Jakob’s
Wife
2021
Director- Travis Stevens
Cast- Barbara Crampton, Larry Fessenden, Bonnie Aarons, Jay
DeVon Johnson, Nyisha Bell, Sarah Lind, Mark Kelly, Robert Rusler, CM Punk
Anne
(Barbara Crampton) is the quiet wife of a small town minister, Jakob (Larry
Fessenden). She is a dutiful spouse and
over the years her desires, maybe even her very personality, have been sublimated
into her identity as Jakob’s wife. However, this is all about to change.
A
nosferatu has staked out the town and attacks Anne. Rather than draining her
dry and turning her into one of its servants, it starts to convert her, slowly
summoning up desires that have long been repressed.
Anne
starts to rebel against her identity as the minister’s wife. She becomes more
sexual and more independent. Unfortunately she also starts to develop a craving
for blood.
Jakob
notices the changes and incorrectly diagnoses the problem as marital infidelity.
While attempting to ferret out her partner, Jakob discovers the vampire.
However, he is a bit late as his wife has now made her first kill. Jakob and
Anne’s relationship takes an understandably rocky turn as he tries to hide his
wife’s transformation while simultaneously passing a fair amount of judgement on
Anne for what has happened. They join forces to destroy the nosferatu but it’s
never clear if Anne’s heart is really in it, especially once the vampire begins
to reveal itself to Anne and Jakob.
The film has a little trouble deciding on its tone. It’s mostly a pretty serious horror movie but the middle third tries a stab at humor that belies the film’s otherwise serious approach to some thoughtful subject matter. The film doesn’t seem sure if it’s horror or horror-comedy. It also sticks its toe into some rather weighty issues (the role of the wife in a marriage, sin attached to female sexuality, the right to self-determination) but doesn’t clearly come down on one side or the other of these issues. I suppose that’s good if you want to leave politics out of horror, but I was hoping the film would take a position if for no other reason than to understand the director’s intent.
Despite
these drawbacks it’s an overall well put together film. Its strengths lie in
its originality and the performances of the actors.
Though female
vampires are pretty common, hideous female nosferatu are not. The only other
film that comes to mind with a really ugly female bloodsucker is Blood of
Dracula (1957). Bonnie Aarons (The Nun) makes for an interesting looking
vampire. She has such a distinctive face even before the makeup is applied,
kind of like Boris Karloff. The prosthetics only have to accentuate what’s
already there. I wish she would fully embrace the role of a scream queen because
she could be a kind of 21st century Karloff, bringing to life all
kinds of monsters.
But I imagine, for most horror fans, the biggest reason to watch the film is Barbara Crampton (Reanimator, Chopping Mall, From Beyond, just to name a few of her many horror films). Barbara’s relevance as a Scream Queen has shown an incredible resistance to the passage of time. Most horror actors, after 35 years, have either retired from acting, moved on from the genre, or gotten relegated to increasingly cheaper low budget movies. Barbara is still putting out quality work though. During the most memorable part of her career (the mid 80s) she was known primarily for being the sexy blond who got naked and then met some horrific end. Now though, she’s head lining and this film show’s that she has taken the art of acting seriously. Oh and in case you’re wondering, she’s still pretty sexy.
