This review was original published as part of my coverage of Fantasia 2020
A couple attempts a Satanic ritual to bring back their deceased grandson in Anything for Jackson. Audrey (Sheila McCarthy) and Henry (Julian Richings) Walsh are a couple who are willing to do anything to bring back their two-year-old grandson Jackson, who was killed along with their daughter in a car accident. To achieve this, they end up kidnapping the pregnant Becker (Konstantina Mantelos), in order to perform a thousand-year-old Satanic ritual to transfer Jackson's spirit to Becker's unborn child. However, it turns out that the spell opens the doorway for other spirits as well.
Anything for Jackson is a horror-comedy from director Justin G. Dyck, which stars Canadian icons, Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings as a desperate couple willing to go to any lengths to bring back their grandson Jackson. However, the ritual they perform ends up resulting in residual haunting. In addition, the couple has to deal with their snow-clearing neighbour Rory (Yannick Bisson), the investigation into Becker's disappearance by Detective Bellows (Lanette Ware), and the involvement by fellow-Satanist Ian (Josh Cruddas).
Both Anything for Jackson director Justin G. Dyck and screenwriter Keith Cooper are known primarily for making Harlequin Christmas TV movies, so it is quite an achievement that they were able to successfully make the move into horror-comedy. Part of this comes from the lead performances by Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings, who remain quite likable, despite the fact that they are performing evil deeds. Add a number of impressive ghosts, and a gore gag involving a snowblower, and Anything for Jackson makes for a quite entertaining film.
Anything for Jackson airs on October 28, 2020, at 9:00 PM as part of the 2020 Blood in the Snow Film Festival on SuperChannel Fuse
Trailer for Anything for Jackson – Blood in the Snow 2020
