Horror Short Review: Jinx (2024)

I’m a fool, with a twisted grin. Laughter and chaos, my deadly sin. Solve my riddle, or face my blade. For I am Jinx, and your fate, has been made.

Written and directed by Anthony Petrarchi, Jinx begins in promising fashion as a young woman named Isabel (Jessica Tague) sits alone at a train station late at night. She’s waiting for a train, when on the opposite side, she sees something that would unnerve most people in the daytime, let alone at night. A person (Nicholas Petrarchi) wearing a full jester costume with a seriously sinister mask.

One that plays with a jack in the box then encourages her to pick up a pack of cards that happen to be on the bench beside her. The Jinx’s antics might appear playful on the surface, but there’s something not right here. Which, of course, is what Isabel is about to find out. Will she survive her encounter with the Jinx, or will she just become another missing person poster on a train station wall?

This isn’t very good, unfortunately. Not only is the story so humdrum, but intrigue around a sinister character who likes to play games is dropped very quickly in favour of violence and gore. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the first part of the short implied we’d be getting a more scare-focused horror.

Although it’s unlikely that would have improved the overall quality as Jessica Tague’s Isabel might as well be reacting to a lost child and not a malevolent person wearing a creepy jester outfit. She’s pretty bad in this, but it’s hard to know if it’s all her fault, the direction, or a bit of both. Regardless of who is to blame, we all lose out as this is five minutes no-one is getting back, sadly.

Check it out yourself below, but it’s not a recommendation.