The Midnight Horror: 'The Jack in the Box' (2019)

♰ Welcome to The Midnight Horror! ♰

Alright! Alight! I humbly apologize for my tardiness with today’s post. It appears the dreaded flu bug has taken up residence in my life, and I’m trying to soldier on, albeit at a tortoise-like pace when it comes to writing. So, bear with me as I wrestle with this pesky illness and the relentless high ragweed count that's making it hard to concentrate. But enough about my woes—let's delve into this week’s Midnight Horror pick: The Jack in the Box.

Picture this: a dusty, vintage jack-in-the-box, unearthed from the depths of some forgotten attic, finds its way to a quaint yet eerie museum nestled in the heart of the woods. But the moment staff member Casey Reynolds lays eyes on the creepy clown doll lurking within, he starts to suspect that this seemingly innocent toy is far more sinister than it appears. One by one, his colleagues meet their untimely, bizarre ends, and Casey races against time to unravel the dark mystery of the box. Will he outsmart the malevolent spirit that seems to be pulling the strings, or will he too become just another victim of this cursed contraption?

When it comes to British horror, I often find myself drifting back to the golden age of Hammer Horror and other classic flicks of the 1960s and 70s. Sadly, a lot of the modern offerings seem to be pale imitations of their American counterparts. In The Jack in the Box, I could almost hear the whispers of inspiration taken from Stephen King’s IT, the gore-fest Terrifier—which I still need to check off my list—and even a sprinkle of the Conjuring universe. There’s nothing inherently wrong with taking cues from previous classics, but here it feels more like a copy-and-paste job than a fresh interpretation.

Regrettably, what should have been a thrilling horror flick often resorts to the dull and mundane, resembling more of a lackluster British police procedural than a spine-tingling terror fest. The narrative drags at a snail's pace. And the leads? Well, let’s just say they didn’t exactly make me root for their survival. On a brighter note, the puppet design and Jack’s makeup effects were delightfully unsettling—there were moments when I felt a shiver run down my spine. Yet, despite a few splashes of blood here and there, the kill scenes were disappointingly tame. Hint for horror aficionados: we want memorable, jaw-dropping kills!

In all, I’m left scratching my head, wondering how The Jack in the Box garnered enough of a following to inspire not one, but two sequels. about watching them myself—perhaps one lonely night.

In summary, while The Jack in the Box is an average horror watch, it doesn’t quite achieve the excitement it aims for. Nothing truly dreadful, but also nothing that'll keep you awake at night. ╌★★✰✰✰

〜B.J. Burgess