Led by terrific turns from Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings, and featuring some of the scariest scenes of the year, Anything for Jackson explores the dark paths taken during a time of grief in this tale of Satan gone amok in the suburbs.
It only took a few decades for the image of the “Satanist” to transform from virgin sacrifices to troll activists. Anything for Jackson superbly brings the scary back in Satan through a story that centres on a relatable emotion: grief. It is a film that not only will scare the bejesus out of its audience, but also digs deep and hits hard in its story of death, ritual, resurrection, and mankind’s continuously foolish attempts to deal with the Devil for powers beyond their realm.
Anything for Jackson stars Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings as Audrey and Henry Walsh, an older couple whose civilised veneer covers a life of servitude to the Dark Lord. When their toddler grandson Jackson is killed in a car accident, the grieving grandparents turn to black magic and conjure a demon to bring back their beloved Jackson through an “anti-exorcism”, in which heavily pregnant Shannon (Konstantina Mantelos) is the unlucky conduit.
For director Justin G. Dyck and screenwriter Keith Cooper, Anything for Jackson marks a clear artistic departure, with the prolific duo often collaborating on tacky Christmas fair of the Hallmark variety. Despite this virgin territory, Dyck and Cooper deliver the horror goods better than most filmmakers who plague our screens with their drivel.
Intriguing in its premise and astounding in its execution, Anything for Jackson also boasts some of the best scares of the year, with a carnival of creepy, scary creatures haunting the screen to teeth chattering, pants soiling, goosebump inducing results. Random acts of blood squelching violence hit their mark on every occurrence, and the depiction of satanic ritual convincingly conveys the sinister supernatural forces at play in this anti-Christmas tale in which Old Scratch brings tidings of pain, suffering, and death.
As Audrey and Henry, Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings do a phenomenal job in portraying the heartbreak of grieving grandparents and the arrogant naivety in believing they can turn the hand of fate and bring their grandson back. Konstantina Mantelos plays the part of desperate victim with the right amount of empathy, and Josh Cruddas is fantastic as Ian, a fanatical Satanist whose introverted demeanour hides bigger, sinister ambitions.
A horror film teetering to the brim with terror, yet with a strong emotive core to its horrific heart, Anything for Jackson boasts a new force in horror filmmaking in the form of Dyck and Cooper. Let’s hope they ditch the tinsel for terror on a permanent basis.
