ANYTHING FOR JACKSON Review – The Power Of Love & The Power From Hell
Drew Tinnin
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Directed by Justin G. Dyck
Written by Keith Cooper
Starring Sheila McCarthy, Julian Richings, Konstantina Mantelos, Josh Cruddas
With the holiday season upon us and strongly worded pleas not to travel to see family this year, you definitely don’t want to visit the grandparents in Anything For Jackson. They’re the types that love you a little too much, especially if you’re their grandchild. But they won’t just be slopping wet kisses all over your cheeks. They’ll conjure up pure evil and even perform an exorcism just to have a chance to touch your pretty little head one more time.
Recently revisiting director John Dyck’s Canadian horror comedy Anything For Jackson after first catching it during the Nightstream virtual film fest, the themes of attachment and sacrifice struck an even deeper chord. Now on Shudder, you can stay at home with these twisted grandparents and the positively horrifying new members of their occult family. If you’re in need of a hug or an exorcism, Anything For Jackson is here for you this December.
Grandma and Grandpa Walsh (McCarthy and Richings, respectively) are still mourning the loss of their beloved grandson named Jackson (you guessed it!) in a tragic car accident. In an undeniably questionable move, Henry Walsh kidnaps his pregnant patient, ties her to the bed, and begins planning a ritual where Jackson can be born again inside of her baby. Sounds pretty straight forward right? What’s funny is how both Henry and his longtime love go about organizing this dastardly deed in the same way they would plan to prepare a Thanksgiving Day roast.
Understandably, they both get in a little over their heads and start to feel a little sympathetic towards Shannon (Mantelos) – their captive who’s slowly convincing them this kidnapping thing is a bad idea. They need help to stay vigilant. Ian (Cruddas), a self proclaimed master of the dark arts and unapologetic NEET, joins the cause but really doesn’t help matters at all. All the Walsh’s wanted was the ghost of Jackson to return but they’ve unleashed a number of other very pissed off ghosts in the process. These tortured entities – all with their own brand of funhouse flare – are losing patience. They don’t care at all about the forced reverse exorcism the Walsh’s are getting closer to fowling up totally.
Anything For Jackson is the definition of the unintended consequences rule in horror. Done out of love, the Walsh’s only want to sell their soul to the underworld; they never wanted to release other tortured souls out into the wild of the astral plane. The composer for the film, John McCarthy probably summed it up best when he recently spoke to Dread Central:
Strangely the core of the movie to me is ‘loss’ and ‘love’ what we will do to try and right a wrong. Selling one’s soul to get what you want. The main characters Audrey and Henry believe they are doing the right thing and will do whatever wrong things to achieve their goal. The path they take happens to involve the occult and all the supernatural and mystical elements that ensue with that world.
The love they have for Jackson is the catalyst here that also makes for a perfect excuse to show a myriad of different creature effects and camera tricks that open up the Walsh bedroom to the chasm of Hell. The all female special effects makeup team have such sights to show you, especially during the finale that almost seems like it has invaded Anything For Jackson from a completely different, much more radical movie.
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Anything For Jackson
Summary
If you’re in need of a hug or an exorcism, Anything For Jackson is here for you this December.
