SYNOPSIS
When a museum is donated a vintage Jack-In-The-Box, it’s not long before staff member Casey starts to think that the creepy clown doll inside has a life of its own. As he discovers his colleagues are dying, one by one, Casey realizes it’s up to him to find a way to end the nightmare or become another victim of the box’s curse. Jack In The Box is a heart stopping horror that will fuel your fear of clowns.
What We Thought:
The Jack in the Box has a really low rating on IMDB. IMDB can easily be skewed good or bad, but I’m not sure why it’s so low. It’s not an amazing film, but I’ve certainly seen a lot of horror movies that are much worse especially British ones. It’s not groundbreaking stuff or anything, but I’d recommend it to some of my horror friends who are into possessed items causing deaths and killer clowns.
The biggest positive with the film is its concept. Creepy clowns are always great to scare people. Add in the fact that it’s a creepy clown from a Jack-in-the-box and it’s even better. A killer toy with a demonic past is a solid horror concept and the film pretty much pays off in the end because of that concept. I also thought the effects of the clown and the deaths were pretty solid for a lower budget horror flick.
I think the rating is low because it’s a film made and starring people the average movie goer isn’t familiar with. I see that a lot in indie horror ratings/reviews. If you took this same exact concept, but gave it a Blumhouse budget and marketing push, it would easily be part of The Conjuring Universe spun off like Annabelle. It would do pretty good at the box office too.
But alas the film was written and directed by someone I’m not familiar with and I can’t tell you any other movies the lead actors have done previously. I can say the lead actor playing Casey was pretty good although his accent seemed to change at times. I thought the lead actress, Casey’s co-worker at the museum, was good too. She was cute in that museum/professor type look, sweater over dress style which fit her role perfectly.
The Jack in the Box isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, but I can say I enjoyed it for at least one watch. I don’t know if I’d watch it again, but I liked some of the effects and thought the characters were believable. It’s not found footage and doesn’t rely on shaky-cam so that’s a huge plus considering most low budget horror is that genre. If you don’t mind lower budget horror with a creepy toy type clown, give it a try. You might enjoy it.
The Nerds Templar 