Main cast: Matt McClure (Edgar Marsdale), Nicola Wright (Olga Marsdale), Mollie Hindle (Amy Proctor), Michaela Longden (Janet), Jason Farries (Frank), and James Swanton (The Jack in the Box)
Director: Lawrence Fowler
Well, someone has to be clamoring for The Jack in the Box: Awakening, because this is the sequel to The Jack in the Box, which… I suppose had to make enough money to warrant a sequel. That has to be the reason why this thing exists, right?
On paper, the plot of this one sounds exciting. Olga Marsdale is dying, but that matriarch is not giving up hope yet. She has her lackey retrieve the demon-possessed Jack in the Box, or Jack for short, and request for a deferral of her impending demise in return for the six lives she will let Jack kill and collect into his box.
Her weak-willed lackey of a son, Edgar, is initially conflicted over how to have people killed off in exchange for his mommy dearest’s life. Will the staff of the household realize in time that they are also marked to be Jack’s victims? Will Edgar find the will to stand up against his mother?
Well, while the plot may sounds like a thrilling bloodbath, the reality of this movie is that it is, frankly, too boring for words. There are hardly any good kills here, just annoying jump scares that lead nowhere, probably because it is cheaper to film scenes of the latter as one only needs to add in loud noises or switch off the lights.
There are far more human drama than anything else, and such drama is motivated by stupidity, such as the staff not asking questions or having doubts when their working conditions are anything but normal. There is a very ill woman in the house, but none of them find it odd that they are not allowed to make any call, even to the hospital, in such a circumstance?
Acting is pretty subpar for the most part, and conversations are just exposition dumps. Really, the movie basically expositions the entire story amidst dumb people doing dumber things and the bloke in the Jack costume and make up showing up occasionally to either kill people off off-screen or kill them using the cheapest-to-shoot methods possible, like slitting someone’s throat and letting the fake blood flow in a quick shot that then cuts away even more quickly.
The only good thing I can say about this one is that it at least follows the rules laid out on how to deal with Jack, so there is no “gotcha, the villain wins anyway because the movie says so” nonsense toward the end.
However, all its flaws end up making this one a spectacularly dull movie that has very little entertainment value, so I’d say just shove it back into the box.
