[SXSW 2022] ‘Jethica’ Review: You Can’t Outrun your Ghosts

We screened Jethica as part of SXSW 2022. Reader beware, spoilers ahead!

Ghost stories don’t always have to be frightening to be effective. Sometimes, having to face your own mortality while taking stock in your life can be scary enough. Director, cinematographer, editor, co-writer Pete Ohs crafted a minimalist tale of isolation, fear, revenge, and redemption with Jethica, showing at SXSW 2022. Starring and also credited with writing the movie are Callie Hernandez, Ashley Denise Robinson, Will Madden, and Andy Faulker. 

Bookended with the telling of a ghost story after a passionate encounter in the backseat of a car, Elena (Hernandez) takes a satisfying drag off her cigarette. She tells her faceless lover who seems oddly at ease with the revelation, that she once killed a guy, setting the somber tone that will carry throughout. We then flashback to the open isolation of a serene New Mexico where Elena hides out at her grandmother’s trailer after hitting a hitchhiker. Days spent reading, drinking coffee, and occasionally giving rides to a local named Benny (Faulker) who is ever wandering the empty highways of this small community, it’s apparent that Elena is just existing, putting her life on hold.

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When a chance encounter with an old high school friend, Jessica (Robinson), reveals that her friend is running from a stalker, the two take up residence together and form a plan. Jessica shows Elena a series of videos and letters she’s been sent by her stalker Kevin (Madden). Side note, as a Kevin myself, I would be lying if the antagonist’s name didn’t bum me out, but alas. The obsession that Kevin is showing can only escalate into something more sinister, that is, if he wasn’t already dead.

Kevin is not only there in spirit, passing the time pacing back and forth outside of the trailer, monologuing to himself about the love he must give. But also there physically in the form of a body rotting away in the trunk of Jessica’s car. The two devise a plan to rid themselves of his spirit using a set of options passed down from Elena’s mystic grandmother.

The ghost can choose to leave on its own, get another ghost to kill this ghost, or give them what they want. In the case of Kevin, he clearly wants Jessica. As they try each option, Jessica will inevitably have to face what she has done and confront her object of fear if she wishes to get back the life she once knew.

A commentary about running from responsibility, ignoring a problem until it literally haunts you, toxic love, and the lengths one will go to no longer be alone, Jethica has a lot to say in the short running time. Setting up the rules that only ghosts can touch other spirits, the fear of physical harm is taken off the table early, which lowers the stakes, but the imposed psychological trauma can be just as powerful.

Ohs captures a landscape through a lens of beauty but also desolation. Tumbleweeds populate the small community more than residents, and despite the openness of the surroundings, our two protagonists feel very much contained in their guilt, almost claustrophobic. The predominately widescreen shots make their tiny home feel lost among the vastness of their environment. It promises a bigger world out there if only they could let themselves be free.

Hernandez and Robinson underscore their situation by playing it mundane despite the supernatural dilemma. Realizing a ghost is haunting them barely raises the blood level above having an extra cup of coffee before going to dig up a body or confronting a confused entity. The two capture that reuniting of past friends who’ve led separate lives only to be joined again in their trauma and shared experience. There is no judgment, reminiscing of high school days, or dancing to their favorite song from the past that one might expect in similar movies. It’s matter-of-fact filmmaking as the two try to exorcise their ghosts and reclaim their lives.

Jethica manages to tell a story where the supernatural elements are more of a nuisance than a threat. The fear doesn’t come from the ghosts themselves, but the real-world danger from stalkers and toxic relationships. With a reveal that exonerates, and the notion that there is someone out there for us when we stop looking, Ohs has created a minimalistic tale that speaks to the power of reaching out for help. You don’t always have to face your personal ghosts alone. 3.5/5

Check out a a clip of Jethica below and be sure to follow ScaryNerd for all things horror, sci-fi, fantasy and everything in between.

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