Nato – Jug Face
While this isn’t a straight horror film, as I consider Jug Face to be more of a suspenseful thriller, Chad Crawford Kinkle’s backwoods community movie is horrifying because it deals with the acceptance of death and the sacrifice of one’s self for the betterment of others – a fate no one wants.
The whole premise follows a cult-like group of people who have cut themselves off from society, living deep in the woods and abiding by their own laws. Shaping a civilization of their own, the families worship a muddy pit like a God, convinced it has the power to keep their lives safe, happy, and healthy – as long as they sacrifice innocent lives when it asks for blood. When a young girl named Ada (Lauren Ashley Carter) becomes the next victim though, she tries to escape her doomed fate, angering the pit and opening the entire community up to chaos.
Jug Face slowly simmers like a crock-pot full of roadkill stew, but when it finally heats up, the atmosphere and tension built plays out in grand fashion. The pit is much more ferocious than expect, and while Kinkle doesn’t really embrace a full creature feature vibe, it’s still brutal and thought provoking, especially through the thematic dealings of life and death. I mean, would you be OK with slashing your throat open over a muddy pit so everyone else around you can live on? It’s an absolutely terrifying thought – one that’s not easily shaken.