Jonah Lives

Director - Luis Carvalho
Starring - Brinke Stevens (Night of Something Strange, Caesar and Otto's Deadly X-Mas), Jocelyn Padilla (Murder University, Frankenstein in  a Women's Prison), Ryan Boudreau (Grown Ups 2, Exeter)
Release Date - 2012
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "A rude spiritual awakening"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Slashers will always have a home here in my collection.  I always loved checking out a slasher regardless if it was good or bad.  I prefer my slashers to be stalking bikini glad bimbos in the woods but I will take em how I can get em.  A few months back I received word that Wild Eye, yes the same Wild Eye I keep talking about and will continue talking about, would be releasing a new film titled Jonah Lives.  The synopsis, artwork, and trailer put me in mind of a slasher film in the same lines as Evil Dead.  Evil Dead II is one of my favorite horror films so this excited me greatly.  I reached out to Wild Eye and they were kind enough to send a review copy my way.  Thanks Wild Eye for sending another superb film this way.

     The film follows your typical group of twenty somethings as they look to get into something a little different one boring evening.  One of them grabs an old, wooden ouija board.  Everyone agrees to check it out with the exception of one that believes that it is evil and against god.  They all scoff at his superstitions and play with the board anyway.  They ask it some questions and the board starts answering back.  They discover they are speaking to a man who was poisoned by his wife and his name was Jonah.  They continue to play with the board but there is a cost.  Their little party brings Jonah back to life and now his rotting corpse is hellbent on killing everyone that woke him from his eternal slumber.

     Slashers have always been a favorite of mine due to the fact that there is so many possibilities for the killer.  The killer could honestly be anyone or anything and that is fascinating to me.  Jonah Lives is a slasher that gives us a rather unique slasher but the story is something we have seen several times before.  The acting in this one is great and sits among some of the best I have seen in a Wild Eye release.  Some of the cast may be familiar among my readers. A few of these fine men and women has actually worked with one of my favorite directors in the game right now, Richard Griffin.  The cast offers a great deal of diversity and several years of experience.  This shows greatly in the film which helps the story fold a little more smoothly considering how flat the actual story is.  The story for this one is one have seen several times before not only dealing with slasher flicks, but with demons, vampires, and so many other supernatural assholes.  The film has the typical cabin in the woods story but there is no cabin in the woods.  Instead, we get the same story in the middle of the city.  The story, however, is still something we have seen so many times before with films like Cabin in the Woods, Evil Dead 1 and II, Dead and Breakfast, and we can go on and on and on.  The only difference is it actually takes the slasher route and the evil is summoned by ouija board and not an ancient relic or book.  This was a fun spin on an old horror cliche.  With all that being said, the film moves way too slow and is very claustrophobic.  The film needs edited a little better and some of the boring and bland dialogue needs cut out.  Finally, the film has some very bloody kills but most of which take place off screen.  The practical effects we do get are great but when it comes to a slasher the kills have to be visible.  That is the point of a slasher.  Overall, Jonah Lives is a fun slasher that has a great cast and a great looking killer.  The film has bloodshed but if you are looking for amazing kills then you are out of luck.  I recommend this one for sure!