Jakob's Wife
Directed by Travis Stevens
Anne is married to a small-town minister and feels like her life and marriage have been shrinking over the past 30 years. After a chance encounter with “The Master,” she discovers bite marks on her neck, a new sense of power and an appetite to live bigger and bolder than ever. As Anne is increasingly torn between her enticing new existence and her life before, the body count grows and Jakob realizes he will have to fight for the wife he took for granted. A SHUDDER EXCLUSIVE.
After an encounter with “The Master,” Anne discovers bite marks on her neck, a new sense of power and an appetite to live bolder than ever before.
Cast: Barbara Crampton, Larry Fessenden, Bonnie Aarons, Nyisha Bell, Mark Kelly
Member Reviews
4. 5 skulls. An excellent movie worth a watch and a re-watch. So much to praise about this interesting take on the vampire trope. The film features Barbara Crampton and Larry Fesseden. That alone makes it a must-see. The "Master" is portrayed as a callback / homage to the iconic miniseries SALEM'S LOT take and this creature is suitably creepy and FAR less reticent than Barlow. It's also a female vamp, so there's echoes of Carmilla and Bathory embedded within the main nemesis as well. Even the title, by movie's end, will have extra resonance and poignancy. And speaking of its ending, I found it to be perfectly poised on a potentially sharp edge; a true "will she?" and "will he?" that is open yet satisfying , an uncertain conclusion that somehow feels right. In terms of secondary characters, the actress playing Amelia is a real stand-out. Beyond its vampire plot, the movie excels as an exploration of marriage through the prism of horror. Some of the dialogue is dead--on; overall, the dialogue is above average. The cinematography is beautiful, especially in the opening of the film and Amelia's long solitary walk home as the light drains from the sky. With all that said, it makes the film's occasional missteps all the more glaring and jarring. For example, after being sprayed and splattered and soaked by gore and blood, in the next scene the wife is nearly pristine. This laziness of continuity is exasperating. While I praise efforts utilizing practical effects, the death of the wife's prospective lover by getting swarmed and devoured by rats (a direct rip-off of how Dr. Cody in SALEM'S LOT the book died in its original draft before the editor demanded a different death; King complied, but has made the original death available in certain editions) fails spectacularly. Despite dim lighting and quick editing the rats that can be seen look like fake rubber rodents attached to the "victim. " Embarrassing and laughable and yanks you out of the movie's overall compelling plot and pace. There are other missteps, but why throw anymore focus on what doesn't work when so much does. It's surprising how little i hear about this film among those into the horror / vampire genre. This one is a real overlooked gem. (If you are also interested in other under-sung horror movies dealing with the bleaker aspects of marriage, then check out BRIGHTWOODS and A GOOD MARRIAGE. ) But until then, go take a bite out of JAKOB'S WIFE!
not my cup of tea
I liked it. A different twist and I loved how Jakob was on board fast.
Good movie
One extra skull for how cleverly the reverend’s vintage Mercury – not angelic white, not black, but inbetween-beige – personifies the story’s opposing ideas.