Jack Goes Home (2016)

This film tells the story of a young man who receives a phone call to inform him that his father died in a car accident, when his mother was at the wheels. He goes home, discovers strange happenings at present concerning his mother and the house. To compound with the grief, he discovers evidence of his secret traumatic past that he has no memory about."Jack Goes Home" may sound interesting on paper, but I think it does not work for me. I think that the film cannot decide whether it is a drama or a horror story. There are many things that are touched on briefly but not explored, such as Jack sleepwalking or windows in the lounge breaking. It show a collage of scenes that basically tells how weird the mother and Jack both are. It is not scary, it is just a freak show of two weirdos who are weird in their own ways, with hardly any connection with each other. Actually, the characters all seem to be drowning in their own world, and have poor connection with each other. Even the neighbour Duncan, who tries to seduce Jack, has a poor connection with Jack because Jack looks like he is in another world. I find "Jack Goes Home" quite a disappointment.

The downward spiral into madness Jack Goes Home tries to imbue falls short. What's left is a disjointed film wondering what it wants to be.While I do agree we get to see a different side of Lin Shaye from what we see in the Insidious chapters, I felt her performance to be over the top and wrought with cliché moments à la Mommie Dearest. Rory Culkin gets everything thrown at him including the kitchen sink, yet never deviates from the mouth agape, detached look expression he sports throughout the film. His acting skills are far superior to what we see play out during the movie.Natasha Lyonne makes a cameo appearance at a receptionist desk. It makes you wonder if she said her four lines as a favor to Dekker. Fortunately for Lyonne, she can make a desk look good. It's unfortunate for us that we only get a glimpse of her.On a positive note, there were a few creepy scenes any horror fan would enjoy. And it was also a beautifully shot film. There was enough glimmer of hope buried within Jack Goes Home to make me interested in Thomas Dekker's next move as a director and film writer.

I enjoyed this one, because in my honest opinion, it had a lot to offer. From the great acting, to the dialogue, the effects, the plot, the confusion, everything falls quite lovely in place and the puzzle reveals itself little by little. I had fun here, I kept asking myself questions, I was waiting to see more, started to suspect on and the other.It is a beautiful psychological drama, with some horror elements to spark the atmosphere, and pretty much no dull moments. So if you are a fan of the oldies and crazies like Identity, The Pact, Session 9, this one will fit the list just fine. Some will consider it better, some perhaps not so much, but you will find a lot of familiar traces here. Jack Goes Home is indeed a little gem of a movie, that should be recommended and watched by more people because it surely delivers on so many levels. Of course, bare in mind, I did say, little movie. I won't place it up there, with your big budget productions. Cheers!

While "Jack Goes Home" may be the first major directorial debut of actor/composer Thomas Dekker, it reads light years from any 'novice' effort on his behalf. The script itself, also written by Dekker, is a harrowing tale of a young magazine editor who finds out that his beloved father has died in a car accident back in his hometown and he must return to set his affairs in order. Along the way, accompanied by his jaded and nihilistic best friend (Daveigh Chase), he begins to unravel some very unsettling family secrets and long-buried skeletons in the old homestead. It's hard to describe the film or give an accurate synopsis because the twists and turns unfold slowly and with such intensity that it would be a crime to deprive the readers of their own journey. Rory Culkin is absolutely magnetic as Jack and it is impossible to look away from him on screen. He is matched by veteran actress Lin Shaye, who takes a sharp divergence from her recent 'Insidious' roles to play Jack's unstable, emotionally- manipulative and completely jaw-dropping inappropriate mother. The supporting performances by Daveigh Chase and Louis Hunter are equally charismatic and effective; Hunter plays the depraved boy-next-door neighbor. With brief roles from Britt Roberson as Jack's fiancée and Nikki Reed as Chase's girlfriend, the cast stays small and intimate, adding to the claustrophobic and smothering emotional tone of the film. The film is shot beautifully, with stunning visuals. And it has several creepy and startling moments, as well as a few genuinely unsettling scares. Most of the horror, however, isn't of the breed one finds in a traditional scary movie. Instead, the horror of "Jack" comes from within; it's in the nightmarish unraveling of a family unit, the internal and external pressures that are putting cracks in Jack's sanity as the film progresses, and the reveals that challenge everything Jack once held dear. The movie is a deeply personal vehicle for Dekker, who suffered childhood abuse as well as lost his beloved father a few years ago, so the moments of emotional truth in the film ring clear as a bell and honest in what could easily be lost to pretense or false sympathies. One can feel the pain of Dekker's loss channeled so beautifully through Culkin and can't look away, a slow-motion autopsy of a grieving soul. All in all, a strong narrative film with bold, unconventional choices and unrelentingly powerful performances from its small indie cast. Highly recommended to those who like psychological drama and horror films that aren't afraid to show their heart instead of gratuitous gore and jump scares.