DVD Review: Jonah Lives

Jonah Lives is a good little horror film about a group of bored teenagers who use a Ouija Board to raise the corpse of a murdered man, and then suffer the consequences of doing so. It opens with a close-up shot of Tony (James Barrett), glancing around, frightened, telling his friends that what they’re doing isn’t funny. His friends all have their hands on the planchette of a Ouija Board, and seem possessed, until Tony takes the piece from them and smashes it. The film then takes us to a cemetery, where Jonah Matthias, “Beloved Husband To Zora Matthias,” is crawling out of his grave.

I’ve always wondered, whenever watching a movie like this, how the corpse managed to get out of the coffin. It’s one thing to dig through the dirt – that’s fairly believable – but how did he push the lid open, what with several feet of dirt packed tightly on top of it? Or are we to believe he somehow punched his way through the lid? Either way, it would take a lot of work, and Jonah seems fairly exhausted when he makes it out of the ground.

The film then takes us back to earlier that day, when the four boys are tossing a football around, and the two girls are talking about their relationships. Typical stuff. It’s Friday night in a suburban town, and the kids plan on spending it playing cards and fooling around in the basement, as usual. And of course they make a point of saying they don’t have cell phone service down there once they reach the basement (which you have to do in horror films these days). The girls are bored, and so Francis (Ryan Boudreau) goes upstairs to the main part of the house, where his parents and other adults are having their own party, to retrieve a Ouija Board (after, oddly, handing a young girl a copy of The Bible and telling her it contains all the answers).

Five of the six teenagers are into the Ouija, but Tony warns them not to mess with it. The idea is that with two people, Ouija is just a harmless game, but with six people it becomes something more, that their combined energies could actually have an effect. It’s an interesting idea. Francis tells them: “Six is the magic number…We could even raise the dead if we wanted to.” Francis says a little prayer of protection before they start. What’s interesting is the question of how much of what he’s saying Francis actually believes, and how much of it is just screwing around. I like that we don’t know. Maybe the whole thing with The Bible was just a goof too. He is certainly one of the more interesting characters.

I also like that when the kids start playing the game, they ask harmless questions. Jessie (Aaron Peaslee) asks whether a classmate finds him attractive, and Lydia (Nicole Lasala) asks about a long lost family pet. But soon they contact a spirit who says he was poisoned by his wife, and the teenagers become interested in inviting him over. Lydia says: “Tell us who did it. I guarantee you’ll feel a lot better if you do.” The film actually has quite a bit of humor like that. What I like is that the comedy of this film is kind of subtle and twisted, rather than silly. The film hints at something in Francis’ past, when Tony tells him, “You especially should know about karma,” but unfortunately this is not really explored.

Well, Jonah doesn’t seem pleased with being called from his eternal rest. But with these teenagers and the adult party up in the main house, he has plenty of people to take out his displeasure on. There are some really nice moments and some surprises in this film, such as the way one of the teenagers dies. After each of the first two deaths, Lydia wonders aloud, “What will we tell his mom?” A lot of the humor in this film centers on her character. I love Lydia’s reactions to things. She’s one delightfully fucked up teen.

Meanwhile, Zora, Jonah’s drunk widow, in another of the film’s twisted comedic moments, proposes a toast to her departed husband: “Let it be known in the company of friends that I love you even more now that you’re dead than when you were alive.” By the way, Zora is played by Brinke Stevens, whom horror fans will know from such films as Nightmare Sisters, Teenage Exorcist, Vampires Vs. Zombies and of course Sorority Babes In The Slimeball Bowl-A-Rama. The adult party gets wacky and includes jam session with a tuba.

Jonah Lives is a good low-budget horror film that was certainly influenced by some of the 1980s horror films. The makeup looks great, and there are some shots that should please horror movie fans. It also stars Jocelyn Padilla, Rob Roy and Cesar Periera. It was shot in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Special Features

The DVD contains a few short special features, including a behind-the-scenes featurette that includes shots of some pieces from the Luso American Gallery Of Antiquities which were used as set dressing, as well as footage of the shooting of a couple of the party scenes. It’s only approximately four minutes long. Oddly, there is also a behind-the-scenes teaser. There is also Fall River Celebrates The Arts Screening, which shows the mayor of Fall River speaking before the film, and the actors signing posters after the film, but no Q&A. This is approximately two minutes long.

The DVD includes a teaser trailer and the film’s main trailer, plus trailers for another dozen horror films.

Jonah Lives was written and directed by Luis Carvalho, and was released on DVD on April 21, 2015 through Wild Eye Releasing.