JACOB (2011)

Available On Demand on Amazon Prime!
Directed/Written by Larry Wade Carrell.

Check out the trailer here!!

This low budgeter relies on a strong sense of mood and a genuinely creepy tone to make it stand out as an effective indie horror gem. JACOB is the name of the title character, a hulking, bald man-brute in overalls that can only be calmed by his little sister. When Jacob’s family is threatened, though, the man-monster goes on a rampage and seemingly cannot be stopped.

But there’s more at play than a learning-disabled man-boy on a rampage. There’s a fantastic little ghost story going on with JACOB as well, as an inheritance of a house is accompanied by a curse. Michael Biehn makes a cameo appearance as the inheritor of the residence and quickly succumbs to the evil forces that seem to be passed on to Jacob later in his life. The supernatural aspects of this film are subtle. Director/writer Larry Wade Carrell does a great job of keeping within the parameters of the budget and the seams are never seen despite some fantastic action sequences of gore and violence.

Genuine acting chops are shown by the director/writer Carrell who also stars in a dual role as twin brothers, one a cop trying to track down Jacob after his rampage and the other an abusive drunk husband who sets Jacob off. It wasn’t until very late in the film that I realized that Carrell was playing the two roles. Instead of trying to do hokey split screen, Carrell relies on putting both characters in different scenes, so the two roles rarely share screen time. In doing so, it made this film feel bigger than it was as well.

The story is expansive as it starts out with a trio of kids in the present daring one of them to enter the decrepit house then flashing back to just before Jacob’s rampage and then flashing back again to see how the origins of Jacob’s seemingly otherworldly strength began. Carrell does this without making things complex and is able to tell a straightforward story without losing the audience.

At times, some of the rest of the cast stumbles due to lack of experience, I assume. The cast does their best, but a few overwritten scenes here and there like an overlong scene in a bar make for some lulls in the narrative. I do have to commend this film for the awesome use of the old Terri Gibbs song, “Somebody’s Knocking” which I have always found to be damn creepy.

JACOB is one of those indie films I can’t help but root for. It is surprisingly bloody and the violence echoes off the screen with some clever use of cuts, camera angles, and action sped up at just the right time of impact. The house where the horror takes place is something out of a Tim Burton nightmare and Carrell uses what he has with an effectiveness that makes me want to pay attention to what the writer/director has in store for us next.