Jethica (Movie Review)

Screened as part of the 2022 SXSW Film Festival

Jethica isn’t your typical stalker movie. It also isn’t your typical ghost movie. Very much like Kevin, the film’s antagonist, and resident stalker/ghost, it resides somewhere between those two worlds. Now here is the tricky part, how does one make the subject of stalking funny? Director Peter Ohs and his cast manage to do just that by applying the right amount of wry humor, heart, and honesty to the story. The result is a quirky film that finds a kernel of truth about trauma and how it is inescapable until confronted.

The film opens and we are introduced to Elena (Callie Hernandez), a woman protective of her privacy much to the chagrin of her momentary lover. During their post-coital conversation, Elena reveals she has killed a man and begins to tell the story of what occurred. Flashback to New Mexico, where a chance encounter with an old high school acquaintance, Jessica (Ashley Denise Robinson), sets the stage for ghostly things to come. There is a sense that Jessica is in trouble and without hesitation Elena offers her assistance. They retreat to Elena’s grandmother’s residence, a small trailer in the desolate New Mexican landscape and begin catching up. Jessica discloses that she is on the run from Kevin (Will Madden), a man who incessantly stalked her, forcing her to leave her previous home.

When Elena sees Kevin outside yelling and looking for Jessica, both women become understandably distressed. How could he even find her in this wild expanse? Well, it turns out Kevin is dead, killed by Jessica, and with his body still in the trunk of her car, his spirit followed. Elena matter-of-factly explains that her grandmother was a mystic and because Jessica brought Kevin’s murdered body onto the land his ghostly presence appeared. Citing something that sounds like the slogan of the netherworld’s version of the NRA, she divulges that the only way to get rid of a ghost is with another ghost. So, the two women begin to work together to conjure up a solution to their otherworldly problem.

From the jump, the film is minimalistic in its approach. The dialogue is short and concise while the plot isn’t overly complex. It often cuts to drawn out landscape shots of New Mexico’s beautiful deserts as the score, a mixture of textural droning and ambient sounds, pulses onward in the background. It certainly helps to keep a sense of tension, often making the setting as ominous as the specters that inhabit it.

The story of Jethica was crafted by a majority of the cast and the director, Ohs. I have deep appreciation for ensemble collaborations such as this and I think it benefitted the characters, in particular, Kevin. With his incessant rambling and makeup that would make Herk Harvey proud, Will Madden nails the sad loser that, even in death, just won’t leave Jessica alone. Jethica highlights the trauma that we all carry with us. Sometimes it is more obvious to the outside world than it is to us. I appreciate its attempt to humanize without the need for forgiveness. While the humor is subtle and wry, I wish it hit just a bit harder. Thankfully, it plays into the restrained approach of the rest of the picture and never lost my attention. That said, there's something refreshing about taking an optimistic angle with such heavy subject material that it left me with a smile and a desire to revisit this spooky jaunt.