It has been a while since we’ve visited the local library and found some hidden horror masterpieces in their collection, but we watched this a few months back. We’ve been slowing down on the horror in order to prep for The Nightmare on Film Street’s 31 Day Horror Challenge this October. Now that the prompts are out we’ll be setting up our view list for this year and can get back to watching and reviewing every horror movie at our local library from A to Z!
The Shudder channel from AMC started as a streaming service for niche horror, and then in 2018, Joe Bob Brigg’s The Last Drive-In 24+ Hour Movie Marathon started to be advertised and the 12 year old in me squealed with glee. Joe Bob was my late night horror host hero. TNT’s MonsterVision was my religion and Joe Bob the minister of its sacred teachings, the Three B’s. Blood. Beasts. And Breasts. While MonsterVision on TNT was clearly lacking one of those key tenets, it was the premier place on TV to see a lot of genre classics in the 90s.
Fast forward to 2026 and Shudder is the premier place for streaming genre classics, foreign horror, and niche films that have an audience, even if it isn’t you. The other thing it has led to are Shudder Originals.
Anything for Jackson(2020) is a Shudder Original directed by Justin G. Dyck and written by Keith Cooper. The film follows the Audrey and Henry, a grieving couple who have lost their grandson and turn to their Satanist beliefs to try and put their grandson’s spirit into that of an unborn child. The film hits some familiar vibes with its domestic horror and commentary on women’s bodily autonomy. It definitely gives off similar vibes to Rosemary’s Baby(1968), The Exorcist (1973), and The Omen (1978); which I just finished hearing analysis of in Scream With Me: Horror Films and the Rise of American Feminism (1968 – 1980) by Eleanor Johnson. A fantastic read by someone way smarter than me.
The unborn child is that of a pregnant woman seen by Henry, an OBGYN, whom is kidnapped and held at the couple’s residence. There is definitely a lot to say about bodily autonomy in this movie, especially with the 2022 dismantling of Roe v. Wade. But it should also be noted that this was a Covid-19 pandemic made film, however it does not suffer at all for the restrictions to prevent infection. In fact, there is a distance and outsider feel we get as a viewer as we watch the events unfold.
What separates this film from others of the domestic horror genre is the premise: essentially a reverse exorcism. Audrey and Henry, as devout Satanists, have found a spell that will allow a soul to enter a vessel. They also discuss this with the other members of their religion in shots that look like people trying to maintain social distancing. Everyone in a circle six feet away from each other. They way it is presented is natural and seems right for a coven of Satanists meeting in secret.
It also plays on the fear that comes with being isolated and apart from society. Famous Philadelphian philosopher Dennis Reynolds coined a term he called: “the implication.” It was typically referred to in a predatory manner, in which a woman is more submissive to a man when out at sea, or in isolation, as there is always the implication of him committing a horrific crime which is easily concluded to be an accident. We see the implication in our pregnant taken captive who understands that she has to do whatever she can to save her own life and therefore tries to comply and connect with her captors. It adds another layer of fear because at the time of this movie’s release, I am sure there are plenty of individuals who were dealing with the anxiety of being alone in a worldwide pandemic and the implications of what could occur in those early days or if there was societal collapse.
This movie has a surprising amount of layers that keep you thinking about its themes and the various wheels that are turning in this reverse exorcism story. Shudder has been a fantastic thing to happen to the horror industry and I hope they are able to maintain a presence for us fans.
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Check it out from the Cabell County Public Library.
https://cabellcounty.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/test
*THIS POST AND THE A to Z Horror REVIEWS ARE NOT PROVIDED, ENDORSED, or SPONSORED by Cabell County Public Library*
Visit your local library and see what Horror they have to offer A to Z.