Gabriel S
Director Kevin Greutert has extensive experience editing genre films, his biggest job to date the editing of the billion-dollar franchise Saw, where he even got the chance directing the formulaic entries 6 and 7. 4 years later, he released the haunted-house horror film Jessabelle.
In this film, Sarah Snook does an average to mediocre job playing Jessabelle, a young woman that has to return to her old childhood house after a car accident leaves her paralyzed legs down. In dealing with a terrible father, she soon notices weird things in the house, and a terrible spirit tormenting her, while also finding hidden secrets from her mother's death.
The film has two plotlines: a mystery about Jessabelle's mother's death, and a tormented spirit causing havoc on Jessabelle. The hook gripping us has to do with how these lines interconnect in the end. And, fair point, for the most part, Jessabelle holds together with its spooky scenes and the story, although simple, is entertaining; like the plotlines, there are two main problems.
The first one is Sarah Snook and Jessabelle altogether. I don't know, man, but her acting was just not there for this film. She seems like she is trying hard to be sexy for no particular reason, always with that damn pout on her lips, it just feels so off. Sarah might have been trying something out of some shady directional guidance to look like a “naive young girl with childhood traumas”, but who knows. Then there is the character Jessabelle itself, a girl that lost a lot of stuff out of the blue, but she just shrugs it off on the premise that she has some videotapes of her late mother. This dismissal of harsh events on a woman's life is just something a man would play out, and badly for that matter.
The second problem is the ending. Well, not what happens in the ending, but just that the movie just ends, no denouement, no “what happens after resolution”, nothing. You get the final reveal, a quick last scene happens, and the movie ends on a weird, almost satirical tone. Out of tune with the horror-driven atmosphere the film had up until this point.
Past these detractors, Jessabelle is alright. It is chilling, like most haunted house features that play serious are, and the story is clever, but I guess Kevin Greutert was still too hooked up on Saw to try his own thing.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/24/25
Full Review
Nikki J
Nah, this isn't it! Blumhouse do better! Skeleton Key plot sadly makes way more sense than this.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
08/19/24
Full Review
Abigail C
Jessabelle is actually a really good classical horror movie, with ghosts and vudú. I actually liked the movie, it might frustrate a great load of people because Jessabelle didn't actually deserve to be killed, but they don't understand that that's actually how the carachters in the movie work, they're participants of this ritual and they don't think they're doing anything wrong, the carachter Preston confirms that when he's driving with Jessie to the house. The mom carachter thinks what she did is right disregarding anyone's opinion, the ending may piss off many but at the end it's a good movie and it keeps you hooked till the end.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
05/06/24
Full Review
Mizzo D
killer movie! i felt like it should've been longer
the vhs tape past to present was just awesome, i was drawn in the whole movie
would watch again for sure, 7.5/10
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
04/27/24
Full Review
Elvis D
Nuevamente, Blumhouse presenta otra historia de fantasmas que si bien no es del todo original, logra captar algo de atención. En el caso de Jessabelle, tenemos una historia de fantasmas simple y el argumento de la película tiene un gran parecido con The Skeleton Key. Nuestra querida protagonista Jessabelle es alguien que inocentemente regresa a la casa de sus padres sin saber que le espera algo relacionado con la verdad sobre su nombre. La protagonista es un personaje con la que se puede empatizar muy fácilmente de principio a fin. La película incluso viene con un giro argumental bastante sorprendente que le da una cierta renovación a esta historia sobre espíritus y vudú. El guion es bastante bueno y mantiene la atención del espectador hasta descubrir porque sucede al final. Jessabelle es al final una muy buena película y otro de los proyectos interesantes que Blumhouse ha producido. Mi calificación final para esta película es un 9/10.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
08/02/23
Full Review
Nick S
Oh no! I'm so so scared! The same predictable ending of every voodoo movie ever!? I'll never be the same again!
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
07/13/23
Full Review
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