Jakob’s Wife
4/5
Written by Luke Barnes
This film really is a testament to what one actor can do for a film. There are many moments, especially early on in the film, before the film allows itself to have fun, whereby the film loses you and starts to drift off into a sea of mediocrity. However, the performance from Barbara Crampton as the titular wife Anne manages to keep this film above water and singlehandedly makes the film what it is.
To get into its stride this film has to divorce itself from the serious, that is the problem of the opening half an hour, the film takes itself far too seriously and tries to pass itself off as a drama- this doesn’t work. Cut to later in the film and Anne is licking blood off the floor, whilst trying to tell her husband it’s not her who is a vampire or evil and all you can do is laugh; this is far more engaging.
In terms of vampire scares this film is a nice mix of modern and classic vampire lore and scares and there are a few scenes between Anne and her master that could have been lifted from Dracula itself. I thought the idea of not having the master be out and out evil, yes they do a lot of evil things but there is also a need on the films part to get us to feel sorry for the character or to see their side, was interesting and it did add an element of moral ambiguity to the film that I think really helped to enhance Crampton’s performance.
Overall, a film made by Barbara Crampton.
Pros.
Crampton
The sympathetic Master character
Merging vampire lore
The comedic moments
Cons.
The first act is painfully slow and takes itself too seriously.
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Another Millennial Reviewer 