Jack's Manic Building Project

Bruce Von Stiers

Jack seems to be kind of strange guy. At least he gives off that kind of vibe. He has a very cluttered workshop. It has several cans of Minwax wood stain, several power and hand tools lying about and items seemingly unrelated to each other.

This is how the film What Jack Built opens. The audience sees Jack manically moving about the workshop, gathering materials. He consults a drawing of something and begins to piece things together.

Jack uses a drill press and a grinder and continually smokes cigars. He could be the younger brother of Doc Brown of Back To the Future. But Jack is also fond of goggles and a trench coat that makes him appear to be a bit steampunk.

While Jack is starting to build whatever thing it is, there is some cool techie pop music playing in the background.

Apparently, Jack is trying to capture something that inhabits the wooded area near him. He utilizes a circuit board, a keyboard, an audio cassette player and a multi-channel audio mixer in his build. He also strings a group of electrical wires throughout the trees. But what is Jack actually building?

As Jack moves back and forth, building and setting things up, he seems almost gleeful. And then comes another element of building something, which could be some kind of trap for an animal that has fiberboards walls that hinges.

In the end, things don't go as planned.

Jack was played by Timothy J. Cox. I've reviewed several of his films, including After, Static Cling and Rewriting Mallory.

The director and cinematographer was Matthew Mahler. Films that he's directed include The Waiting Room, Vault and To Be Alone.

What Jack Built was a strange but intriguing mystery thriller. You never quite know what Jack is up to, even when you're privy to the details of what he's building. What exactly is he building? Is it a trap? If so, is the prey human or other than human? Or is Jack just some kind of crazy person who likes to build bizarre things?

You can watch What Jack Built on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/137790285

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© 2025 Bruce E Von Stiers