ANYTHING FOR JACKSON (2020)

Studio:      Shudder
Director:    Justin G. Dyck
Writer:      Keith Cooper
Producer:  Bill Marks, Christopher Giroux, Justin G. Dyck, Keith Cooper
Stars:     Sheila McCarthy, Julian Richings, Konstantina Mantelos, Josh Cruddas, Yannick Bisson

Review Score:

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Summary:

Grieving grandparents open a demonic doorway when they kidnap a pregnant woman and use a Satanic spell to try resurrecting their dead grandson.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Audrey Walsh and her husband Henry, a doctor, kidnap Henry’s pregnant patient Shannon Becker and keep her captive in their house. Using an ancient grimoire, the Satan-worshipping couple performs a ritual to put the spirit of their dead grandson Jackson into Shannon’s unborn baby. A demonic beast appears instead, indicating the ritual did not go as planned.

Audrey, Henry, and Shannon start seeing haunting apparitions throughout the house. Henry encounters a ghost who violently flosses her teeth until they fall out. Audrey sees a trick-or-treater in a ghost costume, which is what her daughter, who killed herself after Jackson’s death, wore every Halloween as a child. A contorting man suffocating from a bag over his head terrifies Shannon.

Pushy handyman Rory comes to the house to plow the driveway. Possessed by the summoned evil, Rory suddenly kills himself by putting his body inside the plow.

Audrey and Henry’s plan encounters further complications when Detective Bellows begins investigating Shannon’s disappearance. Bellows eventually comes to the house and discovers Shannon being held captive. Bellows holds Audrey and Henry at gunpoint, but unexpectedly shoots herself in the head and becomes another ghost haunting the home.

Worried about what wrong, Audrey and Henry consult fellow cult member Ian. After examining the book they used to resurrect Jackson, Ian informs the couple they actually summoned Surgat, a demon that unlocks a doorway to tormented souls. Ian warns that ghosts from purgatory are now fighting to possess a human host. Ian claims he can complete the ritual properly, although it will require trading another life in order for Jackson to come back.

Ian returns the next day to finish the spell. Cult leader Yolanda calls Henry with a frantic warning that Ian murdered his mother. Henry warns his wife that something is wrong with Ian.

Commotion ensues when Shannon breaks free and apparitions appear in the room. Ian stabs Audrey and invites Surgat to take whomever he chooses. A giggling ghost drags Ian away. Another entity kills Henry.

Shannon encounters several ghosts while fleeing from the house. The visions suddenly recede as Shannon drives away. Shannon looks at her lap and realizes her water broke.

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Review:

We need a word that’s shorthand for a fright film with a sly sense of humor, yet isn’t what we commonly consider a horror-comedy. Not simply to set such movies apart from obvious joke shows like “Zombieland” or “What We Do in the Shadows.” We also need some distance from self-aware satires and setups that aren’t strictly serious like “The Hunt” (review here) or “Happy Death Day” (review here).

I wouldn’t dare call “Anything for Jackson” a comedy. Its amusing bits aren’t built for belly-bursting laughs. The movie merely accents its atmosphere with dark snips of subtle snark meant to induce infrequent smirks. It’s more of a method to take the edge off a story that incorporates some truly terrible topics, e.g. grieving a toddler’s death, forcibly kidnapping a pregnant woman, and witnessing several suicides. Turning in two seconds of barely-there levity every so often reminds us we’re immersed in fiction intended for escapism. That way we receive a grounded story that gets to be chilling without viewers feeling like they need to visit a priest or psychiatrist to treat lasting nightmares afterward.

“Fargo” gets brought up a lot when people want to describe folksy characters bent in a particularly peculiar way. That’s not quite right for this movie though. “Anything for Jackson’s” denizens aren’t askew enough to qualify as quirky. Keeping with a “qu” adjective, it’d be more appropriate to call them queer, and I mean that in the non-LGBTQ sense of the term.

One of the great things about “Anything for Jackson,” and there are several, is Julian Richings being cast in a beefy leading role. Richings is a perennial ‘That Guy,’ second only to Stephen McHattie as Canada’s Dick Miller of genre character actors. Seeing him behind the wheel for a change is fantastic for fans who have been around as long as he has.

He sometimes swaps positions for the passenger seat however, because “Anything for Jackson” is as much a showcase for the equally excellent Sheila McCarthy as it is for Richings. Richings and McCarthy play Henry and Audrey Walsh. He’s a doctor. She’s his wife. They’re both grandparents mourning the tragic death of their grandson Jackson. Henry and Audrey also both worship Satan, and they’re confident that occult connection can help them bring the beloved boy back from the dead.

The couple’s plan involves abducting Henry’s pregnant patient Shannon, imprisoning her in their home, then using an ancient grimoire that can supposedly pull Jackson out of purgatory and put him into Shannon’s unborn child. Naturally, that’s not how things work out. Henry and Audrey’s summoning spell knocks over a line of demonic dominoes starting with ghastly ghosts haunting the home and ending with evil entities possessing anyone setting foot on the property. In between addressing the apparitions, Henry and Audrey have to deal with a nosy detective investigating Shannon’s disappearance as well as an envious cult member who wants in on the satanic scheme.

Even though this is one of those setups where a runaway snowball spins out of control, “Anything for Jackson” doesn’t devolve into a madcap caper. In keeping with its not-quite-a-comedy tone, the movie’s second act stays sinister, more or less becoming a series of macabre milieus featuring violent visuals and memorable monsters. A cool contortionist creature ups the ante on paranormal pretzel people by having suffocating plastic give him ghoulish gasps. A hag who flosses her teeth hard enough to make them fall out can practically make your own gums bleed via phantom pain. It’s as if writer Keith Cooper and director Justin G. Dyck came up with clever ideas for frightening sights and figured out how to fit them into a feature, which isn’t a bad thing when they’re as eerily entertaining as this movie is.

Soaked in suspense more than in shocks, “Anything for Jackson” doesn’t have the snappiest pace. Events are always happening, although they can be calm conversations setting up payoffs down the road or flashing back in time to fill in informational blanks. I wouldn’t say the speed gets sleepy per se. But it’s best to set aside a pinch of patience while remaining confident tension will explode when it’s ready.

The film isn’t just unsettling and occasionally humorous. It makes moments of honest drama out of death, despondency, and emotional trauma, often through thoughtful quips like, “People say ‘sorry’ instead of fixing things,” and all while keeping everything balanced on an enjoyable edge of darkly unusual horror. It’s a somewhat simple film that’s unexpectedly tricky to talk about. I don’t know how accurately I described “Anything for Jackson,” but I hope it was well enough to come across as recommended.

Review Score: 75

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