"Jack Be Nimble" is a strange and unpleasant movie, the result of an unsuccessful attempt to mix a whimsical gothic horror story with down-and-dirty social realism. The movie doesn't manage any atmosphere or scares and thus fails as horror, gothic or otherwise. Its attempts at realism also fail, with one-note performances and the constant incursion of the story's supernatural elements, which don't mesh with the real locations and lack of style on offer.
The plot: a brother and sister are orphaned and split up when the sister is adopted first. She is adopted into a loving family, but the boy ends up being abused by sadistic foster parents, and spooked by their four daughters, who materialise over him and watch him sleep. He eventually escapes when he uses his mind control abilities with a machine he made in metal work to get his revenge, and then goes off to find his sister. She shacks up with the legendary character actor Bruno Lawrence, in what I believe may have been his last film appearance. Their relationship - a young girl with a much older man - is too "real" for this material, like the theme of abusive foster parents. There are ways for the supernatural fiction genre to deal with distressing, real-world issues, but this movie doesn't find them.
The main character is played by pre-surgery Alexis Arquette. I didn't realise he wasn't Kiwi, so he must have nailed the accent. He's kind of weird looking, though, like a Calvin Klein model with acromegaly. He reminds me of Rondo Hatton.
The movie was just such an awkward mix - and quite unpleasant in places - that I wasn't able to focus on it for long. It didn't make much sense and I don't think I wanted it to. I probably should have bailed out early.
