Flounders with uncertainty of direction as it touches on socio-economic depression, demons, vengeance, race and culture but never fleshes anything out. Everything feels like an after-thought as opposed to being cohesively constructed and interlaced.

| Dec 14, 2019

Although a pleasantly peculiar finale at last breaks free of its quagmire of cliché, it can't quite make up for the inert build-up, as well as a handful of illogical details that annul any of the film's more successful moments.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 6, 2019

If you're looking for a classic ghost story that also has a unique storyline, this is the movie for you. It had all the elements of a great ghost story, but it also added a little something extra with the voodoo.

| Original Score: 8.5/10 | Nov 2, 2018

It's somewhat of a slow-burn psychological horror film with plenty of creativity.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 8, 2018

With its subtle scares, Jessabelle starts out really well. It's the abrupt, illogical ending that spoils the fun.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Nov 11, 2017

Believe it or not, this film has great potential. However, everything collapses when it tries to be a horror movie. [full review in Spanish]

| Apr 24, 2015

The film comes off like a nightmare version of Who Do You Think You Are?

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 2, 2015

An honest, gentle performance by Sarah Snook is not enough to recommend this clichd ghost story.

| Original Score: C- | Jan 14, 2015

An alternately kooky, effectively low-key chiller worth seeing.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 12, 2015

I can't remember the last time I've seen a movie go off the rails as quickly as Jessabelle.

| Original Score: D | Jan 8, 2015

... relies on cheap thrills instead of generating sustained tension, and the film lacks any meaningful amount of subtlety or surprise.

| Dec 31, 2014

Perhaps the best character in Jessabelle are the bayous themselves.

| Original Score: C+ | Nov 26, 2014

Ghosts, nightmares and Voodoo -- that's horrortainment to me, and 'Jessabelle' passes the test.

| Nov 16, 2014

Surprisingly uneventful, stumbling to an unsatisfying ending that teases complexity and twists, but mostly triggers unenthused shrugs.

| Original Score: D | Nov 14, 2014

The more complicated it gets, the less scary it becomes.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 10, 2014

As the film racks up incidents and characters and explanations, the mystery dissipates. It's a strange spectacle: a horror film that spends as much time dismantling suspense as it does building it.

| Nov 7, 2014

Greutert's inoffensive, slick Jessabelle may be successful low-budget filmmaking, but it's built entirely out of low-impact thrills.

| Original Score: 4.3/10 | Nov 7, 2014

It helps that Snook and Webber are so sympathetic in their roles. But ultimately even they fall apart under the strange illogic of the entire situation and a barrage of unanswered questions.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 7, 2014

An ineffective, derivative, and awkwardly executed mash-up of ghost flicks and voodoo movies.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Nov 7, 2014

"Jessabelle" is interesting in some of the small details, and in its strong sense of the Louisiana bayou atmosphere, and then it completely falls apart when it starts being a horror film.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Nov 7, 2014