Justin G. Dyck is a Canadian filmmaker who has dedicated himself to directing films aimed at children and for the enjoyment of the whole family. Children's stories, romantic movies, Christmas movies, etc. His entire filmography had been of films in these genres, but now, he has decided to make a radical change.

Anything for Jackson is the first horror film he has directed and, surprisingly, the change of genre has worked out very well.

The story deals with satanic rites, possessions and demonic presences, something that has been told many times within the horror genre. But the director has put some of his personal style, and taking advantage of two great actors, to make this story that has well-crafted moments, making it an entertaining film within its genre.

The filmmaker always wanted to make a horror movie, it was his dream from the beginning. But when he knocked on the doors of production companies, he was asked to direct a children's film, so he made Monkey in the Middle, which was a success.

The script was written by Keith Cooper, a friend and business partner of Justin G. Dyck, with whom they wanted to make an independent horror film. It's been a long road, but they finally achieved their goal.

The director has stated that he wants to continue making horror films, although he will likely return to directing family and children's films, he will do his best to devote himself entirely to the horror and supernatural genre.

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What is the plot of Anything for Jackson?

Henry is a respected doctor, married to Audrey. They are both elderly and have lost their daughter and beloved grandson. These two elderly, apparently good people, are part of a Satanist sect. They have in their possession a book with powerful satanic rituals that could bring back their grandson. To achieve this, they will have to find a recipient body, and they choose one of Henry's patients, who is pregnant, knows nothing about the father and has no relatives in town. They plan her kidnapping and proceed to perform the ritual, unaware that they will open the doors to the worst demons.

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The opening sequence of the film manages to shock the viewer, to make him interested to see what is going to happen and why these two old men do something so terrible.

They are both in their daily routine, it is morning, she is preparing breakfast and he is settling his affairs before going to the office. They have a routine conversation. At that moment someone arrives at the house, we don't see her, but it's a girl named Shannon Becker, then something happens that no one expects.

Henry and Audrey are two people, closer to the end of their lives, who have lost everything that mattered to them in their lives. They have lost their daughter and they have lost their grandson, the person they loved the most.

Both of them have nothing left to lose, and so they plan to perform a kind of reverse exorcism. Instead of expelling a spirit from a possessed body, what they want is for the spirit of their grandson to possess the fetus of the pregnant woman they have kidnapped, for the spirit to enter the baby's body so that it can be born again and they can take care of it.

The couple lives in a nice suburban neighborhood, they are respectable people in the community and no one would suspect that behind those kind faces and seemingly good people, they are willing to do anything, even kill, to get Jackson back.

No one could imagine that this beautiful old couple is part of a satanic sect, that they practice rituals and that they are convinced they have found some books with the necessary instructions to achieve what they want.

But neither could they imagine that by performing the rite, they would open the doors of their house to horrible demons eager to find a new body to possess it and stay in the world of the living.

A series of terrifying events will take place, the demons are there and they want to stay. The nightmare has just begun for the elderly and for Becker, the pregnant woman who will have to fight against everyone to escape from that house.

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The film works very well thanks to the two lead actors, who are terrific as the elderly couple, with excellent performances.

Sheila McCarthy plays Audrey, the one most determined to do anything to see Jackson, her grandson, again. With a fragile appearance, she is actually strong and capable of anything. She also stars in one of the most disturbing scenes in the story. McCarthy is a prestigious actress and singer from Canada. She made her television debut in 1982 and has had a great career, with roles in numerous films and a career in Canadian theater. She has won numerous awards, including two Gemini awards, the Geni and the Dora. In this film he proves that he has excellent acting chops, with an unsettling character.

Julian Richings plays Henry, the doctor who plans everything to kidnap the pregnant girl. Although at some points in the plot he will question Audrey's beliefs, he will have to do terrible things to keep the girl locked up without anyone suspecting anything. Everything gets tangled up when the man who does the snow removal job for them shows up and a police detective visits him in his office, because of the disappearance of the pregnant girl. Richings is a British-Canadian actor with a long career in film and television. He was a regular character in the series Supernatural and has also appeared in the film Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. In addition to other horror films such as The Witch and Saw VI. Her character, along with McCarthy's, are phenomenal, they are the best of the whole movie.

Konstantina Mantelos plays Shannon, the pregnant woman who will be kidnapped by this pair of crazy, satanic old men. Her character will live a complete nightmare being kept locked up and tied to the bed, not knowing the intentions of the old men. But the worst will be when she will see the evil spirits that will be present in the house. To save her life, and that of her baby, she will have a double challenge, to face the old satanic madmen and the demons they have brought into this world. The actress has little trajectory and I have not seen anything of her before, but she plays her role of victim perfectly.

The other actors are Yannick Bisson who plays Rory, the man who works at the old people's home, known for playing William Murdoch in the Murdoch Mysteries series. Actress Lanette Ware plays Detective Bellows, the police officer investigating the strange disappearance of Shannon Becker. And actor Josh Cruddas plays Ian, a member of the satanic cult who will help the elders, but it turns out that he is crazier than they are and everything will be worse. This actor has worked in many films, always with somewhat disturbed characters, because his physique is ideal for these characters. We have recently seen him in the film Polar and in The Silencing.

The claustrophobic and disturbing atmosphere is thanks to the photography work of Sasha Moric and Stephen Chandler Whitehead, both cinematographers do a good job, it is a low budget film and they know how to use all possible resources to create that oppressive atmosphere. The scenes with the apparitions of the different demons and spirits manage to scare the viewer. The two directors of photography have experience in other films of this genre.

The film, produced by Vortex Words Pictures, was distributed in the United States by Shudder, the excellent video-on-demand service owned by AMC Networks that focuses on the distribution of films in the horror, thriller and supernatural fiction genres. I have seen several films distributed by Shudder and they choose their films very well.

Trailer

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