Jakob’s Wife is a 2021 American horror–thriller film directed and produced by Travis Stevens from a screenplay by Stevens, Kathy Charles and Mark Steensland. The film stars Barbara Crampton (who also serves as a producer), Larry Fessenden and Bonnie Aarons.Jakob’s Wife 2021.
The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 17, 2021, and was released in theaters, on demand and digitally in the United States on April 16, 2021 by RLJE Films and Shudder.The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 17, 2021, with RLJE Films and Shudder acquiring the US distribution rights the month before. It was released in theaters, on demand and digitally in the United States on April 16, 2021.Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 86% of 70 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site’s critic consensus reads: “Jakob’s Wife gives genre legend Barbara Crampton an opportunity to carry an old-school horror story — and she bloody well delivers.”[5] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews”.Barbara Crampton got her start in the mid-’80s with a regular role on the NBC soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” and she continued to work in various soaps through the years. But it is through horror films that she became an icon, with “Re-Animator” (1985), “Chopping Mall” (1986) and “From Beyond” (also 1986). At a certain point, those roles stopped coming. Her recent comeback period, with “You’re Next” “The Lords of Salem,” and “We Are Still Here” was gratifying for horror fans who had missed her presence. After 40-odd years in the business, Crampton is now developing her own projects, and if the witty “Jakob’s Wife” is any indication this is a very exciting development. In “Jakob’s Wife,” the classic vampire theme is looped into an insightful and often very funny commentary on marriage and the limitations placed on women. When Crampton’s Anne, a submissive pastor’s wife, gets bitten by a vampire, she finds the change exhilarating. Her husband, played by another horror icon, Larry Fessenden, is not so exhilarated. The marriage’s status quo is threatened. Hijinx ensue.