''Jug Face'' is a 2013 American
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
written and directed by Chad Crawford Kinkle and starring
Sean Bridgers
Sean MacKenzie Bridgers (born March 15, 1968) is an American actor, screenwriter, and producer, known for his role as Johnny Burns on the HBO series '' Deadwood'' and as Trey Willis on the SundanceTV original series '' Rectify''. In addition to ...
,
Lauren Ashley Carter,
Larry Fessenden
Laurence T. Fessenden (born March 23, 1963) is an American actor, producer, writer, director, film editor, and cinematographer. He is the founder of the New York based independent production outfit Glass Eye Pix. His writer/director credits inclu ...
,
Sean Young
Mary Sean Young (born November 20, 1959) is an American actress. She is particularly known for working in science fiction films, although she has performed roles in a variety of genres.
Young's early roles include the Independent film, indepe ...
and
Daniel Manche. The story follows a teen (Carter), who is pregnant with her brother's child and tries to escape from a backwoods community, only to discover that she must sacrifice herself to a creature in a pit.
Plot
A backwoods community worships a pit with healing powers. Dwight creates jugs of faces from clay, and when a jug portrays the face of a member of the community, that person must be sacrificed to the creature that lives in the pit. Ada, who has been
having sex with her brother Jessaby, finds her own face on Dwight’s latest jug. Scared, she hides the jug and keeps it a secret.
Ada is arranged to be "joined" to a boy from another family, Bodey. Later, Ada discovers she is pregnant. While she is with Bodey's sister, Eileen, Ada has a vision of Eileen's death, and the creature later kills Eileen. Worried that they have angered the creature, the community questions Dwight, who claims to be ignorant of whether there's a missing jug, as he creates them while under a trance. The townspeople become frustrated with Dwight and demand that he search for any potentially missing jugs. Ada meets with Dwight, and she suggests that he create a new one from memory. Ada's mother, Loriss, inspects her to see if she is a virgin, and Ada claims to have broken her own hymen. Loriss punishes Ada, who later informs Jessaby that she is pregnant.
The following day, the community gathers around the pit as Dwight presents his latest jug with the face of Bodey, who is sacrificed. Ada visits her sickly grandfather and sees a vision of an emaciated boy, who explains that her grandfather hid his wife's jug face the same as she did, and the community poisoned her grandfather as punishment. Jessaby tells Sustin, his father, that he is sick, so they go to the pit to heal him. Ada has a vision of Jessaby getting killed; the vision comes true. As it seems Dwight has failed again in interpreting the pit's desires, he is severely punished by the community and tied beside the pit to be taken. Ada breaks Dwight free, and they run off. However, the two are caught, taken back and punished by the community, who assume that it is Dwight with whom Ada had a relationship. Ada is whipped, miscarries her child, and then reveals to her parents that it was her brother's baby.
Ada has a vision of her father's death, and the creature kills him. She reveals to everyone that she was the missing jug face and that all the deaths are her fault. Her mother ties her up beside Dwight next to the pit. The Shunned Boy and Ada's grandfather appear and free her from her ropes, but she will not leave because she knows Dwight will be killed. The next morning, Ada's mother finds her free of her ropes but kneeling beside the Pit. Ada apologizes and is sacrificed. The film ends as Dwight lights a candle next to his jug face of Ada.
Cast
*
Lauren Ashley Carter as Ada
*
Sean Bridgers
Sean MacKenzie Bridgers (born March 15, 1968) is an American actor, screenwriter, and producer, known for his role as Johnny Burns on the HBO series '' Deadwood'' and as Trey Willis on the SundanceTV original series '' Rectify''. In addition to ...
as Dawai
*
Sean Young
Mary Sean Young (born November 20, 1959) is an American actress. She is particularly known for working in science fiction films, although she has performed roles in a variety of genres.
Young's early roles include the Independent film, indepe ...
as Loriss
*
Larry Fessenden
Laurence T. Fessenden (born March 23, 1963) is an American actor, producer, writer, director, film editor, and cinematographer. He is the founder of the New York based independent production outfit Glass Eye Pix. His writer/director credits inclu ...
as Sustin
*
Daniel Manche as Jesseby
* Kaitlin Cullum as Christie
* Mathieu Whitman as Bodey
Production
In 2011, ''Jug Face'' writer/director, Chad Kinkle won the
Slamdance Screenwriting Competition, and it was announced at the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival that Modernciné's Andrew van den Houten and Robert Tonino would produce the film in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
.
It was announced in January 2012 that Lauren Ashley Carter,
Sean Bridgers
Sean MacKenzie Bridgers (born March 15, 1968) is an American actor, screenwriter, and producer, known for his role as Johnny Burns on the HBO series '' Deadwood'' and as Trey Willis on the SundanceTV original series '' Rectify''. In addition to ...
,
Larry Fessenden
Laurence T. Fessenden (born March 23, 1963) is an American actor, producer, writer, director, film editor, and cinematographer. He is the founder of the New York based independent production outfit Glass Eye Pix. His writer/director credits inclu ...
, and
Sean Young
Mary Sean Young (born November 20, 1959) is an American actress. She is particularly known for working in science fiction films, although she has performed roles in a variety of genres.
Young's early roles include the Independent film, indepe ...
were cast in the film. Young said that she found it difficult to play an unsympathetic character, but she enjoyed working with Carter and Fessenden. Young was deliberately made to look old, which she said was helped by the custom-made clothing.
Potter and sculptor Jason Mahlke designed and created the
face jug
A face jug is a jug pottery that depicts a face. There are examples in the pottery of ancient Greece, and that of Pre-Columbian America. Early European examples date from the 13th century, and the German stoneware Bartmann jug was a popular late ...
s for the film.
Release
The film was accepted at a number of
film festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online.
Films may be of recent ...
s, including its premiere at the 2013
Slamdance Film Festival
The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival is held in Los Angeles in late February and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization. The organization ...
. In 2013, it played at the
Boston Underground Film Festival,
Nashville Film Festival
The Nashville Film Festival (NashFilm), held annually in Nashville, Tennessee, is the oldest running film festival in the South and one of the oldest in the United States. In 2016, Nashville Film Festival received more than 6,700 submissions from ...
, and Nocturnal Film Festival.
After its premiere at Slamdance, ''Jug Face'' was acquired for a pre-theatrical
VoD release in July by
Gravitas Ventures
Gravitas Ventures is an American film distribution company owned by Shout! Studios. The company was founded by Nolan Gallagher in Los Angeles in 2006, and moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to Cleveland in 2019. It focuses on the distribu ...
, with a national theatrical release to follow.
''Jug Face'' grossed $14,315 in domestic DVD sales and $7,491 in domestic Blu-ray sales, for a total of $21,806.
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, a
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
, reports that 76% of 21 surveyed critics with the average rating of 6.14/10. Metacritic rated it 58/100 based on nine reviews.
Brad Miska of
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is an American independent multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news website specializing in information services that covered various horror media. The company expanded into other media including podcast ...
rated the film a 3.5 out of 5 and wrote, "''Jug Face'' feels really small, in a good way, and captures the essence of this tiny group of worshippers. It's aesthetically similar to other Modernciné movies; it’s a look that gives the film quality and technical shows expertise. Although, it's carried by strong performances, and a few explicate ''
ic' shots of gore."
Brad McHargue, writing for
Dread Central
Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...
, praised Kinkle's script, as well as "the stellar performances of Carter and Bridgers." McHargue called it "loaded with talent" and "filled with emotion and just enough blood to keep the gore hounds satisfied." Ryan Larson, a writer for
Shock Till You Drop
Mandatory (formerly CraveOnline Media) is a lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company Evolve Media, LLC. Mandatory focuses its contents into the male ...
, wrote that "''Jug Face'' isn't a groundbreaking movie. But it's exceptional on a number of levels and is so because of a powerful director and some great acting."
Scott Weinberg, writing for
Fearnet
Fearnet was an American digital cable television network, website and video on demand service owned by Comcast. The network specialized in horror entertainment programming through a mix of acquired and original series, and feature films.
Backgr ...
, praised the acting and wrote, "
e director's steadfast insistence on presenting a potentially outlandish horror tale as plainly and realistically as possible that elevates ''Jug Face'' beyond that of a mere curiosity." Rob Nelson of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' described it as "an impressively oozing slab of indie horror that bodes well for first-time writer-director Chad Crawford Kinkle."
While the film is mainly praised for its script, effective low-budget filmmaking and performances, the story's supernatural elements received some criticism. In a ''
Fangoria
''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr.
The magazine was originally released i ...
'' review, Samuel Zimmerman wrote: "While ''Jug Face'' is clearly on a tiny budget, it’s never bothersome until the frankly cornball appearance of the dead is revealed." Zimmerman adds, "These rough patches are slightly alleviated thanks to grounded work from ''Jug Face’s'' cast and Kinkle’s own depiction of this small community."
In a ''
Twitch Film
ScreenAnarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...
'' review, Ben Umstead wrote, "While steeped in thick atmosphere and anchored by some interesting riffs on classic horror tropes the film is far more underwhelming in execution than it is dynamic and provocative — elements that feel largely left on the page." Nicolas Rapold of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' wrote, "Some low-budget manifestations of the supernatural jazz up the frights now and again, but as the novelty of worshiping a hole in the ground fades, the film paints itself into a corner."
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, id=2620736, title=Jug Face
*
Jug Face' on
AllMovie
AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne.
History
AllMovie was ...
*
Jug Face' on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
2013 films
2013 horror films
American supernatural horror films
American independent films
Films about incest
Films shot in Tennessee
American ghost films
American exploitation films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
Films about cults
Folk horror films
American religious horror films
English-language horror films