The Jar

"The Jar" is a movie sent from the Heavens---not as a gift---but as a means of testing our humanity and the fabric of our very existences. The word "awful" does not even glance the surface of the ocean of atrocity that is this movie. Often a mediocre production can suffer from a lackluster plot but contain redemption in the form of quality acting, pleasing special effects, a great score, or any combination of the aforementioned. Unfortunately, "The Jar" offers no such redemption. As one watches the film, each passing moment exceeds the viewer's expectation of how irrevocably bad a movie can be; his or her notion of what makes a "terrible film" is completely shattered with every stroke of the second hand. The plot: absolute nonsense with no explanation in sight. The music: subtly pleasing---if you enjoy the sound of an orchestra committing suicide using its own instruments. The acting: sometimes rigid, other times absurdly dramatic, at all times unforgivable. The appearance: completely grainy and dark (not in a mood-setting way, but in a "the camera man is totally incompetent" way) with the actors often way out of frame. The total package: incoherent, psychotic, UNWATCHABLE. The only reason a person should ever view "The Jar" is to gain an understanding of what makes a a movie "good"---which translates to exactly the opposite of everything demonstrated in this picture.

I am a HUGE fan of B-Movies so when I rented this I was looking for a cheesy no budget movie, hopefully about a killer jar or some crazy liquid in a jar that killed like the blob, that is how the cover looked. This is a boring, boring movie, and the acting does not help at all. The acting is bad, the picture quality is bad, the special effects are bad, this normally adds to a good movie but this was horrible. I can not really even tell you what this movie was about because it was so weird...I have seen other movies where a man goes slowly insane, which I guess is what this was about, but those movies were done well and this was...welll...not. Do not see this for the bad quality of the film, do not see this for any reason, unless you really want to torture yourself. That is all I have to say for THE JAR.

Many people seem to hate this movie... well, I love it! Caught occasionally on Telecapri (a regional, Italian TV station that used to show a lot of b-horrors 10 or 15 years ago), this strange film obsessed me for years, becoming a sort of legend: even talking to my friends, it looked like I was the only one who had seen "The Jar"! The strange images of this obscure flick had become part of my fantasy. Last year, I subscribed to an internet horror fans' forum and opened a post there, in which I described all the scenes of this movie, I had been recalling for years; there where other people in Italy who knew it! Obviously, they hated it too; but I finally got that film's title! I bought it on VHS on Amazon, despite the reviews found on this site. Yes, the dubbing was terrible (but it couldn't be worse than the usual Italian dubbing this sort of films get), the editing approximate and the story confusing; but all these elements, helped creating the odd atmosphere that this strange film surely has. Hallucinations, suspension between dream and reality, mystery, non-sense (I admit the candy store scene's a "WTF!?" candidate), isolation, terror and probably some inadvertent qualities too! I consider it as a bad dream: incoherent, maybe incomplete (according to another user's comment, "The Jar" was heavily cut for distribution's reasons), but fascinating and leaving my mind full of inspiration and weird memories. I still like it after all these years and I think it's not worse than many other B (or Z-grade) films that attempted to obtain a 'cult' position after years.

-Dario-

It's true. This flick isn't as bad as some of the reviews suggest as long as you have something else to do during the lulls. Needless to say there are plenty of lulls. I recalled watching this movie back about 16 years ago and was not impressed with it at all at that time. My first impression after all these years is that this was a student film someone managed to sell to a studio. The film is extremely low budget and not terribly exciting. However there are some decently freaky dream sequences that you might find worth watching if you like low budget horror flicks (like me) and the whole thought of this old man leaving a pickled punk in a dudes apartment where it takes over the man mind is at the least creepy. I suggest watching this movie while cleaning the house or surfing the net.... Every 20 minutes or so when something interesting happens you can stop what you're doing and watch for a minute or two.

If you were able to sit through movies like... Drive In Massacre Ghost Riders Garden Of The Dead The Cremators You wont have a problem opening The Jar.

I must say I'm a glutton for punishment. I rented "The Jar" simply because I knew nothing about it and it cost a mere ninety-nine cents. The sad fact of the matter is I should have checked imdb.com first. Perhaps had I done this, I could have saved myself the agony. Scratch that...I'll rent almost anything for a dollar without first considering that I'm sacrificing precious time as well.

The film begins with a motorist picking up a bizarre old man after an accident. Instead of taking him to a hospital or to the police, he brings the crazed old coot to his apartment. The man soon disappears, leaving behind a jar containing a hideous demonic thing. It is not long before it begins to grate at the man's sanity, causing hallucinations, mood swings, paranoia, and depression. This ultimately endangers his job, the potential for romance with a new neighbor, and perhaps even his life.

"The Jar" is little more than a forum for a load of disjointed, barely related, surreal visions. The overall effect is to bore the viewer to tears. Decent acting? Continuity? Look elsewhere for these elements. They are absent from this film. Any reasonable person will grant that "The Jar" was hampered by a low budget. However, budget cannot be an excuse for a film this bad, certainly the worst I've seen in 2002.