'The Jack In The Box' Trailer Review

Luckily, I never had a jack in the box toy when I was a child. I was born during the 90s, so they might've not been as popular among kids. Imagine yourself as a toddler and getting this monstrosity with your chicken nuggets. The premise of the upcoming horror movie, The Jack In The Box, doesn't even feature kids in its official teaser, released at the end of July. Matter of fact, there's just one character with dialogue in the entire trailer, because the focus is on establishing an eerie atmosphere.

During the first few seconds, audiences see an older man walking in a barren, foggy field when he happens to "accidentally" find what looks like buried treasure. He clears the dirt to reveal the name, Jack, and in the scene that follows it, we learn the buried secret was a large chest with a toy clown inside. We can only presume the older man's wife, with her awed expression, has never seen magic like this before. It's in the next cutscene that Jack, now transformed into a life-sized evil entity, uses bird-like claws to climb out of the chest and attack her.

Notice she's still wearing the same pink blouse from two seconds ago—her childlike fascination was hilariously short-lived. Jack's killing spree at the end of the trailer leaves us wanting more since we're left wondering his motives, and basically everything else about this movie. Set to be released sometime in 2020, The Jack In The Box reads more like a bad parody than it does a scary film. In the day and age where the horror movie genre is mostly reliant on CGI mechanics, and psychological tactics to unsettle viewers, a blatantly predictable horror movie with some comedy is a breath of fresh air for people who don't want to take things too seriously.

Looking back at classic slasher films from the 80s that are still popular today, there's an element of continuity that binds them all together. Audiences aren't necessarily scared of Freddy Krueger, but the thrill that Nightmare on Elm Street evoked with its release is somehow replicated again and again. Die-hard fans eventually learn to appreciate the unintended humor of recycled jump scares. The Jack In The Box movie is very similar to Jack Frost (1997) in its evident plot development.

For true fans of the genre, a good horror movie doesn't solely rely on creepy abandoned houses or deserted roads, but on what a director can do with them. An example of this kind of creativity within the genre is Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story. Also, one of the most underestimated aspects of movies, in general, is the ambiance. Besides the scary movies themselves, there's nothing that will send chills down my spine quicker than a well-orchestrated score. The Jack In The Box trailer is quick to use a dark background theme to bring its atmosphere together, making it the most memorable element, almost to make up for the lack of film structure.

The Jack In The Box, not to be confused with another horror movie, Jack in the Box (2009), implies it will be an open book for movie critics of all kinds. The release of a second trailer with more context is a likely possibility as the year 2019 comes to a close. Considering the horror movies set to be released next year, it'll be interesting to see who it competes with at the box office. The Jack In The Box official teaser trailer is available for your viewing pleasure on YouTube. I opted to leave the trailer out of this review in case any readers are sensitive to clowns.