Jakob's Wife

Released Apr 16, 2021

1h 38m

Horror

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List

85%

93 Reviews

Tomatometer

60%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Anne is married to a small-town minister and feels like her life and marriage have been shrinking over the past 30 years. After a chance encounter with "The Master," she discovers a new sense of power and an appetite to live bigger and bolder than before. As Anne is increasingly torn between her enticing new existence and her life before, the body count grows and Jakob realizes he will have to fight for the wife he took for granted.

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Critics Consensus

Jakob's Wife gives genre legend Barbara Crampton an opportunity to carry an old-school horror story -- and she bloody well delivers.

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Allan C

Mild-mannered minister's wife Barbara Crampton (RE-ANIMATOR, CHOPPING MALL) gets bitten by a vampire and all sorts of horrors and dark comedy ensure. What this film does well is it finds a new take on the oft-told vampire tale. The story of Crampton getting bit and slowly turning into a vampire stands in for a story about infidelity and mid-life crisis (she was about to make out with an old boyfriend when she got bit). Crampton finds a new zest for life as a vampire but comes to realize it's at the expense of her 30-year marriage. When she and her husband argue about how she's ashamed of what happened but likes who she is now and how she has changed works perfectly in parallel as if they were discussing her cheating and not wanting to go back to the way things were before. Will she choose a new life with The Master or will she and her husband work together to overcome what happened between her and the vampire? On a pure horror level, I loved the design of the vampire, which reminded me of the rat-like vampire of the 1970s TV mini-series version of Stephen King's SALEM'S LOT (and naming the locale "Kinski County" was a nice nod to NOSFERATU THE VAMIRE (1979). The movie also delivers plenty of fun practical gory special effects. And music by composer Tara Busch is fantastic, and this is her first film credit. Released by Shudder, they are really on a roll for making consistently smart, low-budget horror films. They're like the scrappy underdog version of Blumhouse. JAKOB'S WIFE is not going to be for all tastes, but it is a lot of fun for fans of off-beat horror.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/31/23

Full Review

Jeffrey P

A solid and competent little vampire flick that doesn't suck and won't bore you to death.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/11/23

Full Review

Joey A

This one is a trip. Watched it late night and had fun with it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/02/23

Full Review

Hugo S

A minister's submissive wife finds a different kind of power after being bitten by a vampire. "Jacob's Wife" is a dark comedy with an interesting perspective on traditional marriage and gender roles. A bite unveils the ugly truth in the couple's tedious relationship. Female liberation never felt so bloody good!

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/07/23

Full Review

Vito P

A probably insoluble family quarrel is ignited when Anne finds new enthusiasm to live for her needs. "Jakob's Wife" is a very classic trash horror, never coherent, with a humour that is not well integrated and a completely inconsistent narrative.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/02/24

Full Review

Peter W

Overall, I certainly had a good time with this film. I knew very little going in but soon found myself being either shocked or surprised at multiple moments. This horror film delivers on the level of being crazy and wacky along with some nice added mysteries. The performance of leading actress Barbara Crampton was awesome. I loved seeing how energetic and enjoyable she was as she changes and transforms into an unknown monster. Jakob's Wife is fun, random, and loaded with generous amounts of grossness and horror bound to please many movie lovers worldwide.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/10/23

Full Review

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Travis Stevens

Director

Barbara Crampton

Anne Fedder

Larry Fessenden

Pastor Jakob Fedder

Bonnie Aarons

The Master

Nyisha Bell

Amelia Humphries

Mark Kelly

Bob Fedder

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Jakob's Wife: Trailer 1

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Leslie Felperin

Guardian

The film could have been a bit more audacious about tweaking Christian pieties, but you can't have everything.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 18, 2021

Full Review

Tim Cogshell

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

The wackier things get, the more droll [Jay DeVon Johnson] becomes, and he is really, really funny. Once I started rolling with his take on what's going on, the film got a little funny for me.

Apr 21, 2021

Full Review

Chris Stuckmann

ChrisStuckmann.com

There was actually a surprising amount of substance and depth to the characters, although the tonal shifts didn't always work.

Rated: B-

Apr 19, 2021

Full Review

Jessica Scott

We Who Walk Here

It takes the film a while to find its footing, but — due in large part to Crampton’s performance — Jakob’s Wife sticks the landing and gives horror fans a bloody feminist horror story with bite.

Dec 22, 2022

Full Review

Danilo Castro

Next Best Picture

All in all, Jakob's Wife was a disappointment. The premise and the central performance were there, but the script and the inexplicably campy touches keep this thing from realizing its full potential.

Rated: 4/10

May 17, 2022

Full Review

Witney Seibold

Critically Acclaimed Podcast

Two horror legends, Crampton and Fessenden, bring gigantic amounts of gravitas.

Sep 14, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

Anne is married to a small-town minister and feels like her life and marriage have been shrinking over the past 30 years. After a chance encounter with "The Master," she discovers a new sense of power and an appetite to live bigger and bolder than before. As Anne is increasingly torn between her enticing new existence and her life before, the body count grows and Jakob realizes he will have to fight for the wife he took for granted.

Director: Travis Stevens
Producer: Nina Kolokouri, Rick Moore, James Norrie
Screenwriter: Kathy Charles, Mark Steensland, Travis Stevens
Distributor: RLJE Films
Production Co: AMP International, Eyevox
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 16, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2021
Box Office (Gross USA): $27.6K
Runtime: 1h 38m

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