Jakob's Wife - Blu-Ray Review — The After Movie Diner

Release Date: July 20, 2021
Format: Blu-ray + DVD
Streaming on Shudder: August 19, 2021

Synopsis:
Anne (Barbara Crampton) and Pastor Jakob Fedder’s (Larry Fessenden) married life has grown stale. The dreams that Anne held in her youth have slipped away and endless excuses have been made. A work deal, which brings her in contact with an ex-flame, tempts her momentarily but before she can return to her husband, relatively faithfully, she is set upon by The Master, an ancient vampire who recognises Anne’s desire to please anyone but herself as a trait she once held as well.

As Anne wrestles with her new powers, the blood hunger and a lot of new feelings, she is helped by her conflicted but faithful pastor husband Jakob, determined to try and do the right and godly thing, until the law and The Master finally catch up with them.

Barbara Crampton as Anne Fedder in the horror JAKOB’S WIFE, a RLJE Films and Shudder release. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films and Shudder. — **Barbara Crampton** as **Anne Fedder** in the horror ***JAKOB’S WIFE***, a **RLJE Films** and **Shudder** release. Photo courtesy of **RLJE Films** and **Shudder**.

Review:
I forget exactly what the movie was, but the other day I read an interview with some moronic Director - the kind of young, history deficient, ego fuelled nitwit who probably believes they invented the handheld camera move or something - saying some infuriating soundbite like “finally I wanted to make a horror film that was about something, rather than just blood and guts”. That whopping load of nonsense may get the ravenous, young adult twitter hounds, hungry for click bait and outrage fodder, to see your movie but for the rest of us - who can remember longer than 5 years ago - we know that horror, as a genre, has ALWAYS been about something.

More than any other genre, save maybe, occasionally, science fiction, horror discusses every dark corner of human existence and shows us our true selves. Even the most base, formulaic and obvious slasher film has more twisted subtext, exploitation, joy, fear, sex and madness than the slowest, thinkiest, black n white, French film about the angst of ennui, featuring moustachioed men staring out of windows over a rainy Paris.

Larry Fessenden as Reverend Jakob Fedder in the horror JAKOB’S WIFE, a RLJE Films and Shudder release. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films and Shudder. — **Larry Fessenden** as Reverend Jakob Fedder in the horror ***JAKOB’S WIFE***, a **RLJE Films** and **Shudder** release. Photo courtesy of **RLJE Films** and **Shudder**.

Jakob’s Wife, Directed by Travis Stevens, renowned producer of Cheap Thrills, Jodorowsky's Dune and We Are Still Here and Director of Girl on the Third Floor, is about a lot of things, a lot of important things and makes absolutely no bones about it. Nor should it. It was no surprise when, in one of the supplemental features, producer and star Barbara Crampton mentions it was the script that first got everyone excited because this film could never be accused of not having enough strong ideas. There is commentary on feminism, marriage, the church, the pull and repulsion of a home town and even some subtle mentions about the decline of old, treasured industries being ultimately replaced by soulless shopping malls. Throw in some gonzo vampire antics, some pleasing bloodletting and the odd comedic beat and you’ve got yourself a movie.

Helping to artfully manifest and deliver the ideas in the script are stars and genre stalwarts Barbara Crampton and Larry Fessenden, who were both so excellent in We Are Still Here and who definitely carry Jakob’s Wife on their more than capable shoulders. Crampton especially is just an absolute delight. Her re-emergence, in recent years, in the genre that made her name back in the 80s has been applaudable and wonderful and to have found scripts that are so utterly perfect for her makes her not only a discerning, fascinating actor to watch but now a producer too. Long may that continue. Rather than rest on her laurels and show up as cameos in nostalgia porn, teen horror fair as a knowing wink wink to the parents watching, she’s finding rich and different scripts that play to her strengths. It’s something that, very sadly, many of her generation in Hollywood can’t claim to have done or rarely get the opportunity to do, outside of the likes of maybe Meryl Streep or Helen Mirren. Another area where maybe horror is the more progressive genre (as well as the more transgressive too!)

The other shout out I would like to give to the production crew is for the practical special effects which are thankfully gruesome, excessive, effective and brilliant.

If the movie falls down at all it is in the direction and editing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly fine but, personally, I think a movie with such weighty themes but such a bipolar tone requires a deft hand that can milk every emotion, every drop of comedy and every creaky, lurking, pulse of dread and terror from it. Think Don Coscarelli and Bubba Ho-Tep. As silly as the concept of Bubba Ho-Tep might be and as goofy as the movie gets at times, the fact that you go on the rollercoaster of emotions with it that you do is down to the performances, Coscarelli and Brian Tyler’s superb score tugging on your heart strings. Jakob’s Wife travels similar narrative pathways and shifts in mood but despite the sterling work of its cast and the scriptwriter, you never quite laugh as hard as you should, feel as much as you should or shriek as much as you should. The story and its themes don’t seem to have a firm footing and the cutting seems fast when it should linger and slow when it should get on with it.

That being said, there is much to enjoy here and after zombies hogging the clumsy metaphors for years, it’s nice to see the vampiric legend given a new twist.

Nyisha Bell as Amelia Humphries in the horror JAKOB’S WIFE, a RLJE Films and Shudder release. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films and Shudder. — **Nyisha Bell** as Amelia Humphries in the horror ***JAKOB’S WIFE***, a **RLJE Films** and **Shudder** release. Photo courtesy of **RLJE Films** and **Shudder**.

Make no mistake when you go into Jakob’s Wife but it is a middle aged, married couple drama first and a blood drenched, vampire, horror comedy second and that’s another thing the film gets right. This is a breath of fresh air among the constant deluge of pretty 20 and 30 somethings dealing with inconsequential or non-existent problems in the vast majority of films we have to suffer through these days.

While it sadly isn’t another home run, cult classic destined to be talked about by gleeful horror nerds the world over for the next 30 years, it does deserve a place on your shelf because films this intelligent, this well acted, with this much to say, that still make room for the fun stuff like squirty, crimson neck wounds, don’t come along nearly enough, but you know that when they do, you’ll find them in the horror section.

Blu-Ray review:
The Blu-Ray comes with a ‘making of” which is a short but pleasing EPK style look at the stars of the film and the effects. The other special feature is a handful of deleted scenes, one of which, the hunt montage, should’ve definitely been in the film as it serves to build the world and make it more realistic. It was also a lovely piece of editing.
It definitely lacks a great commentary track by its stars and an opportunity to look deeper into the work of Fessenden and Crampton both of whom could sustain detailed documentaries of their own.

EXTRAS: