The Killing Jar

The Killing Jar is one of the worst pieces of crap I've ever seen. At first glance you may think The Killing Jar is a slash flick of some sort, well its not and far from it. Its about this couple who move to this small town where the guy grew up. He witness a murder, but doesn't know it. Through hypnosis he recalls all this crap blah blah blah. Really its about this kid who once put a spider in a jar and watched it die. Thats it. And they can't get over it. The characters repeat it over and over again. Recalling that the kid was crazy and most likely would grow up to be a killer or something. Damn this flick sucked hard. It was so boring I almost killed myself. If you see this flick at the vid store for the love of God don't rent it. Gives all new meaning to the word "SUCK."

The story here is, at heart, a fairly standard 'taut' suspense thriller with a few modest twists. The cast ranges from workhorse to strong, including should've-been-stars Tamlyn Tomita and Wes Studi, plus support from Brion James, M. Emmet Walsh, Xander Berkeley, etc. Brett Cullen comes off a bit wooden in the lead role, but I can't be sure it's his fault.

The real problems here are the slow, uneven pacing, the even more uneven atmosphere, and the often amateurish direction that makes the actors stand around and deliver dialogue in extended chunks of stagey-looking shot-reverse shot and too much camera motion. The editing doesn't seem to have helped, but it's hard to tell what's an editing error and what was a failed attempt to fix the direction. The script and story could have been punched up a bit, too.

Tamlyn Tomita is luminous, and a lot of the cast is working hard here, but it doesn't come together.

I enjoyed this film a lot! I thought that the story and the direction were fine, and this is a much better film than I ever imagined. I enjoyed it enough that I bought it, after renting it.

The biggest problem with the film lies in the fact that two of the victims appear to survive by the end of the film, when there's no chance of that happening. The human body can take a lot of abuse, but not that much. Plus, the film ends too soon to let us know what happened to Sanford and his wife.

Still, it's a taut, well-made film, with the actors giving some gritty performances. Cullen, Tomita, and Bower do a great job with their roles.

It's obviously not for every taste (what movie is?), but I sure liked it!

I recently watched The Killing Jar (1997) on Tubi. The storyline follows a married couple who return to the husband's hometown so he can run the family business. When it's suspected that the husband witnessed an accident that may have been a murder, he denies seeing anything, but nobody believes him, causing the town to doubt what happened and why. As additional murders occur, the husband's psychological state starts falling apart, along with his world.

This film is directed by Evan Crooke, in his directorial debut, and stars Brett Cullen (The Dark Knight Rises), Tamlyn Tomita (The Karate Kid Part II), Wes Studi (Heat), Brion James (Blade Runner), and Frank McRae (48 Hrs).

The film has a made-for-television feel to it. The premise has potential, and the cast isn't bad, but neither is well utilized. The main characters were just average, but Studi delivers a solid supporting performance. Brion James as a hypnotist was odd, and although I generally love McRae's comedy, he was more of a miss than a hit here. There are no standout kills, except for a creative use of a fishhook while driving. Overall, there were few redeeming elements.

In conclusion, The Killing Jar had some potential but suffers from poor execution. I would score this a 3/10 and recommend skipping.