Jakob's Wife

Tackling vampirism can be tricky. All told there’s very little that hasn’t been tried and tested plus there’s a tendency to let older films cloud over the genre with the likes of After Dark and The Lost Boys being two that gobble up conversations. There have been some innovative movies such as Redwood but much like the zombie genre it’s about using what you have and doing it well.

Jakob’s Wife is a vampire film as a shell only as while the tropes and mores are used this is about Anne (Barbra Crampton) who is in a loving but dull marriage with Preacher Jakob (Larry Fessenden). A fusty man caught up in his religion and male chauvinism trapping his wife without him realising. That is until a vampire ‘The Master’ arrives in town with a retinue of rats and a hunger for blood, shows Anne that she too can do what she wants to be as long as she is prepared to make some sacrifice.

Two or three very bloody kills later and Anne having been bitten is turning not only into a vampire but also a far more assured woman. There is though a part of her that loves Jakob hence some reluctance to fully commit. However experiments with food and bull blood don’t work, it has to be human which leads to all sorts of problems.

There are a number of good ideas here from director Travis Stevens and fellow writers Kathy Charles and Mark Streensland however there is a problem with the execution and the swings in tone. It’s fairly slow in parts broken by the kills and confrontations. The main problem however is the tone which once Jakob finds out Anne is a vampire, seems to try and take a comedic turn, which is not entirely successful.

It’s a trifle heavy handed and that’s a with Crampton and Fessenden they had two very versatile actors who aren’t by any means wasted but you feel could have had a lot more to work with.

Jakob’s Wife is available now on Shudder