Jack Be Nimble

1993 "Dangerous! Hypnotic! Deadly!"
6| 1h35m| en| More Info
Released: 15 September 1993 Released
Producted By: New Zealand Film Commission
Country: New Zealand
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Jack and Dora, abandoned by their parents as babies, are desperate to find each other after years of adoption. Jack's young life has been spent with a sadistic family. Dora, whose life has been somewhat better, has developed extra-sensory powers which tell her that Jack's in danger and drives her to search for him.

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zarch-3 Part fairy tale part violent retribution cruelty rears its ugly head here from the start and doesn't let up it's unrelenting death grip until the final frame. Jack and Nora are two siblings who become separated due to the negligence of their parents and discover they both possess psychic skills which they proceed to apply to their situations. How they put their abilities to the test is connected to their home environments and each other in complete contrast. Poetically filmed in new Zealand this is a very interesting and dark little tale where everything goes desperately wrong. It's gruesome but beautiful all at once, highly recommended!.
Gafke Abandoned by their drunken and disturbed mother at a very young age, Jack and Dora are soon adopted by different families. Dora is taken in by a caring well-to-do couple while Jack is sent to live with a country family, consisting of a cruel mother, an abusive father and their four creepy daughters. Dora, an introvert with psychic abilities, leads a mostly normal life, though it's a mostly friendless one. Jack, beaten and tormented every day, grows up hostile and explosive. With the help of a weird, shop-class constructed hypnosis machine, Jack kills his adopted parents and flees the farm. Dora, with the help of her abilities, is able to find Jack and bring him back with her. But the reunion is not a happy one. Jack is seriously emotionally disturbed, lashing out at everyone that his sister loves and violently confronting their natural parents once the two are able to track them down. The increasingly emotionally distraught Dora tries desperately to hold onto her life and those she loves. To make matters worse, the four creepy sisters show up, determined to find Jack and take their revenge upon him. When Jack is indeed kidnapped by the freaky foursome, it is up to Dora to find him and save him. This is both a horror movie, a grim fairy tale and a tense emotional drama, sometimes difficult to watch but always just intense enough to keep you from looking away. The performances are awesome, especially by the two leads. Alexis Arquette is frightening and sympathetic, turning in an incredibly harrowing performance as the scarred Jack and doing a great accent to boot. Sarah Smuts-Kennedy is equally awesome as the conflicted Dora. The storyline may be somewhat thin, but the emotions of the characters are plenty strong enough to fill in the gaps. There is little violence, but that which is shown is brutal and merciless, especially the shocker ending. A weird little gem of a film - not for everyone, but definitely worth catching at least once.
Backlash007 ~Spoiler~Jack Be Nimble can be summed up in one word: weird. This is a strange import from New Zealand revolving around twin siblings who are separated at a young age. One leads a decent life while the other, Jack, is tortured and belittled by his adopted parents. This humiliation leads Jack (played by Alexis Arquette) to build a machine in metal shop that allows him to kill his new parents in particularly nasty ways. Don't worry, these people had it coming. He then sets out to find his long lost sister. I would have been very pleased and fulfilled if the movie had ended there. But it doesn't. Jack finds his sister and runs into a whole new set of troubles to kill, er, deal with. If you enjoy a good abnormal creepfest, this won't disappoint you.
im00sev I just finished this film. Bought it at eBay. I collect obscure movies. This one is a jewel. A very dark jewel in its very own genre. I'm not one to reveal plots, but I can describe the movie. Director Garth Maxwell takes you on a bit of an unexpected trip. It smacks of classic horror, but, it's new horror and you never know where it's going. Maxwell's use of light and color is simply astounding and unforgettable. I'm sure I'll sleep with some of these images tonight. It's not for those of you who like typical movies. It's very different. I have but two technical problems and they're small: 1) Maxwell let's Dora say, "Marigolds." and they're not. 2) One line slips out while no lips move. Otherwise, the film is certainly going to chill some blood cells and keep your brain ticking. Sorry, but Alexis Arquette couldn't be more good-looking, either. It's not big Hollywood (and I like that), but it's very, very provocative film-making. I like that, too.