Jack Goes Home

I'm not sure what the story was going for. Was it a psychological thriller? A horror movie? very strange. i like Rory Culkin, and he and Lin Shaye - who i adore - did the best they could with what they had. My recommendation is to see it for yourself, but if you don't, it would be no great loss.

There is a list published of the events that cause the most stress and trauma in the human experience. The #1 "event" listed is death of a spouse. Surprisingly, losing a parent is not that high up on the list,although many of us would beg to differ. There are many events not included in the list. Culkin is phenomenal as the snotty hipster turned severely emotionally damaged as he delves into secrets long left behind in his old childhood home that he revisits. I mean, he really was incredible. The mother play equally well, as the Mother From Hell (my words) who has occasional slips of the tongue where you think she may actually be normal. She is not. No one in this movie is normal - no one. Everyone is broken in some way. This movie is incredibly dark - it really was too dark for me, but I can't fault it for that - it did keep my interest and the acting was superb. It did leave me feeling unsettled - I won't soon forget this movie. But I wish I could. Make of that what you will. I do question the retention of memories of trauma, but I am not a mental health professional. However, I obliged for purposes of watching this movie. Oh - and yes, it is a creepy movie. There are fine lines between what a tormented mind can come up with, what really happened and what is happening in the world beyond us. I found this movie had elements of Sybil, Flowers in the Attic and The Changling (the old one with George C. Scott, not the Jolie one which is a different movie of the same name).

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I'm glad I watched this. A guy (Rory Culkin) receives a phone call to say his parents have been involved in a car crash and the film then follows his psychological reaction to the event. I don't usually enjoy slow, emotional dramas, but this had enough bite to it to keep my interest throughout. His lesbian best friend from childhood lends him support and a gay, nineteen year old, male neighbour befriends him, but throughout the film you're left to wonder what is really happening, and if any of it actually is happening. There are enough horror and mystery elements combined here that makes this film quite watchable, but sometimes more than a little uncomfortable. Great acting, great characters and a very well put together production that draws you in and just doesn't let you go until it's over.

"Jack Goes Home" is a psychological Thriller (with some horror elements) about a boy named Jack (Rory Culkin) whose dad is killed in a car accident, after hearing the news he returns home to help his mother with the funeral and cope with the whole ordeal. As Jack struggles with the loss of his father he starts to notice strange behavior from his mother while also attempting to uncover possible secrets that his parents have been hiding from him for years. I thought the plot line was interesting enough, unfortunately the movie does a poor job of developing and delivering it.

The movie is essentially about a man's struggle with the loss of his parent and his own mental instability. I like movies that dig into the human mind and really focus on one individual slowly losing it, however "Jack Came Home" does a very poor job of pulling that off. Jack is a pretty unlikable character from the get go, he's emotionless, dull, and really has no interesting character traits so to be honest I really had trouble watching him mope around and complain about everything for almost two hours. Jack's mother (player by Lin Shaye) is an interesting character and makes for some of the more interesting scenes in the movie, unfortunately she isn't featured that much.

The movie tries to keep things interesting by throwing in a little bit of mystery but again they just do such a poor job of developing it, by the time big reveals are made you will have likely figured everything out and be bored with it. I saw the final twist coming a mile away, so much so that I kept telling myself maybe that wouldn't be the twist since it was so predictable. I feel like they had the right idea in a lot of places but then just completely dropped the ball in the points that mattered most.

As far as indie horror movie goes "Jack Goes Home" is far from one of the worst, even though it's barely a horror movie, but it is definitely not anything to write home about. It's predictable, drab, and pretty dry overall.

Starts out slow with a boy going home for his father's funeral. Then things start to heat up with secrets from the past coming out with what seems to be some supernatural occurrences/entities. It proceeds deeper into the rabbit hole of twisting confusion of what/who is truly real/alive and what who is demonic/spiritual or is the main character having a psychotic break. Towards the end there seems to be some clarification on what is real, while leaving a lot of unanswered questions about the past and then it tries for another twist.

It tries to do too much at once and seems to fail to truly accomplish anything in the end.