[Review] The Jack in the Box(2020) {5.5/10}

Written and Directed by Lawrence Fowler, the film stars Lucy-Jane Quinlan (Lisa Cartwright), Ethan Taylor (Casey Reynolds), Robert Nairne (Jack) and Stacy Lynn Crowe (Gwen Parkinson).

The film follows Casey (Ethan Taylor), an american curator, who takes a job at a museum in England to escape the guilt of losing his fiancee to a brutal murderer. After arriving, he and his co-worker Lisa(Lucy-Jane Quinlan) discover an antique box that pops out a creepy looking doll, unknowingly awakening a demonic evil entity. Immediately, employees and visitors begin to disappear as the entity must claim the lives of six victims in order to sustain it's own life. Facing disbelief from others who do not believe in the powers of the box, Casey realizes that it is he who must find a way to put the Jack in the Box and end the evil entity's cycle of killing.

The concept is great and considering the budget of the, the film did a very decent job. There is always room for a new scary clown and make-up effects creator Isabella Larter deserves the credit for the creepy design and execution of the villain in the British production, The Jack in the Box. Too bad that everything that happens in the movie around him is as inevitable as the Jack in the Box at the end of "Pop goes the weasel". The film tries very hard to be scary with jump scares and typical horror string music score but unfortunately, the old tricks do not always work. The scariest thing about the movie is the design of the doll. Majority of the deaths happen off screen and Fowler missed out on opportunities to get some gore into the film which plays a vital role in the lack establishing any real fear in the audience. The film has high production quality for an indie film and the premise has the makings of a story that could span multiple films like The Conjuring. However, The Jack in the Box falls by the wayside as being an underwhelmingly standard film. The premise is so woefully familiar that Mr. Fowler would have to do something truly memorable for the film to feel at all fresh. If you are expecting IT level terror, you will be disappointed but The Jack in the Box does a decent job by keeping the audience engaged and have an unexpected ending that gives the film some weight and a chance to explore more in a sequel. Though made competently on every level, the movie misses it's chance to make a memorable mark on both Killer Clown and Deadly sub-genres.

The Jack in the Box is now available on Digital and Blu-ray.