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Jakob's Wife (2021)
Jakob's Wife (2021)
2021 | Horror
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Let's be honest, a low budget vampire flick lead by Barbara Crampton and Larry Fessenden was always going to be right up my street.
Jakob's Wife has a lot going for it. It has a well paced and intriguing premise, snappy dialogue, sympathetic characters, over the top and hard hitting gore (seriously springs out of nowhere and caught me off guard), decent creature designs, a good soundtrack, and the aforentioned lead actors (although, Crampton expectedly and completely steals the show)
My main criticisms mainly come from what feels like a confused identity. There's some good humour sprinkled throughout, and some genuinely funny moments, but it does feel at odds with otherwise serious tone on display. A minor gripe, but one that's noticeable (a statement that also applies to the awful cgi rats in that one scene)

Overall, Jakob's Wife is an entertaining splatter fest that should appeal to any horror fan - don't sleep on it!
  
Lowest Common Denominator
Lowest Common Denominator
Pirkko Saisio | 2025 | Biography
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I believe Lowest Common Denominator is going to be a trilogy, and after reading this, I’m all for reading the next two.

LCD bounces around somewhat in time from toddlerhood to the present day. It’s auto fiction, really, although I had to double check that. So I suppose it’s a mix of Saisio’s autobiography that has been fictionalised in places.

I found the details of a child growing up in Finland, Saisio’s communist parents, along with 1950’s Finnish life, fascinating. It also made me curious about the war and occupation of the Russians in Finland, and I consequently did a bit of background reading about that.

I love reading translated books, and the translator, Mia Spangenberg, has made sure that this has lost none of its humour. The relationships between the narrator and their family members are so well drawn. Their experiences, traumas, upbringings and their expectations of this small child make for an engrossing read.