3 Star

You Have to Die, to Come to Life.

Travis Stevens (Girl on the Third Floor) brings us his second feature, and it is a blast as it hails back to the good old days of horror with a large spattering of humour. As horror queen, Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Trancers II, You’re Next, We Are Still Here) gets her teeth into this role as a bored ministers’ wife in small town America.

It is Sunday and Pastor Jakob Fedder (Larry Fessenden, Habit, Wendigo, The House of the Devil) addresses his congregation as his wife Anne (Barbara Crampton) looks on with boredom in her eyes, she has heard this all before, many times before.

He who loves his wife… Loves himself.

After the service, Jakob bids farewell to his flock, and Amelia (Nyisha Bell, Poeta) asks Jakob if he would look in on her mother as she is excessively drinking again. Anne tries to talk but Jakob talks over her, this is just one of the things about Jakob that has annoyed Anne for the last forty years.

Amelia takes her long walk home and when she is nearly there she starts to hear a voice on the wind calling her name, just before…

With Jakob’s annoying habits, Anne cannot sleep, so she sits downstairs making a dreamcatcher when she hears her named called also.

Anne has a pet project, getting the old mill up and running as a working museum, but she will need professional advice, bring in old flame Tom Low (Robert Rusler, Weird Science, A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Vamp), who still has a thing for Anne, and she has feelings for him too.

Alone at the mill, they descend into the bowels of the old factory, where Anne spots a couple of crates that were not there before…

This does not go well for the amorous pair, definitely worse for Tom, as Anne makes it home, but she has been changed, and she feels good. But she does have some new cravings.

Jakob notices that Anne has become aloof, and she has drifted from her dyed-in-the-wool routine, her attitude towards Jakob as well, and he thinks it is down to her meeting with the good-looking Tom until…

Now Jakob has a dilemma on his hands, should he stay or should go…

Jakob’s Wife is a classic throwback to the 1980s’ with a great horror cast doing what they do best, have a blood fest, something to sink your teeth into. Cover the room with plastic to save the curtains and furniture. Brilliant.

 

Jakob’s Wife is available on Blu-ray