User:Roger Bomont/sandbox

The Jack in the Box is a 2019 British horror film written and directed by Lawrence Fowler. It follows an American curator who discovers a creepy jack in the box toy in the British museum where he works. As staff and visitors at the museum start to disappear when the box is put on display it slowly dawns on him that the box contains a malevolent entity within it. Enlisting the help of his co-worker, he struggles to confront and conquer the demon who inhabits the box. The film stars Ethan Taylor, Robert Nairne, Lucy-Jane Quinlan and Philip Ridout.

Development of the film began in February 2018 with the main concept for the film and preliminary designs for the jack in the box. The script continued to be developed throughout 2018. Funding negotiations with potential backers were well underway in early 2019 when the availability of the main location, Abington Park Museum in Northampton, UK, became an issue and the production company, Fowler Media Limited, decided to fully fund the film themselves in order to have the funding in place in time to shoot the film when the museum was available. The main actors, Ethan Taylor and Lucy-Jane Quinlan, were quickly attached as the director had worked with them previously and had always had them in mind for the roles. The casting of the role of the demon, Jack, was critical to the success of the film and required an experienced creature actor. This problem was solved when Robert Nairne, whose previous credits include aliens in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens and the vampire in Penny Dreadful. Principal photography started on 25 March 2019.

The Jack in the Box was released in the United Kingdom on 17 February 2020 by High Fliers and in the United States on 5 May 2020 by 4Digital Media. The release coincided with the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and so was released theatrically in some international territories when circumstances allowed and on VOD or DVD in others. Despite this it had a favourable reception from audiences. Where pandemic restrictions allowed a theatrical release the film did well, In Italy the film was number four at the box office during its first week and in Malaysia, number three for two weeks.

Plot
Metal detectorist Norman Cleaver digs up an ancient Jack-in-the-Box whilst out metal detecting. Taking it back to his house he shows it to his wife Belle. Whilst he is out of the room Belle is astonished to see a strange claw coming out of the box. It grabs her and before Norman can do anything about it, drags her into the box. Seventeen years later Casey Reynolds, a museum curator from United States arrives at a small museum in the UK to take a job. He is shown round by co-worker Lisa Cartwright. In a store room at the back of the museum they discover an old Jack-in-the-Box. After turning the handle the box opens suddenly and an ancient Jack-in-the-Box pops up. Lisa decides to call-in an antiques expert to have a look at the strange box.

Later that night the museum is broken into by two burglars. One of the burglars comes across the box which has been placed on a table in an empty room. He taunts the jack doll that stands in the box because of its strange looks then is dragged into the box by the Demon. Meanwhile the other burglar is oblivious to what is happening until he too is attacked and killed by the Demon. The next morning Casey comes in to the museum and is astonished to see the front door open and leaflets strewn around the floor. He realises that someone has broken in to the museum but he and Lisa can't see anything missing. The antiques expert arrives and tells Casey that jack in the boxes were first built to contain evil entities.

Later, a visitor arrives at the Museum and makes her way to the case where the Jack-in-the-Box is being displayed. The lights go off and she finds herself face-to-face with the jack Demon from the box. He kills her. Thinking the visitor has left the building Casey closes up for the night. The next day he comes across a missing poster of the visitor which has been pinned to a tree. He vaguely recognises her but he doubts himself and walks away. Below that poster are two more showing pictures of two more missing men revealed to be the burglars who broke into the museum. Casey does some more research into the Jack-in-the-Box. The box is sitting on the table next to him as he reads he does not notice the dolls head slowly turning towards him. He looks up and is shocked to see the jack doll facing him. Just then Rachel the manager of the museum arrives. She seems happy that Casey discovered the Jack-in-the-Box and wants it put on display in the main museum.

Casey closes up the museum for the night and the only person left in the building is the cleaner Mandy. As she cleans the room where the Jack-in-the-Box is being displayed she does not notice the eyes of the jack doll turn to look at her. The door suddenly sham slams and the cleaner realises that something is wrong. With a growing sense of unease she escapes from the room and makes her way downstairs, past the box. At the bottom of the stairs the Jack Demon waits for her and kills her. The next day Lisa discovers Casey sitting on the stairs playing a recording on his phone over and over again. She discovers that it is of Casey's girlfriend calling for help before being attacked and killed by an unknown assailant. Casey says that he did not return her call and blames himself for her death. Just then a police detective arrives, investigating the recent disappearances. Detective Martin asks Casey some questions but Casey is reluctant to say that he believes that something paranormal is going on. Martin leaves and Casey decides to call a friend and ask him to track down a demonologist called Maurice.

Casey sets up his phone to record the Jack-in-the-Box. He leaves the room and when he comes back the Jack-in-the-Box is missing. The lights go off and Casey tries to escape before coming face-to-face with the Jack Demon who attacks him. Casey is surprised when the Demon doesn't kill him and instead disappears. He goes back to the display case and sees that the Jack-in-the-Box has returned to its original position within the case. The next day Casey tries to show Lisa the recording on his phone/camera but the recording is useless. Lisa is concerned that Casey is becoming increasingly manic. She does not believe that anything paranormal is happening.

Going back to the storeroom where they originally found the Jack-in-the-Box, Casey comes across an old docket showing the address of the previous owner of the box. Typing the address into his laptop he finds that the previous owner, Norman Cleaver, was involved in a controversial incident in which a number of people disappeared including Cleaver's wife. He decides to visit Cleaver. Arriving at his house Cleaver is initially reluctant to see Casey but eventually agrees and tells him the whole story. Leaving Cleaver's house, Casey has a vision of his dead girlfriend warning him not to run away and urging him to confront the Demon.

Going back to the museum, Casey picks up the Jack-in-the-Box, dropping his keys whilst doing so. He drives out to a secluded field and sets light to the box, destroying it completely. Casey returns to the museum searching for his lost keys he finds them and, descending the stairs, finds The box completely at the bottom undamaged. Casey confronts the Demon and tells him that if anyone has to die it should be him. Once more the Demon attacks Casey but does not kill him. The next day Lisa arrives and finds Casey on the floor unconscious. Later that morning Lisa and Casey meet their manager Rachel. Casey tries to explain to Rachel the danger of the Jack-in-the-Box but Rachel does not believe him. Casey is fired. Casey warns Lisa to get away from the museum and goes to see Maurice the demonologist who tells him how to destroy the Demon. Meanwhile Rachel the manager is attacked and killed by the Demon. Rachel's severed foot is discovered by Lisa and Lisa attacks the Jack doll knocking its head off. Lisa calls the police and then tries to escape from the museum but the Jack demon finds her and she is badly hurt. Casey arrives at the Museum and comes to Lisa's rescue. He uses the information given to him by the demonologist to force the Demon back into the box. The lid of the box closes seemingly ending the danger.The police arrive and thinking that Casey has attacked Lisa they arrest him and take him into custody. Casey is interrogated by officer Martin. During the interrogation Casey sees a picture of one of the demon's severed claws on the ground and realises that the Demon has not been killed and that Lisa is still in danger. He tries to persuade the police to go and protect her but they ignore his pleas. Meanwhile Lisa goes to see the demonologist herself and is told to bury the box. She drags the box out into the middle of field and buries it. As she does so, the lid of the box opens and the Demon grabs her ankle and pulls her into the box.

Cast

 * Ethan Taylor as Casey Reynolds, a museum curator
 * Robert Nairne as Jack, the demon
 * Lucy-Jane Quinlan as Lisa Cartwright, a museum curator
 * Philip Ridout as Norman Cleaver, husband of a victim of Jack
 * Darrie Gardner as Rachel Thompson, a victim of Jack
 * Charles Abomeli as David Onyilogwu, an antiques expert
 * Simon Balfour as Detective Martin, a police detective
 * Tom Carter as Maurice Ainsworth, a demonologist
 * Vinnie Clarke as Aaron Bishop, a burglar
 * William Frazer as Steven Moore, a burglar
 * Stacey Lynn Crowe as Gwen Parkinson, a victim of Jack
 * Laura Janes as Maria Smith, Casey's girlfriend
 * Kathleen Ray as Mandy Hinchley, a victim of Jack
 * Penelope Wildgoose as Belle Cleaver, a victim of Jack
 * Lucy Proctor as Waitress
 * Peter Rawlings as Prison Guard

Development
Development of the film began in February 2018 with the main concept for the film and preliminary designs for the jack in the box. The script continued to be developed throughout 2018. Funding negotiations with potential backers were well underway in early 2019 when the availability of the main location, Abington Park Museum in Northampton, UK, became an issue and the production company, Fowler Media Limited, decided to fully fund the film themselves in order to have the funding in place in time to shoot the film when the museum was available. The main actors, Ethan Taylor and Lucy-Jane Quinlan, were quickly attached as the director had worked with them previously and had always had them in mind for the roles. The casting of the role of the demon, Jack, was critical to the success of the film and required an experienced creature actor. This problem was solved when Robert Nairne joined the cast, whose previous credits include aliens in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens and the vampire in Penny Dreadful. Principal photography started on 25 March 2019.

Music
The original score for the film was composed by Austrian composer Christoph Allerstorfer, known for his work in movie advertising campaigns, with music used in Star Wars - Rogue One, IT Chapter 2, Midsommar and High Life amongst others.

Filming
Principal photography began on March 25, 2019, and ended on April 10, 2019, in Northampton, UK.

Special effects and props
Most of the special effects for the film were done as practical effects, mostly created by Geoff Fowler, with some costume effects provided by Isabella Larter.

Release
The release of The Jack in the Box coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 so the film was released theatrically and non-theatrically in different territories depending on how badly those territories were being affected by the pandemic. First release was in the UK on February 17, 2020 followed by the US release on May 5th, 2020. Both of these releases were on VOD and DVD. Conditions allowed a theatrical release in Italy on September 17, 2020 and in Malaysia and various other countries across Asia. The film received a staggered theatrical release throughout Latin America from the latter part of 2020 into 2021.

Box office
The Jack in the Box entered the box office chart at number four in Italy in its first week and number three in Malaysia.

Critical response
Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 91% of 406 reviews of the film were positive with an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Smart, well-acted, and above all scary, The Invisible Man proves that sometimes, the classic source material for a fresh reboot can be hiding in plain sight." Metacritic assigned a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 58 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak reported it received an overall positive score of 76% and an average four out of five stars, with 53% of people they polled saying they would definitely recommend the film.

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote that Moss's performance "gives the movie its emotional stakes," adding, "while her agony can be unnerving, it is even more shivery when her weeping stops and this horror-movie damsel in distress becomes a threat." Writing for The A.V. Club, Jesse Hassenger gave the film a "B+", also praising Moss's performance and the film's centering of her character's experience; the publication followed up with a video review from senior writer Katie Rife and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, who also gave a positive review, for the aesthetic and filmmaking of Blumhouse Productions and Moss's performance. Alison Willmore of Vulture commented about the effectiveness of Moss's facial expressions, and said that she "has established herself as an empress of the onscreen breakdown, our lady of ruined eye makeup". Patrick Cavanaugh of ComicBook.com gave the film four out of five stars, and wrote that Whannell's film is "an experience that is both effective as a full-blown horror film and as a chilling reminder of the abuse one can suffer from a supposed loved one."

Conversely, Nicholas Barber from BBC gave the film two out of five stars, opining that "the latest remake of the HG Wells tale offers a timely feminist spin – but it's lacking in thrills." He criticized the film's vagueness, concluding, "at a time when small-scale horror movies can be as stunning as A Quiet Place and Get Out, a film as perfunctory as The Invisible Man feels insulting." Jake Coyle of the Associated Press was also less than positive, describing it as " a bracingly modern #MeToo allegory that, despite its brutal craft, rings hollow."

The Invisible Man appeared on 51 critics' year-end top-10 lists, including six second-place rankings.

Future

 * The Jack in the Box: Awakening: In March 2020, after the success of the first film had become apparent, the decision was taken to develop a sequel. The script was once again written by Lawrence Fowler and principal photography started in October 2020 and was completed in November 2020 with the same core crew as the first film. Due to be released in late 2021/early 2022, the sequel is entitled The Jack in the Box: Awakening. Although pricipally set later in time than the first film, the second film includes a flashback creation sequence that details how the Jack in the Box came into being. Rumours abound of a third film in development to continue the franchise, although Fowler Media is known to be in pre-production on an unrelated horror film which will be released before any further Jack in the Box films.