was hardly an outstanding or scary horror movie. My rating of "The Jack in the Box" is a four out of ten stars. Watch it if you have the chance and if you have a preference for horror movies, but just don't get your hopes up for a horror masterpiece. This is, however, the type of movie that you watch once, shelf it and never return to watch it again.

I am a hugeeee scary clown fan and I can't tell you how many times I come across movies with amazing covers that turn out to be dog crap. Clown movies are staples of low budget, f grade acting, and terribly written atrocities. It seems for every decent one you have to dig through 5 terrible ones. For instance some of the better ones would have to be Drive Thru, Clown, Killer Klowns From Outerspace, Terrifier, and Haunt. Just to name a few.

So where does Jack in the Box stand? I was actually quite shocked at the production value of this movie. The clown looks wonderful and the intricacies of the box itself. Although CGI in some spots. Looked really well done. This movie reminded me of Gremlin from 2017. In that it had a similar story line. And for me I also enjoyed that movie because it brought some new ideas and was pretty interesting to watch. Especially the twist at the end which I thought really made the movie. This one took some of those same principles but mixed it in with a clown and I for one am quite happy for the attempt.

The back story of demon boxes and how something like this came to be. Although pretty far fetched is quite a fascinating piece of fiction. I really like how this thing thrives on it's victims and has to be passed along in order to stay alive. It's clear they at least had a foundation for the plot line of this movie. However I would argue I wish it contained a few more layers. At times we are left trying to put together the pieces and you can't help but notice that at it's core it's pretty one dimensional. There isn't really a pay off and the ending although alright, has been done many times before in similarly told stories.

This movie also has several drawn on boring scenes. Not even important scenes that are critical to the progression of the film. More so just there to fill in the gaps and add some dialogue and character interaction. We have all seen this done countless times in movies that don't have much direction or a solid complex story that can keep things interesting. Nor do they really go out of there way to make you fall in love with any of these people to warrant such scenes. But when it counts they do give you just enough to keep watching.

The death scenes aren't amazing. A lot of times you just see people being dragged into the box. I'm sure with a bigger budget we could have had some more glorified kills. However when that clown is walking around it is quite terrifying and I cannot credit them more with nailing the way he moves and breathes.

Acting is fine in my opinion. Nobody took me out of the film nor did anyone go above and beyond. There are times where it isn't as strong as it could be. But I am not a stickler for this kind of stuff. As long as it isn't amateur hour.

If you are a fan of creepy dolls or music boxes. Puzzles or clowns. Then this is a great movie to watch if you have nothing else to do. I would say the movie itself probably deserves a 4 in it's plot progression. But it gets another point for me because that clown was so well done.

Why is it that so many low budget British horror films feel it necessary to have at least one American amongst the lead cast but don't employ an American actor or an actor that can do a convincing American accent? The main character here is Casey, played by Ethan Taylor, meant to be American but judging by his laughable accent he obviously isn't. I have marked this down as this is a pet hate of mine. Bad accent aside the Jack in question is reasonably creepy and there are a few half decent scares. Sadly the pace between kills is slow, some of the acting is of the wooden variety and the plot is predictable.

Jack in the Box (2019) is a movie I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a family that discovers an antique Jack in the box in their home. Little do they know this Jack in the box unleashes a creature that kills humans to survive. Once they open the box will they ever be able to close it?

This movie is written and directed by Lawrence Fowler (The Ghost Within) and stars Robert Strange (Penny Dreadful), Lucy-Jane Quinlan (Made You Look), Charles Abomeli (Torchwood) and Simon Balfour (Harlots).

This movie had so much potential and dropped the ball. The Jack has fantastic makeup, costumes, mannerisms and sound effects; unfortunately, the kill scenes are super weak, lack gore and should have been more creative. The acting is fairly mediocre and the ending is a bit predictable.

Overall this is a disappointing addition to the horror genre that should have been better. I'd score this a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.