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.

The plot involves a hairy guy named Paul who picks up a creepy old man who was injured in a car accident. The old man insists on taking along this jar wrapped in a bag. Paul takes the old man back to his (Paul's) apartment, the old man vanishes and Paul is left with this jar, which contains this little blue monster that looks like one of the Ghoulies. After that, things get weird as Paul hallucinates and/or dreams all this stuff.

I suppose there could be some symbolism in the film, but we know nothing about Paul before the dreams start, and the dreams seem to have no connection to anything that is happening. My theory is that the director or writer or whoever it was that decided to make this movie took all the weird dreams he had had in his life and rolled them into this painful film. None of the dreams are memorable enough to require a visual translation, though, so they're quite boring to watch. This begs the question of why he decided to do it.

This movie has the feel of a really bad student film. Someone attempting to make an "arty" movie.

Another interesting thing about this film is that it was made in Colorado, but appears to be badly dubbed. All the characters have these dull, out-of-place voices that don't seem to match their faces. It reminds me of B-Movies from the '60s like "Manos: The Hands of Fate" and "The Beast of Yucca Flats" that were either recorded without sound or had the sound erased, and then tried to put sound back in in post-production.

I think this is a bad movie, but I'm no expert. There could be some deep meaning to this film that I don't get. Give it a rent and see for yourself.

It's slow paced, most scenes don't get together but there are good shots and I like the overall idea of it. With changes it could be a good movie.

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 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.