The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
The Jack in the Box: Awakening
Horror · 2022
When a vintage Jack-in-the-box is opened by a dying woman, she enters into a deal with the demon within that would see her illness cured in return for helping it claim six innocent victims.
Movie details
The Jack in the Box: Awakening
“Once you open the box... you can't escape it.”
2022 Horror 1h 29m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.2 / 10
Community rating
When a vintage Jack-in-the-box is opened by a dying woman, she enters into a deal with the demon within that would see her illness cured in return for helping it claim six innocent victims.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Jack in the Box: Awakening?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Cobweb
Horror · 2023
Eight year old Peter is plagued by a mysterious, constant tapping from inside his bedroom wall—one that his parents insist is all in his imagination. As Peter's fear intensifies, he believes that his parents could be hiding a terrible, dangerous secret and questions their trustworthiness.
Halloween
Horror · 2007
The early years of young Michael Myers and the events leading up to his fateful Halloween night murder rampage in the quiet town of Haddonfield, Illinois.
Terrifier
Horror · 2018
A maniacal clown named Art terrorizes three young women on Halloween night and everyone else who stands in his way.
Annabelle Comes Home
Horror · 2019
Determined to keep Annabelle from wreaking more havoc, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren bring the possessed doll to the locked artifacts room in their home, placing her “safely” behind sacred glass and enlisting a priest’s holy blessing. But an unholy night of horror awaits as Annabelle awakens the evil spirits in the room, who all set their sights on a new target—the Warrens' ten-year-old daughter, Judy, and her friends.
Terrifier 2
Horror · 2022
A year after the Miles County massacre, Art the Clown is resurrected by a sinister entity. Art returns home, where he must hunt down and destroy teenage Sienna and her younger brother Jonathan on Halloween. As the body count rises, the siblings fight to stay alive while uncovering the true nature of Art's evil intent.
Annabelle: Creation
Horror · 2017
Several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a doll maker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon becoming the target of the doll maker's possessed creation—Annabelle.
Terrifier 3
Horror · 2024
Five years after surviving Art the Clown's Halloween massacre, Sienna and Jonathan are still struggling to rebuild their shattered lives. As the holiday season approaches, they try to embrace the Christmas spirit and leave the horrors of the past behind. But just when they think they're safe, Art returns, determined to turn their holiday cheer into a new nightmare. The festive season quickly unravels as Art unleashes his twisted brand of terror, proving that no holiday is safe.
Clown in a Cornfield
Horror · 2025
Quinn and her father have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time.
Dark Harvest
Horror · 2023
In a small Midwestern town, a deadly annual ritual unfolds when the mythical nightmare, Sawtooth Jack, rises from the cornfields and challenges the town’s teenage boys in a bloody battle of survival.
The Town that Dreaded Sundown
Thriller · 2014
A masked maniac terrorizes the same small community where a murderer known as the Phantom Killer struck decades earlier.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Lawrence Fowler
Written by
Lawrence Fowler
Matt McClure
Edgar Marsdale
Mollie Hindle-Pérez
Amy Proctor
James Swanton
Jack
Nicola Wright
Olga Marsdale
Nicholas Anscombe
Doctor Clarke
Michaela Longden
Janet
Erina Mashate
Stacey
Court is in session
Put The Jack in the Box: Awakening on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Prestige Tourist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.