Jessabelle (2014)

Empty watch, won't watch again, and can't recommend.

I basically gave this a shot because Sarah Snook looked cute and it was a horror movie I hadn't heard about. I had really expected it to get a lot better from there. Sadly it doesn't.

The opening sequence is an odd choice, but it's just a mechanic to get her in a wheelchair, which I really wanted to love, but it is used a cheap way to debilitate her and add to a fear of helplessness when it sort of does the opposite. As someone who has had to use a wheelchair before, it separates the character from most of the audience because they don't have that frame of reference: it's alienating usually. The movie has to be really good and draw the audience to relate to the character before they can overlook things that seem foreign to them.

There are some really good sequences with the ghost, and it actually reminded me of "Evil Dead" quite a bit, but it did sort of devolve into what looks like two girls mud wrestling, so I'm hoping that wasn't a factor.

The story is all jumbled and clunky in how it's told so it ruins all the parts that would make it interesting, but even with a good mystery / twist, I think the movie would have been average at best, and instead it's a waste of time. There are so many better movies out there to watch.

<I>Jessabelle gonna get what's coming to you.</I>

Some southern spooky times in this film along with a mystery that'll try to throw you off the path of what seems to be predictable coming close to the final act.

The reveal isn't a bad one and in fact it was pretty clever. Some might be disappointed in the reveal if they found it early. The effects were mild but pretty cool.

25/100

** Spoiler Warning ** A woman returns to her estranged father's home after an accident and strange things begin to happen. The trailer is terrifying but the film is terrifyingly slow ...they doled out tiny little bits of information, along with a few scary bits, so they could stretch it out for 90 minutes. Secondly, the sound would whisper so you had to crank the volume all the way up ...just in time for them to slam you with noise that'll blow out your windows. I guess they were afraid you'd fall asleep. In the end, you realize that everything they've had to endure was futile. Oh, boy! -- DrNostromo.com