Unintentional Connection Night: Reviews of "Jug Face" and "The Woman"

After reading a few positive reviews I watched Jug Face tonight.

"Jug Face tells the story of a pregnant teen trying to escape a backwoods community when she discovers that she may be sacrificed to a creature in a pit."

First off, it was pretty well shot which, with the dawn of the dreaded shakey-cam and general low-budgetness, is very welcome.  And the plot was pretty unique, obviously not the backwoods, cult-like, redneck family part but the whole pit and jug face part.  In a genre where the same idea is done again and again something unique is always welcome so bravo to writer/director Chad Crawford Kinkle for that.  However, it didn't quite do it for me overall.  Perhaps it was a little slow?  The ideas weren't followed through quite well as they could have been?  I did find for the first part of the movie I was constantly asking "what? what's going on?" as things weren't explained well.  I did think Lauren Ashley Carter who played the lead, Ada, was great and I like genre regular Larry Fessenden who played her Dad.  The thing I liked the most is that it reunited Carter with her "The Woman" costar, Sean Bridgers.  I didn't realize it at the time and out of pure coincidence the movie I watched after this was "The Woman"!  I guess I realized it subconsciously?  Either way, I love finding links in this genre!  It's exciting figuring out certain circles.  So the link, aside from Carter and Bridgers, is Lucky McKee who produced "Jug Face" and wrote and directed "The Woman". 

So after that segue, onto "The Woman"!  I'd only watched this once before and absolutely loved it!  Directed by the aforementioned Lucky McKee and co-written by controversial author Jack Ketchum, it's one of my most recommended movies lately. 

"When a successful country lawyer captures and attempts to "civilize" the last remaining member of a violent clan that has roamed the Northeast coast for decades, he puts the lives of his family in jeopardy."

First off, I should mention that this is a sequel to the movie the "Offspring" which was written by Jack Ketchum.  The beginning of the movie didn't quite make sense to me to the first time I saw it as I wasn't aware of this.  I have yet to see the "Offspring" but it's number one on my list.  Heard it's a little low budget but Pollyana McIntosh is in it as The Woman so I'm sold already. 

So ok, this movie is so fantastic for so many reasons.  The gore is stomach-churning and frequent, it's shot really well and the acting is awesome.  Pollyana McIntosh, The Woman, is amazing, which is an understatement.  She is tough and piercing and her performance is just flat out amazing.  Seriously, I could write an entire post about her performance.  The rest of the cast is fantastic as well, Sean Bridgers is ultra scary, he plays it so cool and real, it's terrifying.  Angela Bettis, who previously worked with Lucky McKee on May, was perfect as the battered wife.  So fragile and conflicted. 

Also must mention the soundtrack!  I am such a fan of a good sountrack and this one fit so well with every scene.  I've read other reviews were people complained about the music, saying it was such an odd choice but not I.  The scene when Papa Cleek first encounters The Woman?  (It's called JH2)Awesome.  Pure awesome.  And the best part?  The entire thing was scored by one dude, Sean Spillane!  He and Lucky McKee are friends and McKee actually wrote key scenes around the initial songs Spillane sent him.  I LOVE that.  I am definitely going to be adding this to my soundtrack collection.  Not sure why I haven't done so yet! 

So in short, Jug Face was ok but The Woman is absolutely MUST SEE viewing!!!  Seriously, go watch it.  Now.