Jack’s Back has the displeasure of sounding like a derivative, gore infested horror slasher movie thanks to its poster and plot summary. What else could one expect from a movie about a serial killer on the loose in modern day Los Angeles, replicating the gruesome Jack The Ripper murders precisely 100 years later?
The surprise of Jack’s Back is that it’s far from the slasher we might expect it to be, and is more in line with a moody mystery thriller, perhaps something Hitchcock would have crafted. Here is a movie that isn’t concerned with the gory details of the aforementioned copycat murders, but rather atmosphere, suspense, and a couple clever twists you genuinely won’t see coming. I can’t discuss any more of the film’s plot without spoiling something, and of course I don’t want to do that, but I will say that James Spader plays twin brothers, one a medical student, the other a small time felon, and that one of them is a prime suspect for the murders.
Taking into consideration that Jack’s Back was director Rowdy Herrington’s first feature film, it is easy to understand why it’s a flawed piece of work, but that’s not to say that the movie is terrible, it’s just in need of improvement. It’s as contrived as it sounds, but it’s nice to see those contrivances work in a way that actually tricks you into thinking you’ve got it all figured out, given how straight forward the plot is, until one final twist makes you think “You sure fooled me”. It doesn’t pull the rug out from underneath you, but it sure tries real hard.
I am glad that in today’s world James Spader is having some semblance of a career resurgence these last couple years. I’ve always felt it a shame that such a gifted actor was seemingly thrown to the curb after David Cronenberg’s controversial Crash (no, not the Oscar winning one), which seemed to repulse the average movie goer and film critic. Here in Jack’s Back, Spader was given the opportunity to play the lead for the first time, and not a pawn in a formulaic slasher flick, but a thoughtful pair of twins with some dimensionality to them. I really enjoyed the subtlety with which he treated the actions of the twins, a fine example being a moment when the medical student twin takes an injured old woman’s mind off the pain she’s feeling with just a few simple questions and a humorous punchline.
It’s a pleasure seeing Spader in dual roles, which at the time and still today are quite the rarity. This isn’t like recent films Enemy and The Double, where the leads actors play two different subconscious versions of the same entity, but a very rare occasion where both characters feel like completely different individuals altogether, who just happen to be identical twins. Jack’s Back might not be a great movie, and I’m sure it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but for a first time director and a first time leading man at the time it’s quite the unique treat. Give it a look, it just might surprise you.
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