Jebadiah's Axe starts off like it could be some fun. It looks *super* cheap, but in an enjoyable way. You get a nice guffaw from the bad effects in the opening scene, and the acting (or lack thereof) makes you think you might be in for a treat, like Jebadiah's Axe might be an enjoyable bad movie. But once you get to the relatively unexciting story/main characters, it just kind of plods along. There's some laughs to be had along the way, and it's really short (just over an hour). But generally speaking it's kind of tough to get through.
My Synopsis: Jebadiah is a farmer (even though he lives in the woods?) who hasn't paid his taxes in forever. When a taxman and a cop come to repossess his land, Jebadiah reacts violently and ultimately ends up dead. But for some reason, the cop decides to not report anything and just buries his body on the land. About a month later, the land is up for sale by the government and four friends decide to split the cost and buy it. But Jebadiah is reanimated/zombified (though NO explanation is given as to why), and tries to get these folks off of his land. With his axe, of course.
Drinking Game Rules:
- whenever you hear "stay off of my land" or some variation
- every time you can't understand dialogue due to thick accents
- every time there is a disappointing kill (hint: it's all but one of them)
Overall: Starts off as dumb fun, ends up just being dumb.
Jebadiah's Axe is a really cheap looking independent film from Texas, looking far more woodsy than I would have expected. It feels pretty amateurish. I guess the technical side of things weren't too bad - you can tell it's not the highest quality camera they're using, but the framing/sound/lighting was never distractingly bad. But what's in front of the camera is rough. The acting ranges from slightly wooden to laughably bad - it feels like the kind of film that is more made up of friends of the filmmaker rather than professional actors, you know? The things that would normally use special effects are mostly kept off camera, which is frustrating and leads to a lot of disappointing kills. They are almost always of the variety where Jebadiah will appear with his axe raised, say "I told you to stay off of my land" (which is apparently the only thing he CAN say), and you'll see the axe swing down out of frame and some blood will shoot up.
But it's the characters/storytelling that really hurts Jebadiah's Axe. Right out of the gate, you've got problems. When the cop and the tax man goes to take the land, Jebadiah just stands there and points a loaded shotgun at them, and no one really reacts. Is that just a standard greeting in Texas? Don't mess with them, I guess. (Although it does lead to a comically bad shooting that I had to rewind and watch again, so something good came of it.) Then once the cop shows up and Jebadiah is killed, they choose not to report it... because why? It's not really explained, although a sub plot about the tax man's adultery with Jebadiah's now deceased wife comes into play. It's totally needless and doesn't add to the story (other than an extra ten minutes of padding, I guess).
And when the four friends come to buy his land, Jebadiah just comes back from the dead for no discernible reason. Like, it should at least be an Indian burial ground, or there should be a haunted book, or something. But nope, he just comes back with some crap on his face - and that's about it.
I don't want to sound cruel, but Jebadiah's Axe has one of the most awkward casts I've seen in a film, maybe ever. You get independent movies like this, with regular people in it - yeah, they aren't always going to be Hollywood pretty. I mean, it kind of seems like this film was supposed to be written for younger actors - the four friends buying the land act like they're in their early 20s, but are probably closer to 40. Plus, our main heroine is clearly not a native English speaker. Which is fine, but leads to some really awkward line reads. I just wish the script would acknowledge why an Argentinian woman is hanging out with these losers in Northern Texas and why she wants to buy a shack with them. Also, you get a couple of nude scenes that I think are supposed to be titillating, but feel more gross than anything.
So, the best thing I can say about Jebadiah's Axe is that it's short. And there are a couple of "good-bad" moments. But mostly it's just kind of dull and poorly done.
I would not recommend this film.
No comments:
Post a Comment