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DVD Jug Face
 Run time: 81 min Rating: 5.2 Genres: Drama | Horror | Thriller Director: Chad Crawford Kinkle Writers: Chad Crawford Kinkle Stars: Sean Bridgers, Lauren Ashley Carter, Kaitlin Cullum |
| Storyline Jug Face tells the story of a pregnant teen trying to escape a backwoods community when she discovers that she may be sacrificed to a creature in a pit. |
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| Plot Keywords: pit, pregnancy, secret pregnancy, pact, ghost | |
| Details: Country: USA Release Date: 9 August 2013 (USA) |
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Ada is a young girl who lives with her backwoods hillbilly moonshinin' clan. A close knit community, they all share a rather arcane religion. Every so often, The Potter makes a ceramic jug adorned by a face. Every face that appears on the jug is a member of the clan and any face that appears must be sacrificed for the good of the community. Sacrificed to The Pit, which lies in the woods. Because The Pit wants what it wants and The Pit must be sated as this is how it's always been. If The Pit doesn't get what it wants then whatever dwells within it gets angry. And when The Pit gets angry, the community will be punished.
One day, while exploring The Potter's shed, Ada finds the latest jug face. It's her own…
Will she allow herself to be sacrificed, for the good of the clan? or will she set in motion a plan to spare her own life?
Jug Face is a straightforward but pleasantly offbeat horror that puts an interesting and unusual spin on the hillbilly horror/hicksploitation sub genre, with a nice turn by Larry Fessenden as the clan leader and a surprisingly great turn from Sean Young as the overbearing matriarch.
Executively produced by Lucky Mckee and with FX by Robert Kurtzman, it's a satisfying and solid horror that's well worth checking out overall, for fans looking for something just a little bit different.
7/10, decent little film and recommended.
At first glance, after reading the plot outline of "Jug Face", a myriad of other film's popped up in my mind. All of the usual clichés and expectations of a horror film involving a remote backwoods community were buzzing around in my head. It didn't take long to see that first time writer/director Chad Crawford Kinkle had successfully managed to add, not only something fresh, but a considerably engrossing spin to that age old horror theme. He did an exceptional job in writing something original and vividly bringing it to life. The film had taken some of the most engaging ideas of M.N.S's "The Village" and added actual terror, although here, the thing we do not speak of is very much alive with an insatiable appetite for townsfolk.
The story revolves around a young girl Ada(Lauren Ashley Carter) she's been chosen to be "joined" with a young man Bodey(Mathieu Whitman). The thing is, she's not a virgin anymore(oddly enough in this town the woman is examined for purity). Not only is she not a virgin, she is pregnant by her brother Jessaby(Daniel Manche), something that is extremely frowned upon even in this backwater community. Ada soon learns that her current problems are nothing when compared to what may be in store for her. As you likely already know, this town has a secret, they worship an unseen being that resides in a blood filled pit located at the edge of town. A man named Dawai(Sean Bridgers)who is the local pot maker receives visions where he falls into a trance like state, blindly making a jug bearing the face of the next person the pit desires as a sacrifice. One night Ada stumbles upon the next jug face discovering that it's her face on the jug. This sets forth a chain of events & deaths as Ada searches for a resolution.
Despite this being Kinkles first feature film, a low budget indie, he took an idea that sounds a bit ridiculous and for ninety minutes made me believe in it. None of which would have been possible without the top notch acting all around, especially by Sean Bridgers, Lauren Ashley Carter, Larry Fessenden and Sean Young. Besides having an odd title, although a very fitting one in retrospect, no inadequacies come to mind in terms of production value or score. The effects were minimal, but compelling. They chose to use their minimal budget wisely and in doing so they did a sufficient job inferring the violence, showing mainly the aftermath which was fine and the scenes that did happen to include gore were chosen wisely. In the end "Jug Face" is a recommendable offbeat horror flick for those fans sick of the same old slasher/inbred killer/pointless torture films that the horror genre is over saturated with.
Teenage Ada lives in a closed woodland community with her family which sounds idyllic were it not for the fact that that deity they worship demands human blood. Ada's problems escalate when she discovers that she is pregnant and that that she is soon to be sacrificed to the pit.
Jug Face is a wonderfully constructed and quietly intelligent film, with a plot which from it's description unfairly invokes up images of something perhaps more B-movie-ish. What you will find rather than a sensationalised romp through the woods with inbred hillbillies is an emotionally intelligent coming of age drama, with some very respectable quality horror included in the mix.
Performances here are consistently wonderful, with Sean Young in particularly terrifying form as Ada's sadistic mother (she is arguably more horrific than whatever it is that lives inside the pit). Elsewhere, relationships between characters are believable, often touching and collectively build a picture of a real community whom rely upon one another entirely for survival, support and solace. Ada suffers inner conflict during her transition from teenager to adult, wrestling with her individualistic urges and her responsibilities to the community. A sense of reverence and fear for the pit comes across very well and clearly throughout. Visual effects are used sparingly and appropriately and never at the expense of the story.
This is very human film with potentially wide appeal. It would be of definite interest to cinema buffs and movie snobs as well as genre-loyal horror fans. Older teenagers may possibly enjoy it. Anybody who craves a break from the stupidity of the mainstream should give it a try. For people who would rather see CGI demons or torture porn Jug Face will be of absolutely no interest at all and undoubtedly leave them bored and somewhat baffled.
Overall aside from being extraordinarily enjoyable and intriguing Jug Face is quite simply a well-conceived, well-acted and well executed film. No silly plot holes, no desperate plot twists- just a good solid piece of work with strong dialogue and an interesting thematic premise. In a world where the opposite is the norm, all of this is quite an achievement. Director Chad Crawford Kinkle is one to watch and based on this directorial début seems certain to go on to do great things.
There really should be more films like this one.
While it clearly suffers from a low budget, this movie works harder and is more interesting than most of the product that comes out of Hollywood these days.
You will enjoy the twist and turns in the plot. The writers obviously put more effort into the storyline than their big-budget counterparts in the film industry.
The lead actress is impressive as a victim of circumstance who yearns to break free of her world.
It's an intimate look into a slimy dirty mini-society… decent acting, believable dialog and passable set design. Give these folks some real funding and I bet they hit a home run.