Jackals (2017 film)

Last updated
Jackals
Jackals (2017 film).jpg
Film poster
Directed by Kevin Greutert
Written byJared Rivet
Produced byTommy Alastra
Starring
CinematographyAndrew Russo
Edited by
  • John Coniglio
  • Kevin Greutert
Music by Anton Sanko
Production
company
Tommy Alastra Pictures
Distributed by Shout! Factory
Release dates
  • August 11, 2017 (2017-08-11)(Popcorn Frights Film Festival)
  • September 1, 2017 (2017-09-01)(United States)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$85,410 [1]

Jackals is a 2017 American horror thriller film directed and co-edited by Kevin Greutert and produced by Tommy Alastra. [2] The film is written by Jared Rivet and stars Deborah Kara Unger, Ben Sullivan, Chelsea Ricketts, Nick Roux, Jonathan Schaech, and Stephen Dorff. [3]

Contents

Plot

In 1983, deprogrammer Jimmy Levine has been hired by a family to retrieve their estranged son, Justin Powell, from a murderous cult. Levine, along with the boy's father, Andrew Powell, forcibly remove Justin from the cult's clutches during what was staged to look like a kidnapping. The family, consisting of father, Andrew, mother, Kathy, older brother, Campbell, and Justin's former girlfriend, Samantha, along with her and Justin's baby, Zoey, had gathered for an intervention at Andrew’s cabin in the woods. Levine, who has either been in a cult himself or had a family member in a cult, attempts to reach Justin by various confrontational methods with no apparent success as Justin continues to appear brainwashed and insists that his real "family" is coming and will kill them all.

With Justin unmoved by pleas made by his mother and Samantha, frustrations mount as Justin's brother and father clash over the effectiveness of Jimmy's methods and prior family issues resurface, such as why the parents had really separated. While still attempting to deprogram Justin, the family find themselves surrounded by Justin’s cult who silently appear to demand that their captive member be returned to them.

First, “Fox Girl” appears near the cabin and can be seen carving the cult’s symbol into a rock, which prompts Jimmy to confront her. After asking her repeatedly to leave, Jimmy walks into a trap which ties his hands, causing him to drop his gun, and soon after, his stomach slashed while his body is mutilated. A short time later as the family struggles to understand what is happening, more cultists silently appear. Several attempts to kill the family and retrieve Justin follow, with Justin's brother and father defending the family and alternatively arguing as the cultist's attacks increase. They manage to kill or incapacitate those cultists who invade the cabin, while Kathy manages to burn one with scalding oil and wounds another's hands while he was trying to push through the door.

Justin, bound, remains unfazed at his family's struggles and continues to taunt them, insisting that the cultists will not stop until he is set free to return to them. Jimmy is used as bait and a distraction by the cultists—he is rescued by the Powells but dies shortly afterwards from his injuries. During a botched attempt to get help, Justin's brother Campbell is captured. He is tied onto a swing set on the cabin grounds and his hands are set afire, one after the other, by the Lead Cultist. His mother Kathy, horrified, struggles not to go help Campbell, but then in her grief rushes out to meet the cultists, who easily capture her. Samantha, who tried to stop Kathy, then focuses on trying to convince Justin to communicate with the cultists and stop their threatening the family. Andrew rushes out with a pickaxe in an attempt to fight off the cultists and rescue his wife and son when he is outnumbered, outflanked, and stabbed several times until he collapses. Kathy is horrified, then her throat is slit by Fox Girl. Both parents die looking across from one another on the ground in the dirt at the feet of the cultists, and Campbell seems to succumb to his injuries while still tied to the swing set.

Justin seems at last to show some recovery and asks that Samantha trust him and release him; she does with some trepidation. Justin suggests a desperate escape to Samantha while he meets the cultists. Samantha takes her baby and attempts to escape via a back door to the cabin and makes it to a road in the middle of the night. Justin appears to supplicate himself before the Lead Cultist, kneeling and pressing his head to the Leader's hand. Just as help via a vehicle seems possible, the headlights of the vehicle reveal that a cultist is behind Samantha. [4]

Cast

Production

In May 2013, the film was officially announced under the title Sacrilege with Darren Lynn Bousman directing and with Rick Dugdale and Sean E. DeMott attached to produce. [6] Red Sea Media acquired the rights to distribute the film internationally. [7] Bousman would quietly depart the project with Kevin Greutert taking over directing duties and Jared Rivet writing the script. By December 2016, production had wrapped, along with the confirmation of Stephen Dorff joining the cast. [8]

Release and distribution

Jackals was sold at Marché du Film, introduced by Highland Film Group, where Shout! Factory purchased the rights to distribute the film throughout North America. [9] [10] The film has made multiple appearances at horror film festivals, including Fright Fest at Leicester Square in London, and the Popcorn Frights Film Festival in Miami, Florida. [11] [12] [13]

Critical reception

Jackals received mostly negative reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 44%, based on 16 reviews, with an average score of 5.30/10. [14] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 33 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [15]

Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine gave the film 1.5 stars out of 4, writing, "there's a reference to Straw Dogs , but Jackals doesn't have the Sam Peckinpah film's sense of give and take, in which characters on both sides of the moral equator are allowed to surprise us with their ingenuity." [16] Rick Bentley wrote in The Miami Herald, "Jackals can't scare up anything original," adding, "each scene in Jackals echoes similar moments in The Purge, Wrong Turn, House of the Dead, Green Room, and so many other titles. Adding to the horror flashbacks are the masks the cult members wear that look a lot like those worn in You're Next." [17] John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a competent but completely forgettable cult-versus-family flick." [18]

Noel Murray of The Los Angeles Times gave the film a mildly positive review, stating "Greutert’s new horror film Jackals (written by Jared Rivet) feels disappointingly derivative of the movie he worked on a decade ago, but at least he knows how to shape this kind of material into something relatively jolting." [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Dorff</span> American actor

Stephen Hartley Dorff Jr. is an American actor. Starting his film career as a child appearing in the cult horror film The Gate (1987), Dorff first rose to prominence playing Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat (1994) and then gained further mainstream attention for portraying Deacon Frost in Blade (1998). Other notable lead roles include Bob Rafelson's Blood and Wine (1997), the titular character in John Waters' Cecil B. DeMented (2000) and Johnny Marco in Sofia Coppola's Somewhere (2010), as well as Britney Spears’ boyfriend in her 2004 music video for "Everytime".

<i>The Gate</i> (1987 film) 1987 Canadian film by Tibor Takács

The Gate is a 1987 supernatural horror film directed by Tibor Takács and starring Stephen Dorff in his film debut. The film follows two young boys who accidentally release a horde of demons from their backyard through a large hole in the ground.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Holland (filmmaker)</span> American filmmaker (born 1943)

Thomas Lee Holland is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, penning the 1983 sequel to the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho, directing and co-writing the first entry in the long-running Child's Play franchise, and writing and directing the cult vampire film Fright Night. He also directed the Stephen King adaptations The Langoliers and Thinner. He is a two-time Saturn Award recipient. Holland made the jump into children’s literature in 2018 when he co-wrote How to Scare a Monster with fellow writer Dustin Warburton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darren Lynn Bousman</span> American film director and screenwriter

Darren Lynn Bousman is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in horror films. He has directed four of the Saw films: Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, and Spiral. He also directed the horror musicals Repo! The Genetic Opera and The Devil's Carnival movies. Bousman is co-creator and writer of alternate reality games (ARG) and immersive experiences, The Tension Experience (2016), The Lust Experience (2017), Theatre Macabre (2018), iConfidant (2020), and One Day Die (2020).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Lynch (director)</span> American film director (born 1976)

Joe Lynch is an American film and music video director, film producer, cinematographer, and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Greutert</span> American film editor

Kevin Greutert is an American film editor and director, best known for his work on the Saw film series, as well as character-based supernatural horrors. He is married to actress Elizabeth Rowin.

<i>Saw VI</i> 2009 film by Kevin Greutert

Saw VI is a 2009 horror film directed by Kevin Greutert and written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. The film stars Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Mark Rolston, Peter Outerbridge, and Shawnee Smith. It is a sequel to 2008's Saw V and the sixth installment in the Saw film series.

<i>Kill List</i> 2011 film directed by Ben Wheatley

Kill List is a 2011 British psychological horror film directed by Ben Wheatley, co-written and co-edited with Amy Jump, and starring Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring and Michael Smiley. In the film, a British soldier joins an old friend in working as contract killers. His disturbed past surfaces as he spins out of control during jobs and ominous employers raise the stakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maika Monroe</span> American actress and kiteboarder (born 1993)

Maika Monroe is an American actress and kiteboarder. She made her film debut in the drama At Any Price (2012). Her breakthrough came with the cult horror film It Follows (2014), which established her as a scream queen. Monroe has since starred in the thriller film The Guest (2014), the sci-fi thriller film Tau (2018), the psychological thriller films Greta (2018) and Watcher (2022), and the horror films Significant Other (2022) and Longlegs (2024).

<i>Leatherface</i> (2017 film) 2017 American horror film

Leatherface is a 2017 American horror film directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, written by Seth M. Sherwood, and starring Stephen Dorff, Vanessa Grasse, Sam Strike, and Lili Taylor. It is the eighth installment in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM) franchise, and works as a prequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013), explaining the origin of the series' lead character.

<i>Last Shift</i> 2014 film by Anthony DiBlasi

Last Shift is a 2014 American psychological horror film directed by Anthony DiBlasi. It was written by DiBlasi and Scott Poiley, both of whom produced along with Mary Poiley. Juliana Harkavy stars as a rookie police officer who is tasked with taking the last shift at a police station before it is permanently closed. Strange events lead her to believe that it may be haunted.

<i>Abattoir</i> (film) 2016 American film

Abattoir is a 2016 American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and starring Dayton Callie, Jessica Lowndes, Joe Anderson, Lin Shaye, and Jay Huguley. It was written by Christopher Monfette. It premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 7, 2016.

<i>Cult of Chucky</i> 2017 American supernatural horror film

Cult of Chucky is a 2017 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Don Mancini. The seventh installment of the Child's Play franchise, following the 2013 film Curse of Chucky, it stars Fiona Dourif, Michael Therriault, Adam Hurtig, Alex Vincent, Elisabeth Rosen, Grace Lynn Kung, Marina Stephenson Kerr, Zak Santiago, Ali Tataryn, Jennifer Tilly, Christine Elise, and Brad Dourif. Cult of Chucky began production in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in January 2017 and premiered at the London FrightFest Film Festival on August 24 the same year. As with the previous film, it was released direct-to-video by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment via Blu-ray, DVD and VOD on October 3.

<i>Stake Land II</i> 2016 film directed by Dan Berk & Robert Olsen

Stake Land II is a 2016 American vampire horror film directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen and starring Nick Damici, who wrote the script. It is a sequel to Stake Land (2010).

Black Christmas is a Canadian-American horror film series that comprises three standalone slasher films, as well as a novelization. The original film has gained a large cult following and is credited as being one of the first slasher films, inspiring many others, including the critically acclaimed hit Halloween (1978). The series centers around a serial killer that stalks and murders a group of sorority sisters. The 1974 film follows the character of Jess Bradford as she and her sorority sisters begin receiving threatening phone calls from an unknown stalker. The 2006 film explores the background and motivation for the killer and his family. The 2019 film completely abandons the first two films' killer storyline, instead focusing on a new set of characters and killers.

<i>Son</i> (2021 film) 2021 Irish-American horror thriller film

Son is a 2021 Irish-American horror thriller film written and directed by Ivan Kavanagh. It stars Emile Hirsch, Andi Matichak and Luke David Blumm. The film follows the story of an ex cult escapee who is trying to save her son from the cult's attempts to harm him whilst dealing with the realization that something sinister might have already invaded her son.

Maggie Castle is a Canadian actress best known for her role as Jenny Kolinsky in cult horror comedy series Todd and the Book of Pure Evil. She was also the little girl, Amy Kramer, that battles the evil ventriloquist's dummy Slappy in the Goosebumps television series and voiced Molly MacDonald in the animated series Arthur. She's appeared in various other series such as Vampire High, The Grid and Beach Girls. Film roles include Weirdsville, Hank and Mike, The Time Traveler's Wife and Tumbledown.

References

  1. ↑ "Jackals (2017)". Box Office Mojo . Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Stephen Dorff Joins Cult Thriller 'Jackals'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  3. ↑ "Stephen Dorff Fighting Off 'Jackals' in '80s-set Cult Thriller - Bloody Disgusting". bloody-disgusting.com. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  4. ↑ Busch, Anita (2017-01-04). "Elijah Rodriguez Joins 'Soldado'; Tommy Alastra Prods' 'Jackals' Wraps; XLrator Catches 'Drifter' – Film Briefs". Deadline. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  5. ↑ "That's a Wrap on Jackals! - Dread Central". Dread Central. 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  6. ↑ Miska, Brad (May 13, 2013). "Darren Lynn Bousman Takes Sacrilege To Cannes". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  7. ↑ Tartagilone, Nancy (May 13, 2013). "Cannes Briefs: Red Sea Media Picks Up 2; UMedia & Amazing Mr Jones; Ealing Metro Re-Brands; Lionsgate UK's Buying Spree; Weinstein Co. Presents Short Film Series". Deadline. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  8. ↑ Lee, Ashley (December 13, 2016). "Stephen Dorff Joins Cult Thriller 'Jackals'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Highland boards 'Jackals' with Stephen Dorff, Kara Unger". Screen. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  10. ↑ "Shout! Factory Nabs '80s-set Cult Thriller 'Jackals' - Bloody Disgusting". bloody-disgusting.com. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  11. ↑ "SACRIFICES MUST BE MADE... Horror Channel FrightFest 2017 reveals guest-list, kick-ass trailer and JACKALS joins the Pack | The Fan Carpet". thefancarpet.com. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  12. ↑ Hughes, Kat (2017-07-28). "Frightfest Guest Line-up and Surprise Film Announced". The Hollywood News. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  13. ↑ "Your worst nightmare? This horror film festival's full lineup". Miami.com. 2017-06-29. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  14. ↑ "Jackals". Rotten Tomatoes . Flixster . Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Jackals". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  16. ↑ Bowen, Chuck (August 27, 2017). "Jackals". Slant Magazine . Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  17. ↑ http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies-news-reviews/article169910377.html%5B%5D
  18. ↑ DeFore, John (August 31, 2017). "'Jackals': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  19. ↑ "'Jackals' may be derivative, but it still provides frights". Los Angeles Times. 2017-08-31. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved 2017-11-02.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.