Jacob

I saw this crud last night on Netflix last night and developed intense nausea for the next 12 hours. Seriously, what the heck were the director and editors thinking? The whole movie screamed KMart budget starring the people of Walmart Cast. The acting was downright insulting and often times hilarious with over-exaggerated facial expressions and deadpan deliveries. If that wasn't bad enough the voice overs were off as if the whole movie had been dubbed and dubbed horribly, it was very distracting and just echoed the lack of acting talent the cast possessed aside from Sissy and perhaps the Sheriff. I've seen better acting at 1st grade school plays, the acting was seriously that terrible along with the uninspired dialogue between the characters. Perhaps the budget went more toward the makeup and blood splatter which was a bit better than I was expecting considering how cheap and amateurish everything else was. The plot.........*sigh* Jacob gets mad, Jacob hurts people....something about demons thrown in (it wasn't explained well at all and made absolutely no sense), comedic violence ensues....FIN. Please save yourself the pain and agony this movie will cause, avoid it like the plague.

I guess I'm not on the local bandwagon in Houston. The movie had its good moments and a lot of bad. First off, the writing for the film was shallow, filled with parts of never ending dialog which slowed the delivery. The elements of the real story never surfaced on screen & I was left to hope that the violence would pick things up, which it did. Some of the actors in the film made me think, 'why was that person even in the film?' Many of the actors brought to the film lacked any real acting talent to give substance to undeveloped characters. There were parts in the film where the lighting was just plane awful. Another thing was the sound, it was not there when it needed to be.

If the movie was presented as a rough cut, then why was it released? The heart of this film could make it a local masterpiece? Surely, there are other ways to fund and promote this film project. This film is far from perfect and perhaps far from the solid leadership required to present a completed film to it's local fan base. The producers in charge of marketing and presenting this film failed to bring a real winner to Houston after all of it's hype. I surely hope this film has mild success in it's distribution.

This is my first review and no I am not part of the movie crew, just a horror buff. I just happened on this little jewel of a film last night and was so very surprised at how well it was done and how entertaining and heartfelt it was for an indie film. I saw the low score on IMDb and just could not let this go. I had to register and chime in. The build up and the time invested in getting to know the characters was perfect. The lower budget may have restrained some of the effects but they were actually done correctly, showing just enough and not over showing any bad effects like a sci fi production. Sure some of the acting and dialog was a little stiff but growing up in a small town most of it rang true, even the behavior. The little girl was excellent and you couldn't't help but sympathize with Jacob. I wont give anything away but this was an excellent horror movie. One of the better I have seen in years especially for a low budget film. I hope this director can give us more. I would rate it higher except for a couple of the over acting like the old woman. Great movie!!

A hulking mentally challenged young man called Jacob goes on a killing rampage when his drunken and violent redneck stepfather murders his little sister. I bought this for three reasons - I love slasher movies, the DVD was reasonably cheap and I have a son called Jacob. For the purposes of writing a review for IMDb I have given it a second viewing, about 6 years after the first. I was disappointed the first time, sadly there was no improvement with a second viewing. Most of the plot takes place in the 1970's, yes we get some old vehicles but fashion wise there's not a pair of flared trousers, a kipper tie or any big collars in sight. In fact the actors look more 1990's/2000's. Many splatter fans will be disappointed, it takes about 50 minutes before Jacob becomes a horror movie proper, before that it is more of small town Texan drama centred around a trailer trash type dysfunctional family. When the killing starts it is quite funny, for example Jacob easily rips off a man's "rubber" arm, you can see the bump where the actor is hiding it underneath his top. There are a few gory moments but the effects aren't exactly special. As for the acting on the whole it is of an acceptable level for an obviously low budget movie, though none of the cast will be in the running for an Oscar! The picture looks as though a filter had been placed on the camera lens, it is very sepia, I didn't like it. A supernatural angle is thrown into the plot in the shape of an old book on black magic, very ineffective, the result is a weak slasher movie with a silly supernatural touch. There are a number of very generous reviews here, some of the reviewers have this as their single contribution on this site, take them with a very large grain of salt!

This film had great potential to remind viewers of some of the horror greats like Jason or Michael. Instead it fell flat with disappointing performances from all but Grace Powell and Dylan Horne. Terrible camera work, bad sound broke any immersion that might have been possible. But sadly the first thing I noticed was terrible make up. I have seen first year make up students apply better make up than this movie had.

The biggest problem was that nothing made sense. The violence was barely explained, though a back story is mildly flirted with. The only reason even mildly hinted at is a mental handicap. However, that feels like a cop out from a writer that lost the story.

All things said and done budget problems like shoddy camera work, terrible effects, and bad make up can be forgiven. If there is a well thought out and intriguing story to watch. Unfortunately this film fails in all categories.