By Keri O’Shea
As horror fans, we’re aware of the fact that any wooden structure even vaguely cabin-like in nature will necessarily be a dangerous place, prone to occult infestations, malevolent locals and of course killers – so it’s hard not to assume that whatever Jack is making in his workshop, it’ll be for no good purpose. But What Jack Built doesn’t go down this path at all in the end – and it keeps its cards close to its chest throughout.
Jack’s hard at work, see: hammering, sawing and using bits and pieces of whatever he can find to make a…well, we never find out, but whatever it is, it’s conquering all of the guy’s attention so it must be damned important. Bit by bit, Jack’s project seems to be approaching fruition. He begins to transport it outside into the woods – where he begins observing what happens to it by night, via the use of cameras he’s also rigged up.
A film with no dialogue and just one actor (Timothy J. Cox), I must confess that I felt the film’s main content – an endless gamut of minor construction work – was stretched at eleven minutes, and could easily have been cut back a little as much of the footage contributes little. However, it kept me watching, and by the end I was keen to see how things were eventually going to conclude…however, it’s fair to say, the film asks more questions than it answers. In fact, I’m not sure it answers any of the posers it plays around with, and you could probably see the ending in one of two ways: an interesting cliff-hanger, or a cop-out. You can check out the film below for yourselves, and see which of those fits the bill for you.
What Jack Built from Ross Mahler on Vimeo.