Rent The Jack in the Box (2020)

Average horror with some good scares ... - The Jack in the Box review by NP

Before watching this, I broke the cardinal rule and read a bunch of online reviews that generally labelled Lawrence Fowler’s project as ‘watchable but hardly outstanding or scary’. On the whole, I’d agree, although I did find the depiction of the titular character was pretty unnerving at times.

There have been several ‘demon in a box’ movies released in recent years, where the protagonists are at pains to destroy the villain before it completes some killing cycle or other, usually in an unspecified period of time until it hibernates for a while before beginning the pattern over again.

The acting is decent and keeps the viewer engaged. Ethan Taylor plays Casey, swapping his native UK accent for something approaching Canadian; Lucy-Jane Quinlan, allowed to keep her native British accent, is Lisa. Both are young museum curators and have the misfortune to stumble across a malevolent-looking doll that has a touch of Pennywise about him. Go on, you know the drill – ‘and then, bad things start happening.’

But don’t be put off by the familiar premise. This is a good ride, and occasionally ascends to the depths of real chills. My score is 7 out of 10.