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Review:  ‘Jessabelle’ is a bayou gumbo of horrors

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Although its pivotal secret won’t pass any great scrutiny, the horror-thriller “Jessabelle,” not to be confused with the recent shocker “Annabelle,” is a watchably spooky concoction. Credit lead Sarah Snook’s gentle, sympathetic performance for holding together this atmospheric film, especially during its silly-campy third act.

When the pretty, mid-20s Jessabelle (Snook) is in a car crash that kills her boyfriend and her unborn child and leaves her dependent on a wheelchair, she has no choice but to go live with her gruff, estranged father, Leon (David Andrews), in his gloomy house on the Louisiana bayou. Informing this unceremonious reunion is that, in 1988, Leon gave away baby Jessabelle to an aunt to raise after Jessie’s mother, Kate (Joelle Carter), died of cancer. Nice dad.

Jessabelle soon discovers a cache of VHS tapes recorded in 1988 by a then-pregnant Kate with messages for her unborn daughter. The videos start off lovingly but turn horrific based on the results of a troubling — and implausibly specific — tarot card reading.

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On cue, a furious, projectile-vomiting demon girl (Amber Stevens), who’s apparently dwelling in Leon’s house, begins terrifying Jessabelle. Turns out, this tormented spirit is at the crux of the film’s murky mystery, which Jessabelle and her kindly ex-high school boyfriend, Preston (Mark Webber), pair off to unravel.

Plot holes abound in Robert Ben Garant’s lurid script, which tosses voodoo rituals, shadowy swamps, racial divides and other Southern gothic tropes into the gumbo. Still, as B-movie chillers go, “Jessabelle,” ably directed by Kevin Greutert (the man behind two of the “Saw” films), proves a jumpy diversion.

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“Jessabelle.”

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of horror violence and terror.

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

Playing: At AMC’s Town Center 8, Burbank. Also on VOD.

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