ANYTHING FOR JACKSON – FILM REVIEW

I earnestly hope there’s more horror to come from these folks, if this has whetted their appetite for darker fare, because I reiterate: Anything for Jackson is one of the best horror films released this year.

I’ve said before that I tend to be a bit leery going into a horror feature when I see that the people behind it don’t have a history of horror/horror-adjacent projects. Let me just say how wrong and ignorant I was about that, as along come director Justin G. Dyck and writer Keith Cooper to make me eat those words.


They both have a history of family-friendly Christmas movies, with titles like ‘A Puppy for Christmas’ and ‘A Very Country Christmas’ – good wholesome stuff that’s a million miles away from ghosts and demons and gore. Yet with Anything for Jackson they have delivered what is undoubtedly one of the best and outright scariest films of the year.


Anything for Jackson is about an elderly couple who kidnap a pregnant woman in order to use her unborn child as a vessel so that their dead grandson Jackson can be reborn. Henry (Julian Richings, Supernatural’s Death) is a doctor, which places him in prime position to nab his patient Shannon (Konstantina Mantelos) once they’ve decided she’s the perfect candidate. He and his wife Audrey (Sheila McCarthy) have had plenty of time to plan it all out, and with all they’ve learned from the local Satanic coven they’re certain they can pull this off. But occult rituals and deals with the devil are never as simple as they seem…


There’s a beautiful economy of storytelling in the film. Cooper wastes no time and ensures we hit the ground running, and from there no scenes are wasted. We’re introduced to what seem like a kindly couple, then they immediately drag Shannon into their house and up the stairs. You’d think that there would be some beating around the bush but nope! Once Shannon’s securely shackled to the bed they tell her straight away that they want her baby for Jackson. Then you’d think there would be some is-it-real-or-are-they-cRaZy deliberation for the first act – but nope! We’re shown right away that this is a supernatural horror. At this point I thought that the bulk of the film would maybe be Shannon trying to outsmart the couple and maybe escaping and being recaptured and basically doing everything she can to prevent the ritual  – but nope! That’s the predictable route. Instead the story takes a left turn into terror as the ritual appears to work but the house is suddenly filled with ghosts.


And what ghosts! From the woman who flosses just a tad too vigorously to the bone-bendingly twisty man under Shannon’s bed, each visitor is stranger and more chilling than the last. It seems Jackson isn’t the only potential new tenant for Shannon’s child, and the otherworldly petitioners are getting impatient. From here on it’s heart-in-your-mouth and stomach-in-your-shoes time, right to the inevitable bloody climax.


Anything for Jackson scared the absolute pants off me. I haven’t watched a film through my hands while muttering ‘Christ on a stick’ so many times since Host.  After the credits rolled I had to sit back a moment to catch my breath. It’s rare that I find that pretty much every element of a film works perfectly for me, but this was just such a beautifully put-together film. It sucks you in, grabs you by the hand and pulls you along until suddenly it’s all over and you barely noticed any time had gone by. The spooky set-pieces are as gorgeous as they are tense, and while there’s no shortage of jumpscares they never feel cheap; Dyck knows when to shock and when to creep out, and more often than not goes for the latter to tremendous effect.


The performances are flawless – Henry and Audrey seem like a perfectly lovely couple aside from the abduction and dark magic.  They’re surprisingly funny and tender. Had Jackson lived then theirs would doubtless be a life of cookies and fishing trips, but their devotion to Jackson and to each other pushes them to some dark dark deeds. They’re not cackling devil-worshippers or torturous maniacs; they’re actually very apologetic and almost caring towards Shannon. It’s this humanity that hooks you and almost against your will you start to root for them by the end – but only up to a point. To paraphrase Jake Peralta, ‘cool motive, still abduction and ritual sacrifice’, you know?


I earnestly hope there’s more horror to come from these folks, if this has whetted their appetite for darker fare, because I reiterate: Anything for Jackson is one of the best horror films released this year.


Get thee to Shudder post-haste and give it a stream.

Review by Sam Kurd