We at team THN are big fans of horror icon Barbara Crampton, the star first became famous in the eighties for her work with directing legend Stuart Gordon. During the late nineties and early noughties Crampton took somewhat of a break from acting, but after agreeing to appear in Adam Wingard’s You’re Next, she found herself back in high demand. Recent years have seen her work with the absolute best in indie horror creators, and it’s pretty much a guarantee that if her name appears on the credits, it’s going to be a great watch. One project very close to Barbara’s heart is her latest film Jakob’s Wife. It’s a project that she’s been trying to get off the ground for a number of years, and now it is finally in the world, audiences have been wowed by both the story and her transformative performance.
Jakob’s Wife arrives on Shudder across the globe on Thursday 19th August and presents the audience with a fun but emotional tale of vampires and marriage. Crampton plays Anne, a bored housewife who is married to the town pastor, Jakob (played by Larry Fessenden). After receiving a strange bite, Anne slowly begins to metamorphosize into a vampire-like creature. Rather than be distressed by the ordeal, Anne finds herself enjoying her new abilities, and as she reconnects to her feminine power, her marriage comes under strain. Can her relationship survive the new unlocked side of her psyche?
Directed by Travis Stevens, Jakob’s Wife is a lot of fun, offering both the high-stakes blood and gore you crave from vampire movies, whilst at the same time exploring a more complex and emotional story. Anne is one of the greatest roles that Crampton has ever played and you can easily see why she has worked so hard to bring it into being. Ahead of the UK debut on Shudder, I caught up with Barbara to learn more about this very special vampire film.
Jakob’s Wife arrives on Shudder on 19th August 2021.
