Main cast: Nicholas Anscombe (The Jack), Isabella Colby Browne (Raven), Leona Clarke (Olivia Brown), Anna Blackburn (Erin Jones), Oli Meredith (Dean Pearson), Georgina Jane (Kara Thompson), Lisa Maguire (Principal Hinch), Jade Groves (Victoria Roberts), Georgia Conlan (Willow Davies), Derek Nelson (Harvey Robinson), James Reynard (The Dollmaker), Charles O’Neil (Raven’s Father), Lexi Spencer (Rose), Liam Clear (Burglar Alex), and Luke Hardwell (Burglar Todd)
Director: Lawrence Fowler
I guess Jack in the Box and Jack in the Box: Awakening must had been such profitable ventures that the same people that brought us these two marvelous movies just have to serve up the third installment of the… thing… that captured the imagination of zillions of people everywhere since sliced bread: the ugly thing in the movie poster.
The Jack in the Box Rises stands alone in the sense that it has no plot connection to the previous two movies, aside from the presence of the Jack. The Jack, just to recap, is a demon-y jack in the box that, when awakened, would kill a select number of people to collect their souls. When it achieves this, whoever that releases him would have their wish come true.
Raven and her friends are ordered by one Harvey Robinson to retrieve something called the heart from a fellow that seemed to have watched The Puppet Master way too much. Raven is the only one that survives the murderous old man, and the not-too-pleased Harvey insists that she now go undercover into a boarding school to retrieve a demonic box. The box is in a mansion that has now been converted into a boarding school (this mansion was the location for the second movie).
Poor Raven has no choice but to obey as Harvey holds her father hostage to earn her service. Mind you, she doesn’t display any extraordinary occult relic hunting skills in this movie, so god knows why Harvey insists on using her for these assignments.
Still, despite looking even older than Harvey and on the fresh side of 30, she manages to fool the tyrannical Principal Hinch into accepting her as a new student. Of course, the Jack breaks free, blah blah blah, I’m sure we all know the drill by now.
On the bright side, the movie is watchable for what it is: a low budget B-grade horror flick, with some pretty decent practical effects. The acting is pretty mediocre but still serviceable enough without making me wince in pain.
However, this thing also feels devoid of anything fresh or interesting. Jack is basically a killer clown in this movie, maybe as a cheaper way to get things done without worrying too much about prop and special effects, and the kills are bog standard in a “Wait, I’ve seen these things a zillion times already!” way. This isn’t a good thing because there is nothing about the story that is interesting enough to make up for this.
Indeed, the characters are all one-dimensional stereotypes of girl boarding school movies, and Raven fails to stand out in any way as someone worth remembering, much less root for. Seriously, why is she picked by Harvey’s gang again? Can’t they find someone else more capable?
Folks of the previous movies would also expect a twist of some sort at the end, so yawn, there it is. At this point, the best twist would be there isn’t one. That would be the most unpredictable thing about this movie!
So anyway, yes, it’s alright. I like this one better than the previous one, but at the same time, it’s so formulaic and forgettable. It’s actually impressive how this movie manages to hit a few minutes over the 90-minute mark without giving me anything to remember it by.
If they can’t think of anything fresh to keep this franchise going, just shove Jack back into the box and leave it be, alright?
