Jacked (2025) (Blu-ray Review)
DIRECTED BY: John Fucile
STARRING: Anthony Cipriani, Kam Perez, Maria Robison
RATED: UR/Region: A/2:55/1080P/NUMBER OF DISCS 1 (BD-r)
AVAILABLE FROM Indican Pictures
There’s something wonderfully nostalgic about horror movies set in the summer of 1987. Before smartphones, before GPS, before you could text your location to fifteen people in three seconds. Back then, if your car broke down in the middle of nowhere, your options were basically: fix it, walk… or become the plot of a horror movie.
That’s exactly where Jacked, directed by John Fucile, plants its story. Two small-town teenagers enjoy what should’ve been a perfect day at the lake before their car breaks down, leaving them stranded and eventually in the crosshairs of a violent stalker. It’s a simple setup, but sometimes simple is all you need.
The movie does a great job capturing that late-’80s atmosphere. Whether it’s the small-town setting, the soundtrack, or just the slower pace of life, it genuinely feels like you’ve stepped back into a time when your biggest worry should’ve been making it home before dark… not whether some psycho had decided you were tonight’s entertainment.
The leads are likable enough, which is important because horror movies live or die on whether you actually care if the characters survive. Here, you do. They feel like believable teenagers instead of walking horror clichés whose only personality trait is making catastrophically bad decisions.
Well… mostly.
Because once things go wrong, these two occasionally make choices that practically deserve a standing ovation from the stalker. There were multiple moments where I found myself yelling, “Really? That’s the plan?” Horror movies have always thrived on questionable decision-making, but Jacked definitely keeps that proud tradition alive.
The stalker is effective enough, even if he doesn’t exactly reinvent the slasher villain playbook. He’s intimidating, relentless, and thankfully spends more time stalking than delivering long-winded speeches about why he’s evil. Sometimes less really is more.
Where the film stumbles a bit is its pacing. The opening does a nice job building atmosphere, but the middle section occasionally spins its wheels like… well… a broken-down car. There are stretches where you’re waiting for the next big scare or chase sequence to kick things back into gear.
Thankfully, when the movie gets moving, it’s a tense and enjoyable ride. The suspense works, the chase scenes are solid, and the final act delivers enough excitement to make up for some of the slower moments. It’s clear John Fucile knows how to generate tension when he wants to.
Visually, the movie also deserves credit. The rural locations are used well, the cinematography captures that warm summer nostalgia before everything goes horribly wrong, and the contrast between an idyllic afternoon and a fight for survival is one of the film’s strongest assets.
Jacked isn’t going to redefine the stalker subgenre, but it doesn’t need to. It’s an entertaining throwback with a good premise, likable leads, and enough suspense to keep horror fans invested. Sure, it occasionally gets stuck in neutral, but once it finds the gas pedal, it’s a fun ride.
Just remember: if your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere in a horror movie… maybe don’t keep telling yourself, “I’m sure everything will be fine.” Cinema has spent decades trying to teach us that lesson, and somehow nobody ever listens.
Extras
- Making of
- Trailers
