Jessabelle (2014)
Directed by: Kevin Greutert
Written by: Robert Ben Garant
Starring: Joelle Carter, Mark Webber, Sarah Snook
JESSABELLE (2014)
Directed by Kevin Greutert
After a horrific car accident, Jessabelle returns to her family home in Louisiana to live with her estranged father. After her mother died of cancer when she was very young, her father shipped Jessabelle off to live with her aunt. Her return home is one of mixed feelings, but being broke means she’s nowhere else to go.
Staying in her mother’s old room, Jessabelle unearths some videos inside a box with her name on it. Eager to see what they are, she decides to play them and is pleased to see they are messages from her mother whilst she was pregnant with her. However, joy soon turns to dread when her mother predicts bad things will happen to Jessabelle and that she is not alone in the house. With ghostly visions haunting her both during the day and night, Jessabelle begins to worry that the other predications her late mother made will also come true…
Supernatural thriller JESSABELLE is quite an eerie tale that begins with a sudden shocking opening that grabs the viewer’s attention. This establishes the character of Jessabelle, with the viewer instantly empathasing with her character and the situation she finds herself in.
The pace and vibe of the film is set rather early on when Jessabelle returns to live with her father. The house situated near the Bayou is quite old and dilapidated, with sections of ceiling exposed and old ornaments and decorative furnishings untouched since the 80’s. You’ll not find any DVD players or HD televisions here, and it’s all the better because of it. When Jessabelle discovers her mother’s tapes, a feeling of tension is created, knowing that with each tape, new potential truths are unveiled. As the footage becomes darker in content with each video she views, the tapes themselves become a symbol of horror, much like the videotapes in Japanese horror favourite, Ringu.
Sarah Snook puts on a marvellous performance as Jessabelle. Her character shows her strengths and weaknesses and feels real throughout it all. The part when she sees her mother on video for the first time is pretty emotional and Snook conveys this so well. Even in the frightening scenes where Jessabelle is plagued by visions, Snook plays it truthfully without any over dramatisation. It’s not often I sit up and think “wow” about an actress, but I suspect big things for Sarah Snook. Snook’s co-star Mark Webber stars as Jessabelle’s close friend Preston who she’s known since high school. Though it’s never confirmed, the body language and tension, along with a couple of pieces of dialogue, hint at a former relationship between the two. Though now married, kind-hearted Preston is eager to help Jessabelle in her time of need, much to the dismay of his wife. Providing the paternal role is David Andrews as Jessabelle’s father, Leon. Partial to a tipple, Leon appears quite a uptight, old-fashioned character and although he cares for his daughter, he doesn’t appreciate her digging up the past. He particularly loses his cool when he discovers Jessabelle watching the videos her mother made.
Though most horror fans will be accustomed to the scares presented here in this movie, Jessabelle still does a great job in making sure they’re as creepy as possible. I certainly felt unnerved as I watched Jessabelle defenseless and alone in the decaying, haunted house. The South setting near the Bayou and the involvement of the voodoo religion, which is practiced in the area, gives the film a distinctive edge which fits in tremendously with the film’s style and genre.
Jessabelle might not be the terrifying horror you’re looking for, but it’s certainly a chilling one. Worth a watch!
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