Editorials
New Zealand Gothic Horror ‘Jack Be Nimble’ Spins a Dark Fairytale [Horrors Elsewhere]
New Zealand does not make a lot of horror movies when compared to other parts of the world, however this shortage stems from sheer infrequency rather than inability. The island country’s sparse contributions to the genre, from Braindead to What We Do in the Shadows, have largely proven to be as great as they are unique. No two Kiwi horrors are quite alike, and 1993’s Jack Be Nimble is no exception. This magnificently strange and obscure offering of New Zealand gothic horror holds a mirror up to family dysfunction, and the reflection is an absolute nightmare.
Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick,
Jack jump over
The candlestick.
Much like its nursery rhyme basis, Jack Be Nimble is about beating the odds. The old English children’s song encapsulates the spirit of candle jumping, which was a fortune-telling activity as much as it was a sport. Anyone who can clear the flaming candle was said to have good luck. In place of a candle in Garth Maxwell’s film is now childhood. The title character and his sister, who were separated at a young age, finally come together again after spending years apart. Their reunion is then fraught with new hurdles, all stemming from their disparate upbringings.
When their birth mother abandoned them at a tender age, and their father gave them up for adoption, young Jack and Dora were placed with different families. Dora grows up fairly well-adjusted with caring parents, whereas Jack is left to fend for himself among a clan of sadists. Over time the brother became a lightning rod for alienation and pain. And unfortunately, the trauma racing through Jack is far too much for either he or Dora to control in the long run.
The conventions of dark fairy tales can be seen all across Jack Be Nimble. The earliest one is the clear distinction made between good and evil, with Jack (Alexis Arquette) being the ostensible hero caught in a bad situation. In his strange new home, the boy is subjected to chronic abuse from wicked foster parents, Clarrie and Bernice (Tony Barry, Elizabeth Hawthorne), and their four daughters (Wendy Adams, Tracey Brown, Nina López, Amber Woolston). Watching Jack be mistreated, both physically and emotionally, is evocative of Cinderella and other Grimm classics.
The presence of magic and unearthly events in Jack Be Nimble is also indicative of traditional fairy tales. While they had no contact again until their teenage years, Jack and Dora (Sarah Smuts-Kennedy) stayed connected through Dora’s psychic abilities. The flow of unruly voices through her head eventually allowed Dora to find her other half. Meanwhile, Jack’s powers pertain to hypnosis; he creates a contraption that entrances his abusers and leaves them susceptible to his vengeful suggestions.
Overcoming evil or obstacles is a crucial part of all storytelling. Unlike in many fairy tales, though, the inevitable retribution shown in Jack Be Nimble is not left up to fate or wonder. Jack instead uses both his survival instinct and his hypnosis machine to free himself of his tormentors in the harshest and most direct ways possible. Clarrie is flattened by a truck, Bernice is sentenced to a watery grave, and his and Dora’s biological father is forced to do sit-ups until he dies. Jack loudly sheds his initial hero role as the bodies start to pile up and his anger festers. In due time, his greatest enemy is the one so deeply embedded in himself.
As Jack takes matters into his own hands and punishes everyone who ever hurt him, the prince and princess archetypes are more subverted than ever. Not only is Dora now the champion of this sibling epic, she is the one doing the rescuing as Jack is seized by his four adoptive sisters. All the while, Dora is accosted by Bernice from beyond the grave; Jack’s foster mother has assumed the duties of the nefarious mastermind pulling the strings in this supernatural showdown. With only her disembodied voice as her tool and her daughters as her emissaries, she draws Jack Be Nimble’s newly appointed hero to the final battleground.
Jack Be Nimble is a deep and visceral conversation about growing up in toxic surroundings. The story also goes to considerable lengths to show how difficult it can be to cut those dark roots as an adult. Being exposed to so much abuse, negativity, and spite changed Jack for the worse; his resilience to such unhealthiness is all but gone. The nature-versus-nurture debate comes up as well, seeing as Dora is better equipped to handle her burdens, albeit ones arguably less hefty than those of her brother. Jack and Dora indeed came from the same beginnings, yet their final designs are worlds apart because of fundamentally different parenting and environments.
Through the lens of a bleak fable, Garth Maxwell delivers a fantastical allegory about battling formative traumas. He puts his characters’ rawest emotions on full display, and he embellishes their journey with exciting direction and striking imagery. Although Jack Be Nimble admittedly never scrounges up any bona fide scares, it does bring on some tears with its surprisingly sentimental scenes and overall bittersweet quality.
Horrors Elsewhere is a recurring column that spotlights a variety of movies from all around the globe, particularly those not from the United States. Fears may not be universal, but one thing is for sure — a scream is understood, always and everywhere.
Editorials
‘Immaculate’ – A Companion Watch Guide to the Religious Horror Movie and Its Cinematic Influences
The religious horror movie Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney and directed by Michael Mohan, wears its horror influences on its sleeves. NEON’s new horror movie is now available on Digital and PVOD, making it easier to catch up with the buzzy title. If you’ve already seen Immaculate, this companion watch guide highlights horror movies to pair with it.
Sweeney stars in Immaculate as Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who is offered a fulfilling new role at an illustrious Italian convent. Cecilia’s warm welcome to the picture-perfect Italian countryside gets derailed soon enough when she discovers she’s become pregnant and realizes the convent harbors disturbing secrets.
From Will Bates’ gothic score to the filming locations and even shot compositions, Immaculate owes a lot to its cinematic influences. Mohan pulls from more than just religious horror, though. While Immaculate pays tribute to the classics, the horror movie surprises for the way it leans so heavily into Italian horror and New French Extremity. Let’s dig into many of the film’s most prominent horror influences with a companion watch guide.
Warning: Immaculate spoilers ahead.
Rosemary’s Baby
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The mother of all pregnancy horror movies introduces Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), an eager-to-please housewife who’s supportive of her husband, Guy, and thrilled he landed them a spot in the coveted Bramford apartment building. Guy proposes a romantic evening, which gives way to a hallucinogenic nightmare scenario that leaves Rosemary confused and pregnant. Rosemary’s suspicions and paranoia mount as she’s gaslit by everyone around her, all attempting to distract her from her deeply abnormal pregnancy. While Cecilia follows a similar emotional journey to Rosemary, from the confusion over her baby’s conception to being gaslit by those who claim to have her best interests in mind, Immaculate inverts the iconic final frame of Rosemary’s Baby to great effect.
The Exorcist
William Friedkin’s horror classic shook audiences to their core upon release in the ’70s, largely for its shocking imagery. A grim battle over faith is waged between demon Pazuzu and priests Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow). The battleground happens to be a 12-year-old, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), whose possessed form commits blasphemy often, including violently masturbating with a crucifix. Yet Friedkin captures the horrifying events with stunning cinematography; the emotional complexity and shot composition lend elegance to a film that counterbalances the horror. That balance between transgressive imagery and artful form permeates Immaculate as well.
Suspiria
Jessica Harper stars as Suzy Bannion, an American newcomer at a prestigious dance academy in Germany who uncovers a supernatural conspiracy amid a series of grisly murders. It’s a dance academy so disciplined in its art form that its students and faculty live their full time, spending nearly every waking hour there, including built-in meals and scheduled bedtimes. Like Suzy Bannion, Cecilia is a novitiate committed to learning her chosen trade, so much so that she travels to a foreign country to continue her training. Also, like Suzy, Cecilia quickly realizes the pristine façade of her new setting belies sinister secrets that mean her harm.
What Have You Done to Solange?
This 1972 Italian horror film follows a college professor who gets embroiled in a bizarre series of murders when his mistress, a student, witnesses one taking place. The professor starts his own investigation to discover what happened to the young woman, Solange. Sex, murder, and religion course through this Giallo’s veins, which features I Spit on Your Grave’s Camille Keaton as Solange. Immaculate director Michael Mohan revealed to The Wrap that he emulated director Massimo Dallamano’s techniques, particularly in a key scene that sees Cecilia alone in a crowded room of male superiors, all interrogating her on her immaculate status.
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
In this Giallo, two sisters inherit their family’s castle that’s also cursed. When a dark-haired, red-robed woman begins killing people around them, the sisters begin to wonder if the castle’s mysterious curse has resurfaced. Director Emilio Miraglia infuses his Giallo with vibrant style, with the titular Red Queen instantly eye-catching in design. While the killer’s design and use of red no doubt played an influential role in some of Immaculate’s nightmare imagery, its biggest inspiration in Mohan’s film is its score. Immaculate pays tribute to The Red Queen Kills Seven Times through specific music cues.
The Vanishing
Rex’s life is irrevocably changed when the love of his life is abducted from a rest stop. Three years later, he begins receiving letters from his girlfriend’s abductor. Director George Sluizer infuses his simple premise with bone-chilling dread and psychological terror as the kidnapper toys with Red. It builds to a harrowing finale you won’t forget; and neither did Mohan, who cited The Vanishing as an influence on Immaculate. Likely for its surprise closing moments, but mostly for the way Sluizer filmed from inside a coffin.
The Other Hell
This nunsploitation film begins where Immaculate ends: in the catacombs of a convent that leads to an underground laboratory. The Other Hell sees a priest investigating the seemingly paranormal activity surrounding the convent as possessed nuns get violent toward others. But is this a case of the Devil or simply nuns run amok? Immaculate opts to ground its horrors in reality, where The Other Hell leans into the supernatural, but the surprise lab setting beneath the holy grounds evokes the same sense of blasphemous shock.
Inside
During Immaculate‘s freakout climax, Cecilia sets the underground lab on fire with Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) locked inside. He manages to escape, though badly burned, and chases Cecilia through the catacombs. When Father Tedeschi catches Cecilia, he attempts to cut her baby out of her womb, and the stark imagery instantly calls Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s seminal French horror movie to mind. Like Tedeschi, Inside’s La Femme (Béatrice Dalle) will stop at nothing to get the baby, badly burned and all.
Burial Ground
At first glance, this Italian zombie movie bears little resemblance to Immaculate. The plot sees an eclectic group forced to band together against a wave of undead, offering no shortage of zombie gore and wild character quirks. What connects them is the setting; both employed the Villa Parisi as a filming location. The Villa Parisi happens to be a prominent filming spot for Italian horror; also pair the new horror movie with Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood or Blood for Dracula for additional boundary-pushing horror titles shot at the Villa Parisi.
The Devils
The Devils was always intended to be incendiary. Horror, at its most depraved and sadistic, tends to make casual viewers uncomfortable. Ken Russell’s 1971 epic takes it to a whole new squeamish level with its nightmarish visuals steeped in some historical accuracy. There are the horror classics, like The Exorcist, and there are definitive transgressive horror cult classics. The Devils falls squarely in the latter, and Russell’s fearlessness in exploring taboos and wielding unholy imagery inspired Mohan’s approach to the escalating horror in Immaculate.
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