Jethica – Movie Review (4/5)

JETHICA is a new movie that works incredibly well. A genre-bender that entertains from start to finish. Both the lighter and darker moments of this plot offer a few surprises along the way. A small cast collaborated on writing the film. Read our full Jethica movie review here!

JETHICA is a horror-comedy that both entertains and makes you think about life and death in a different way. A ghostly genre-bender that has so much to offer in its 72-minute runtime. It should come as no surprise to anyone who watched this movie that it has been well-received by both critics and audiences.

This little genre treat has been screened at festivals around the world. This includes film festivals such as Busan, Overlook, and the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. It even received a Special Jury Award at the latter, so you know it’s for horror fans as well.

Continue reading our Jethica movie review below. Find it exclusively on Fandor from February 14, 2023. This release will be followed by an exclusive window on the horror streaming service Screambox.

Supernatural stalker

This new movie is a genre-bender that entertains from start to finish, but often in off-beat and laidback ways. Dialogue and things happening in the background that you catch onto thanks to the way the scene is crafted. In Jethica, both the lighter and darker moments hit all the right notes.

I was even caught off guard a few times by some surprises that I won’t call plot twists but rather plot evolutions.

There is quite a lot of dialogue in Jethica but it never feels like there’s too much. Also, some of it is virtually a monologue when the stalker is trying to convince himself of how wonderful and loving he is. Imagine Joe Goldberg from the Netflix series You but amped up to a whole new level of justifying these actions.

Oh yeah, and this stalker comes with a supernatural twist. Or actually, supernatural help is needed to get rid of this very persistent stalker.

Great characters and wonderful casting

There is a lot of satire in this genre-bender, which requires actors who can deliver lines in exactly the right tone of voice. Fortunately, the cast of Jethica is simply brilliant.

The title character – well, the character it’s named for – is Jessica who is portrayed by Ashley Denise Robinson (The Beta Test). Jessica has a stalker and lives in fear of Kevin who follows her everywhere she goes. While trying to escape his constant presence, she goes on a road trip to her home state of New Mexico.

There she bumps into her high school friend Elena (Callie Hernandez), who’s been hiding out at her deceased grandmother’s ranch. Jessica is acting weird since she’s trying to stay off the grid, but Elena convinces her to come to stay with her for a while. Once safe there, Jessica shows Elena lots of Kevin’s video messages and letters that vary from “loving” to angry and psychotic.

So, when Kevin (Will Madden) mysteriously appears at the very rural ranch area, Jessica and Elena seek help from beyond the grave to get rid of him for good. Unfortunately, Kevin won’t move on so easily.

Watch Jethica on Fandor now and Screambox soon!

Pete Ohs is the director and writer of Jethica but the final movie was made in collaboration with the cast. For this reason, the cast is very appropriately also given writing credit. Whatever Pete Ohs does next, you can be sure I’ll want to check it out!

For me, Jethica is one of those movies that’s difficult to describe without giving away the entire plot. Or without making it sound very weird. And actually, this movie is remarkably simple in its core story. The execution of the storytelling is simply stellar, which is what makes it work so well.

I would love to watch this movie for the first time again and enjoy all the little twists and turns of the wacky little world. Please note, this is neither slapstick nor silly comedy. Instead, it feels very realistic and organic. A description that feels weird since this is a genre-bending movie about ghosts and stalkers. But it still also feels right.

Oh, and do make sure you stick around for the end credit scene. Enjoy!

Jethica will premiere exclusively on Cinedigm’s platform Fandor from February 14, 2023. Following this release will be an exclusive window on Screambox from June 13.

Details

Director: Pete Ohs
Writers: Pete Ohs, Callie Hernandez, Will Madden, Andy Faulkner, Ashley Denise Robinson
Stars: Callie Hernandez, Ashley Denise Robinson, Will Madden, Andy Faulkner