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Title: Jessabelle (2014)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Sarah Snook | ... | Jessie Laurent | |
| Joelle Carter | ... | Kate Laurent | |
| Mark Webber | ... | Preston Sanders | |
| David Andrews | ... | Leon Laurent | |
| Ana de la Reguera | ... | Rosaura | |
| Amber Stevens West | ... | Dead Girl (as Amber Stevens) | |
| Chris Ellis | ... | Sheriff Pruitt | |
| Brian Hallisay | ... | Mark | |
 |
Vaughn Wilson | ... | Moses |
| Larisa Oleynik | ... | Sam | |
|
|
Fran Bennett | ... | Mrs. Davis |
|
|
Paul Garrett | ... | Christophe |
| Barbara Weetman | ... | Nurse | |
| Jason Davis | ... | Surgeon | |
| Lucius Baston | ... | Mr. Woods | |
Jessabelle "Jessie" Laurent is pregnant and accepts to move to the house of her boyfriend to raise a family of their own. However they have a car accident where her boyfriend and her baby die. Jessie is seriously wounded and trapped to a wheelchair, and the direction of the hospital asks her to contact her estranged father to help her. Leon Laurent brings his daughter to his house in Louisiana and lodges her in her mother's room. Jessie snoops around the room and finds a videotape where her mother Kate Laurent is pregnant and reads tarot cards to her. She tells that Jessie would never left Louisiana; she is attracted by water; and another woman wants her out of the house. However Leon arrives and destroys the tape. On the next morning, Jessie watches another videotape when her father is out of the house, and her mother talks about the man that had taught her to read cards, Moses. Jessie is haunted by the ghost of a woman and her father discovers the two other videotapes she has hidden... Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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After watching the trailer for this film, I must say I had really high hopes. As a devout Horror fan with a declared preference towards ghost stores and haunting, I had looked forward to seeing another usual film of the genre, mediocre yet good and fun to watch.
While Jessabelle is light-years away from competing with the sub- genres best like The Grudge or Dead Silence, it completes the task it unofficially took upon itself, as it obviously had no intentions of being profound or in any way great. Sarah Snook, while definitely not painful to look at to say the least, is far more than your usual Horror Eye-Candy made famous in classic Slashers. Trust me, this professional knows a hell of a lot more than screaming convincingly and looking fine in a bathing suite. This was my first encounter with her, and I must say she just might be the best thing about Jessabelle. Apparently she's been making quite a name for herself since 2012, and I can definitely see why. Even though her character is stuck in a wheel-chair, the empathy towards its desperation and helplessness is greatly created by Snook's acting skills.
As for the story, it suffers from one of the known banes of Horror - a mediocre plot twist leasing to an anticlimactic ending, after a finely made build-up. At least there is a plot twist, true, as Horror films are highly upgraded by these in my opinion, but the one in Jessabelle simply feels unfulfilled. I find it difficult putting my finger on what should have been better about it, I just know it didn't create the sensation we expect from such twists. I believe that was the main reason for the ending being slightly wanting.
All in all, I found Jessabelle to be quite average, meaning anyone who doesn't expect to have their mind blown and being swept off their feet by a masterpiece could enjoy it quite a bit, as I did. Snook's acting and the sufficiently smart plot make it even slightly above average. As always, I would recommend that you ignore my humble opinion, watch it and judge for yourselves. If you ask me - as far as this one is concerned, it's definitely worth it.