Sometimes when I think about my movie reviews in terms of all of the different specifics I want to discuss, sometimes I have a general feeling that I want to convey, and sometimes I spend a lot of time simply figuring out where I land with my final rating, and retro-actively working out why I came to that result. Anything For Jackson is a film that I rate 9/10, because the more I thought about it, the less I could find to criticise.
Audrey (Sheila McCarthy) and Henry Walsh (Julian Richings) are a pair of grandparents who are still mourning the loss of their grandson, Jackson. They've also been investigating rituals that may allow him to come back, which is how they end up with the pregnant Shannon (Konstantina Mantelos) held captive in their home. They want to use her unborn child as a vessel for the spirit of their grandson, bringing him back from the world of the dead, but they don't realise that creating such a vessel ends up bringing forth more than just the invited spirit. Lots of souls see their chance to get back into our world.
Director Justin G. Dyck has a filmography that doesn't really make you think he would be a natural when it comes to delivering effective horror. It's full of TV movies, mostly Christmas TV movies (which everyone knows are my favourite kind of TV movies). Sadly, the last thing I reviewed from him was, I believe, 48 Christmas Wishes (a film that has him as a co-director). Writer Keith Cooper has a similar filmography, and the two have worked together often over the past few years. It just goes to remind you not to judge anyone by their last movie, even though we continue to judge people based simply on their last movie.
Showing a real knack for creating startling imagery and genuinely unnerving moments, without feeling like people who have taken all their notes from the movies that make up "the Waniverse", Dyck and Cooper deliver something impressively intense and nerve-shredding. Although it's not laced with humour, there is something inherently darkly comedic about this plan being hatched, and executed, by a couple of kindly-looking elderly people, and that's enough to save things from being unrelentingly bleak throughout.
McCarthy and Richings are absolutely wonderful in their roles, sweet and sad, and yet staying firm in their resolve to see through their nefarious plan, even when things start to unravel and take some unexpected turns. Mantelos has to look trapped and scared, and she does so. Josh Cruddas has a unique presence, playing the character who knows more about the ancient ritual being conducted than either of the parties who actually started the ball rolling, and Lanette Ware is a detective looking for the missing Shannon. A few other people have some impressive moments, including Yannick Bisson (a handyman who offers to keep clearing snow from the driveway), Marianne Sawchuck (a "flossing ghost"), and Troy James (absolutely terrifying as a spirit credited as "Suffocating Ghost").
Set within a reality that feels grounded, and with believable character motivation, Anything For Jackson is a wild ride, a ghost train that becomes more and more intense as viewers are dragged through a brilliant third act, and I can think of very little wrong with it. It's almost perfect, hence the high rating I settled on before I started detailing my thoughts.
9/10
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