Macabre…ish Horror Review: The Jack in the Box: Awakening
The Jack in the Box: Awakening, 2022/ 1 hr 33 min
The oldest and original Jack in the Box is presented to a dying wealthy woman, Olga (Nicola Wright). She is dying of osteosarcoma, bone cancer. The box was last at the scene of a mass murder but since Olga has such deep pockets, it is now hers.
Olga rises from her bed and sets the dial to LIFE then winds the box. The man who brought the box, Isaac Huxley (Victor Mellors), returning to the house for his keys, encounters the demon (James Swanton) and the box marks the first kill as his corpse is dragged inside.
The next day, Amy (Mollie Hindle), is dropped off at Rosewood Manor by chauffeur (Ben Walters) and welcomed by Olga’s son, Edgar Marsdale (Matt McClure), she’s been hired as a live in housekeeper. The rules are strict and curfew’s at nine pm. Amy meets the other housekeeper, Janet (Michaela Longden) and the chef, Frank (Jason Farries), who inform her that not only is there no house phone and no computer but the cell signal is impossible to get too.
When Edgar returns to his mother’s room as sees the bloody rug, she confesses what the box actually contains and her plan to use the servants and guests, to get her wish.
Later, when Frank and Janet sneak out, they can hear the music box play, a spooked Janet leaves, then Frank is locked inside and it’s not long before he is victim number two. And with each victim, Olga gets stronger.
Edgar visits his girlfriend, Stacey (Erina Mashate), to confess but the conversation is derailed by honesty and then betrayal. Then Edgar makes up his mind that she and one of his friends will become victims of the jack in the box.
Olga tries to console Edgar who is struggling with the deaths, she shares with him the story of the box and how she came to know about it.
Olga found the diary of the box’s creator (Melvyn Rawlinson). He dedicated his life to the study of demons. The box was created to contain the most powerful demon he’s ever encountered, the Jackestemara. The demon of torment. Olga, believes that she and her son are the only two people alive who knows the box’s true purpose, which is to grant a single wish. The cost is only six lives, six victims. Olga unleashed the demon and her wish was life.
Why does the demon need to kill? Well it needs the strength and life force of it’s victims to maintain it’s hold over it’s human host, Didier Dubois. Dubois was a clown from the Victorian era who claims he heard voices that got louder as time went on. They wanted him to kill his own family. It was the demon who took over his body like cancer. Didier tried to exorcise the demon but it was too late. So Didier commissioned the box maker to seal him in the box in order forever, to save his family and everyone else.
But the creator later breaks his promise to Didier and releases the demon. His wish was for a son. And so the demon claimed his six victims and the box maker was rewarded with a child.
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When Stacey arrives at the house, Edgar immediately restrains her and ties her to a chair, in the barn with the box. After confronting her, he leaves her to her fate. The demon starts with her eyes…
Later, Edgar eaves drops and hears Janet talking about him to Amy. About how once, he was drunk and confessed to killing his dad, who he saw assaulting his mother. Edgar was only 12 at the time. And he said his mother framed someone else to cover for him.
And just like that, Edgar knows who’s up next. He has a plan to drug them. But Amy happens to see the Jackestamara lurking the manor hallways and she escaped but now wants to leave. She is offered a week off instead and he calls a doctor friend, Clarke (Nicolas Anscombe). But all is not what it seems and when he won’t do what Edgar wants, he ends up locked inside the barn.
That was a big mistake because people will come looking for him. Edgar locks down the manor, no one in or out. Janet and Amy are still there and Jackestamara, only requires two more victims.
This story will not end the way the Marsdales expect it too.
This movie is third in The Jack in the Box trio by Lawrence Fowler. It is paced well and while there’s a lot of violence and some blood and gore, I would not call this bloody or gory, it is pretty tame. Good physical effects and story telling. If you like Clown, you might like this.