Jug Face (C+)

The pit wants what it wants.

I seem to remember hearing about Jug Face a while back. I wasn't really sure if it was going to be my type of movie or not, but at 80 minutes, it was a quick fix and I figured I had nothing to lose by watching it. I wasn't disappointed in the film, but it didn't make much of an impact on me, either. I'm not sure why, actually, because it's well done, given the budget constraints. The cast is great, and includes a few folks I didn't expect to see, and the director (Chad Crawford Kinkle) does a fine job of keeping things moving.

Imagine an insular backwoods community that worships a muddy pit in the forest. The pit offers healing powers to the community members, but for a price. Every so often, the community's jug maker is either possessed or put into a trance and forced to create a clay jug representing someone's face. That person is obliged to be sacrificed to whatever terrible thing (you never really see it) is in the pit. This tradition has been going on for quite some time, and the community has come to accept these grisly transactions.

Ada (Lauren Ashley Carter) discovers that she's next in line to be sacrificed to the pit when she finds the next jug. Frightened, she buries the jug in the woods. She also learns that she's to be joined (married) to Bodey (Mathieu Whitman), a boy from one of the other families, a prospect that doesn't exactly thrill her. Virginity is a big deal to these folks, which is especially troubling due to the fact that Ada has been having sex with her brother, Jessaby (Daniel Manche). To complicate matters further, she discovers that she's pregnant with Jessaby's child.

The pit.

When the pit doesn't get the sacrifice it's demanded, it begins to kill other members of the community, starting with Eilen (Jennifer Spriggs), Bodey's sister. The community decides that the pit has been angered somehow, assuming that a demanded sacrifice hasn't been made. The jug maker, Dawai (Sean Bridgers of Deadwood fame), creates the jugs while possessed/entranced. He has no memory of where he might have put the last jug, and is unable to find it. On Ada's advice, Dawai creates a new jug "from memory," which ends up being of Bodey.

Though Bodey is sacrificed to the pit, the supernatural force is still angry and it kills others as the story progresses. Ada, knowing that she should've been sacrificed but unwilling to kill her unborn child, attempts to escape to a nearby town along with Dawai. This is harder than it sounds, and the two are soon back in the woods where they must face the music for what they've done.

All in all, the cast is great. Ada's mother, Loriss (as portrayed by Sean Young) is especially good. Ada's father, Sustin (Larry Fessenden) is also well-played, and his love for his daughter is readily apparent. The special effects are few and far between, but there is some occasional gore resulting from the pit's angry outbursts. As mentioned, the creature (or whatever it is) isn't depicted directly, and there isn't much in the way of actual scares, though there are a few moments of suspense sprinkled liberally throughout.

Ada finds a jug that bears her face. Hilarity ensues.

My score of C+ here isn't a bad thing. I feel that Jug Face is above average, especially given its budget, and I enjoyed watching it. The premise of a muddy pit that demands human sacrifices in the middle of the woods might seem far-fetched and ridiculous, but the movie faces this reality with seriousness and steadfast determination. This makes all the difference, as the plot might have been considered silly if the cast and direction hadn't made it seem so plausible.