User Reviews

At first glance, after reading the plot outline of "Jug Face", a myriad of other film's popped up in my mind. All of the usual clichés and expectations of a horror film involving a remote backwoods community were buzzing around in my head. It didn't take long to see that first time writer/director Chad Crawford Kinkle had successfully managed to add, not only something fresh, but a considerably engrossing spin to that age old horror theme. He did an exceptional job in writing something original and vividly bringing it to life. The film had taken some of the most engaging ideas of M.N.S's "The Village" and added actual terror, although here, the thing we do not speak of is very much alive with an insatiable appetite for townsfolk.

The story revolves around a young girl Ada(Lauren Ashley Carter) she's been chosen to be "joined" with a young man Bodey(Mathieu Whitman). The thing is, she's not a virgin anymore(oddly enough in this town the woman is examined for purity). Not only is she not a virgin, she is pregnant by her brother Jessaby(Daniel Manche), something that is extremely frowned upon even in this backwater community. Ada soon learns that her current problems are nothing when compared to what may be in store for her. As you likely already know, this town has a secret, they worship an unseen being that resides in a blood filled pit located at the edge of town. A man named Dawai(Sean Bridgers)who is the local pot maker receives visions where he falls into a trance like state, blindly making a jug bearing the face of the next person the pit desires as a sacrifice. One night Ada stumbles upon the next jug face discovering that it's her face on the jug. This sets forth a chain of events & deaths as Ada searches for a resolution.

Despite this being Kinkles first feature film, a low budget indie, he took an idea that sounds a bit ridiculous and for ninety minutes made me believe in it. None of which would have been possible without the top notch acting all around, especially by Sean Bridgers, Lauren Ashley Carter, Larry Fessenden and Sean Young. Besides having an odd title, although a very fitting one in retrospect, no inadequacies come to mind in terms of production value or score. The effects were minimal, but compelling. They chose to use their minimal budget wisely and in doing so they did a sufficient job inferring the violence, showing mainly the aftermath which was fine and the scenes that did happen to include gore were chosen wisely. In the end "Jug Face" is a recommendable offbeat horror flick for those fans sick of the same old slasher/inbred killer/pointless torture films that the horror genre is over saturated with.

One thing that annoys me more than anything in movies is that a movie with very little depth to the plot is hailed as being mysterious. From reading most the the reviews on "Jug Face," the consensus seems to be that not only is it a good movie, but that there are a lot of secrets hidden in the movie.

This movie is pretty idiotic actually and those who claim it has re-watch value must have a completely different standard for movies than I do. The tale is completely nonsensical. Yes there are plenty of questions left unanswered, but this is not because the movie is deep and hard to understand. Questions are left unanswered because there are no answers to them. This movie paints a picture that is more like a child's finger painting than a Van Gogh.

What you get is a story about a small community who worships a hole in the ground and routinely sacrifices one of its members to the pit. When you watch the first scene that shows this, you will likely believe that it is a ripoff of Shirley Jackson's legendary story "The Lottery." The townspeople gather around a pit and a potter brings a jug that was molded to match the face of one of the community members. That person immediately has his throat slit and the blood pours into the pit.

The main character discovers that she is the next one to be sacrificed and goes long ways to prevent this. Because of this, more people are killed. You get to see a spirit from the pit show up and see Ada having all these idiotic hallucinations. The best part, however, is the wonderful townsfolk who know the sick stuff this community does and not only do they keep silent about it, they immediately turn Ada back over to them despite her informing them that her community was going to hurt her.

This ending of this film will irritate than make them happy. Ada goes ahead and accepts her fate and dies. Rather than some wonderful moment occurring, she apologizes to a community about to murder her because other people were killed instead of her. She apologized to a bunch of dumb hillbillies who should have left the area where the pit is and refused to participate in the idiotic ritual.

The lesson in this movie is do not protect yourself from being killed because if you do, the people that are trying to kill you will die. A truly worthless and stupid message from an equally worthless and stupid movie.

I'm going to keep this short.

I appreciate what the writer was trying to show people but I felt it to be stereo typical portrayal of a backwoods village community. It was a sleazy film with a very mundane storyline. It could have been 40 minutes shorter than it was.

The scene with the foetus in the bath tub left me feeling sick. It was a sexist incestuous pile of absolute rubbish. I watched it purely because I like to review all new horror movies.

I wanted to turn off after 20 minutes but I wanted to give a complete review. Having seen the ratings I can tell this film could become a cult classic for all the wrong reasons.

I do not recommend.

2 stars.

This film is about moonshining hillbillies who worship a pit. Inside the pit there is some sort of sinister force that requires blood sacrifices as payment for the healing water it provides. The sacrifices are people chosen by the pit and through visions, are revealed to a potter who in turn makes a moonshine jug with the face of the next sacrifice. Ada is a young woman who is engaging in a sexual relationship with her brother and has learned she is pregnant but has been arranged to marry someone else. She makes her way to the potter's house and finds her face on the jug that is being fired in a makeshift kiln. Scared and unwilling to be sacrificed, she takes the jug and hides it in the forest, setting off a bloody chain reaction from the force of the pit.

I give this film props for it's attempt at making something new. The acting was decent and the settings fit the storyline well. However, I just don't feel this film. Being vague can go a long way in a film and it can even add to the creepiness but it can also leave the viewer with so many questions that the impact can not reach its potential.

I thought there was a good storyline a big part of the film but not really understanding the pit, the force behind it, the shunned ones and how it became something worshiped took too much away from what it could have been with me. And yes, I did catch the moment where there was reference made about the pit and a pox outbreak. It just wasn't enough to satisfy my curiosity or justify sacrifices.

It's not an awful film but it is just too vague for me. Had there been more to it, I could've enjoyed this much more.

Teenage Ada lives in a closed woodland community with her family which sounds idyllic were it not for the fact that that deity they worship demands human blood. Ada's problems escalate when she discovers that she is pregnant and that that she is soon to be sacrificed to the pit.

Jug Face is a wonderfully constructed and quietly intelligent film, with a plot which from it's description unfairly invokes up images of something perhaps more B-movie-ish. What you will find rather than a sensationalised romp through the woods with inbred hillbillies is an emotionally intelligent coming of age drama, with some very respectable quality horror included in the mix.

Performances here are consistently wonderful, with Sean Young in particularly terrifying form as Ada's sadistic mother (she is arguably more horrific than whatever it is that lives inside the pit). Elsewhere, relationships between characters are believable, often touching and collectively build a picture of a real community whom rely upon one another entirely for survival, support and solace. Ada suffers inner conflict during her transition from teenager to adult, wrestling with her individualistic urges and her responsibilities to the community. A sense of reverence and fear for the pit comes across very well and clearly throughout. Visual effects are used sparingly and appropriately and never at the expense of the story.

This is very human film with potentially wide appeal. It would be of definite interest to cinema buffs and movie snobs as well as genre-loyal horror fans. Older teenagers may possibly enjoy it. Anybody who craves a break from the stupidity of the mainstream should give it a try. For people who would rather see CGI demons or torture porn Jug Face will be of absolutely no interest at all and undoubtedly leave them bored and somewhat baffled.

Overall aside from being extraordinarily enjoyable and intriguing Jug Face is quite simply a well-conceived, well-acted and well executed film. No silly plot holes, no desperate plot twists- just a good solid piece of work with strong dialogue and an interesting thematic premise. In a world where the opposite is the norm, all of this is quite an achievement. Director Chad Crawford Kinkle is one to watch and based on this directorial début seems certain to go on to do great things.

There really should be more films like this one.

Jug Face is exactly as the title implies, a ceramic jug with the human face of the next person to be sacrificed to a pit in the woods of Tennessee. A bunch of red neck moonshiners are sending both friends and relatives to a blood thirsty pit on a regular basis. Ada(Lauren Ashley Carter), a dead ringer for Christina Ricci, is a pregnant teen who hides her jug face in order to avoid a quick death. Others are killed instead of her to keep the pit happy. The story is a variation of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. People are basically foolish and superstitious and will do many dumb things to get by and blend in. It is a simple message, but in the case of this movie, it never really goes anywhere. The lead actress is very good, and she is worth a 5/10 overall.

Someone on here had the nerve to say this movie was a cross between "The wicker man" and hill billy horror movies like the first wrong turn...

Well it's not...

I'd been looking forward to it given the interesting synopsis. Hick American locals have ancient ritual, where if the pot maker makes a jug that looks like you, the towns folk sacrifice you to an old mythical pit.

It started off OK, but as soon as the towns folk started getting killed left right and centre any suspense was lost. Note to film makers, the less people that die the more of a climax/shock there is when one of the characters we have bought into dies...

It also had a really cheap feel to it. Obviously a quite low budget movie, but if they had saved some money on paying actors like Sean Young(she's nothing special in terms of acting anyway...) they could have spent some more money on... well anything else really...

It's a shame, because the concept was quite interesting...

JUG FACE… unoriginal (we've all seen this basic plot many times before, we've also seen it done better), misogynistic (there's female nudity, a mother violently sexually assaults her own daughter, but the director goes out of his way not to show even so much as the upper butt crack on a male, an old man takes a dump in a bucket with his pants on - yet there doesn't seem to be a tact barrier as there is clearly no problem showing a miscarried fetus), filled with generic cardboard characters, and worse… it commits the most unforgivable of horror movie sins… it was just plain boring! There are no twists. There are no turns. The ending is predictable. Very disappointing.