20140202: Horror Review--Jack the Reaper

Jack the Reaper

1. Production Fundamentals; Reception
1. American live action feature length film, 2011, rated R, 86 minutes, horror.
2. IMDB: 3.5/10.0 from 486 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' 22% liked it from 55 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.0/5.0 from 30,892 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by Kimberley Seilhamer.
6. Starring:  Douglas Tait as Railroad Jack, Sally Kirkland as Harold's Nana, Tony Todd as Mr. Steele, Alexandra Holder as Jesse, Jay Gillespie as Shawn Hickey, Chris Bruno as Paramedic Vasquez, Isobel Cueva as Paramedic Duyenen, Shanti Rule as Heather, Richard Chery as Andre, David Lee Walton as Jesse's Dad, Andrew Olsen as Brian (aka Casper).


2. Setup, Plot
1. 'Charon High School:' now there is a great start, Charon being the oarsman on the boat that crosses the rivers Styx and Acheron separating the living world from the underworld.  The film is a murder elimination derby, so nice telegraphing.


2. Twenty-something actors playing teen characters in high school gather for a field trip.  Heather is pregnant by a not ready for fatherhood boy.  Jesse's being treated badly by her father.  Various bullying pairs are present.  One of the girls is deaf.


3. All the idiots on the bus have not completed a paper about the Industrial Revolution for one of their classes.  The teacher makes everything clear: do the field trip without nonsense, then pass the class.  Otherwise, fail.


4. Mr. Steele gives the first lecture at a location filled with memorabilia from the 19th century part of the Industrial Revolution.  He emphasizes the dangers of the iron horse.


5. One of the kids sees a figure by the road on the way there.  Mr. Steele later identifies him as Railroad Jack, who is a reaper of sorts.  If one has seen him, then he has eyes on you, and so on.


6. On the way back, the trouble starts.  The bus crashes.  The f word is issued liberally.  The cell phone coverage fails.  The teacher is gone.  The bus driver is gone.


7. Then the kids see the 'carnival.'  Sure.  The kid who warns about the man she kept seeing on the way is laughed down.  They find no one, they find no telephone that works. Are these clues?  They get a number of the attractions to operate, and have fun for a while, but then the fun ends.


8. Will any of these deserving teens survive?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Teen murder elimination derby; better than some, worse than most.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 4/10 Camera shake, washed out appearance.  Seems to be only VHS quality in sunlight as well.


2. Sound: 7/10 I could make out the spoken words. The incidental music was not the best.


3. Acting: 4/10 All the actors portraying teens gave poor performances.  Why not hire absolute amateurs of the correct age and get better performances?  Tony Todd was great as usual; that's what the +4 is for.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 Teen murder elimination derby; better than some, worse than most.


5. SFX: 0/10 Horrible.