Better Half

Find out what’s been eating her. (Unmarked Spoilers)

Anne Fedder (Barbara Crampton) is the stifled wife of Jakob (Larry Fessenden), a minister who is so dedicated to his job that he wears his collar all the time. He leaves a lot to be desired in terms of being a husband, though. He talks over her, talks down to her, and snores. One day she decides to show her old flame Tom Low (Robert Rusler) around an old mill he’s going to redevelop. They kiss, but Anne declines to go further than that. Shortly afterward there interrupted by the Master (Bonnie Aarons), a vampire who’s been using the factory as a hideout.

Anne gets bitten, but soon she finds herself feeling great. Her boldness, sexual appetite, and energy increase. Is this like what happened to Jack Nicholson in Wolf? Well, it’s similar, yes, but it’s implied that Anne as a vampire is the person she used to be. So this is much more of a reawakening for her. The only downside is the hunger for fresh human blood.

Jakob’s Wife is a real who’s who when it comes to horror. Crampton’s a scream queen whose big break was playing Megan Halsey from Re-Animator. Fessenden has also had a long career in the genre, writing, directing, and acting in numerous projects. One of which was the video game Until Dawn (spoilers), which I highly recommend if you have a PS4. Aarons played Valak, that creepy-a*s demon nun from those Conjuring movies. And they are all great in this movie. 

However, upon finishing the film, I’m left with a few questions. First off, is this movie supposed to be a comedy? It has such a dour and dreary tone for most of its runtime, but then it’ll do something that seems deliberately silly. Like how whenever anyone gets their throat bitten out, it unleashes this geyser of blood that’s not scientifically accurate whatsoever.

Also, is the word master a gender-neutral term? Because I’ve only heard it applied to males and female masters get called mistress, like in Doctor Who. Meanwhile, the Master in this movie is played by a woman but has this androgynously autotuned voice like Gozer from Ghostbusters or Satan from The Passion of the Christ. Jakob refers to the Master as she after they’ve met, but I still found the whole thing very confusing. 

What? I’m missing the point? No, I can see and appreciate the feminist themes of this movie. Oh, Jakob says that she wouldn’t have gotten bitten if Anne didn’t have her little tryst. Classic victim-blaming. Like saying that a girl should have known what would have happened when they went to that one party and accepted that one drink. How Anne’s not even her own person, but an extension of Jakob. Hence the title of the movie.

Also, it doesn’t receive as much focus, but Jakob’s Wife does provide a look at toxic masculinity. At one point, Jakob goes to his brother Bob (Mark Kelly) with his suspicions that Anne’s change in attitude is due to her having an affair. Does Bob advise him to talk to his wife because the fact he even suspects her of straying suggests there’s a deeper issue at play? No, he tells Jakob to do the mature thing and confront Tom about it.

So, in the end, Anne chooses not to look for a cure after Jakob killing the Master doesn’t turn her back. Saying that she likes the way she is now. Alright, but there seems like there’s a middle ground between being an assertive vampire and a submissive human. It seems Anne could be human again but continue living as she did as a vampire. You can’t compromise on every issue, but this doesn’t seem like one of those times.

This whole movie reminds me of something that Duke (Diana Hopper) said in Bit. “The world’s a meatgrinder, kid, especially if you’re a woman. I don’t think you need a PowerPoint presentation to know that one’s true. We’re politically, socially, and mythologically f****d. Our roles are secondary. Our body’s suspect, alien, other. We’re made to be monsters, so let’s be monsters. Let’s be gods. What we offer here is not the chance to join a group, but the chance to truly be an individual.”

Like I’ve said many times before, I’m a guy. I cannot begin to imagine the degradation that women must face on a daily basis. At the same time, becoming empowered by becoming a monster seems like a solution that’s equally bad, if not worse, than the problem they’re trying to solve. I find the situation comparable to Fight Club. Mindless consumerism makes your lives empty and unhappy? (spoiler) Better turn to domestic terrorism at the behest of a charismatic cult leader. (/spoiler)

All in all, I liked Jakob’s Wife. Certainly not as much as a liked PG: Psycho Goreman, mind you, but it was still good. I also found the ending mildly unsatisfying, and the plot/themes indeed tread over familiar ground, but the strong performances from its cast help make up for that. If you subscribe to Shudder, then I would recommend checking this movie out.