Jax's Desert Journey

Jax's Desert Journey

Bruce Von Stiers

Jax is a young woman who seems a bit out of sorts. When the audience meets her, Jax has been driving a minivan on a desert highway & it has engine trouble. She pulls into a gas station, only to find it closed. She calls someone to help her out, but that doesn't go so well. Then a couple of guys come by that seem to want to help her out. But do they really?

That is the beginning of a horror film short titled Jax In Love. The play time for the film is just over twenty minutes.

Rakefet Abergel is Jax. She played Adam Sandler's sister in Just Go With It and has had guest roles in series and lead acting roles in several film shorts and feature films.

It seems that Jax just wants to be friends with people. She gets picked up from the gas station by Sunny. But there's something a bit off about the whole thing.

Then later, Jax is at a diner and becomes very interested in Jake, who just wanders into the diner looking for a bathroom.

And there's something about Jax's best friend, Jane. What's that all about?

There are scenes in the film that seem separate, but are actually pieces of a delusional and homicidal pattern. That pattern doesn't fully realize itself until near the end of the film. But that's what I found very interesting about the film, is that the thriller part of the film doesn't really reveal itself until one pivotal point.

Devi Veysey plays Sunny. She has been in the film short Half Cocked and the series Breaking Fat.

John Gammon is Vince, one of the guys who stopped at the gas station. Among his other credits, John has a multi-episode appearance on the sit-com The Middle. Kenny Myers is Jones, He's been in Talia and other series. Christopher Illing is Hoagie. He's been in an episode of Criminal Minds along with several films. Ned Thorne is Ben. Although he's been in several films, Ned's mainly behind the scenes as an editor on shows such as 911 911: Lone Star and Boomerang.

Ben Kacsandi is Jake. His roles include the film Safety and the film short Susie Sunshine,

Laura Wiggins is Daisy, a character from the diner. She was in the Tomorrow People and has had guest roles in CSI and Chicago PD. Lia Mariella Russo is Jane. She's been seen in Avengers: Endgame and the documentary series A Crime to Remember. Kim Estes does the voice of Howie on the phone. His credits include appearances in How To Get Away With Murder and This Is Us.

The film was written and produced by Rakefet. It was directed by Collin Campbell, who has directed several short films such as The Sound of Fear and Girl At The Door.

Gabi Ilioiu was one of the producers. She has been a producer on Sophie Gold and a first assistant director of American Poltergeist.

Ginia Stiefel was an executive producer for the film. Her producing credits include 5 th Passenger and Cyborg X. Jack Stiefel was also an executive producer. Jory Weitz of Napoleon Dynamite fame was also an executive producer for the film. Associate producers for the film were Fabio Fora and Andrew Fromer.

The description for Jax In Love makes it seem like Jax is just a wanderer looking for a new best friend. And, that as she wanders, Jax could be in grave danger. But is Jax the prey or is she the predator? That becomes the question that the viewer might be asking themselves. That is, until the end of the film. I wasn't sure how the film would end, but wasn't exactly surprised by it. Clues to what was really going on were throughout the film, you just needed to pay close attention.

Rakefet won the Best Actress award at the 2017 Nightmares Film Festival for her role as Jax. She also won the Best Actress at the Oregon Scream Week. The film itself won awards at several festivals, including the Southern ShorKits Awards and Spotlight Horror Film Awards.

The production companies behind the film were Lucky Doc Productions and Cyclamen Films.

I thought that the film was well acted and the scenes and locations were well defined. Even though it is mainly listed as a horror film, I would add thriller to the description as well.

Jax In Love can be seen on various platforms such as Vimeo. The film has an official web site at https://www.jaxinlove.com/

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