On October 17th, Dread’s The Jester 2 will release on VOD from writer/director Colin Krawchuk. A sequel to Krawchuk’s 2023 film about a supernatural killer dubbed The Jester, part two sees a teen magician named Max (Kaitlyn Trentham) go up against the malevolent trickster on Halloween night. Dread’s own Josh Korngut recently sat down with the filmmaker and discovered that he took heavy inspiration from a surprising source…Michael Mann’s Collateral.
Well, maybe it shouldn’t come as that surprising. While not horror per se, Mann’s pulse-pounding thriller features the sort of cat-and-mouse game between the killer and the hero that virtually all slashers incorporate. You can find the widely praised 2004 film streaming on Paramount+ to see what I mean.
All About Collateral
Los Angeles cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) dreams of owning his own luxury limo business. He’s just waiting for the right time to get it going. But after he picks up Vincent (Tom Cruise), Max realizes that the dream may never come true. And Vincent isn’t any ordinary passenger. He’s a hired killer, and he wants Max to drive him to each of his five targets. Over the course of a single night, the cab driver will have to finally find the strength in himself to act or risk becoming Vincent’s final victim.
Connective Tissue
While speaking with Dread, Krawchuk touched on the relationship between The Jester 2’s killer and protagonist, using Collateral as a springboard. “Even though Vincent would kill Max in any other circumstance, you get glimpses that Vincent might actually be the best thing to happen to him. That’s why Max in The Jester 2 is named Max: it’s an homage to Collateral.”
That’s the irony of slashers, isn’t it? True or not, they tend to play into the phrase, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. That certainly applies to Collateral.
Sweaty-palm tension. Thrilling shootouts. A rare, unsettling performance from Tom Cruise that makes you weep at the fact that he hasn’t played more villains. You’ve seen Interview with the Vampire (1994), right? He plays cool, calm, and collected as well as anyone…perfect for heartless monsters. Collateral hits all the right notes as a stalk and shoot chase through the lonely streets of late-night LA. But Mann also injects a thoughtful philosophy on life, death, and human connection that propels the film above its more standard peers. It’s a story about the way random encounters can change everything. And why we should take the once-in-a-lifetime chances that come our way. In a long line of excellent films, it’s one of Mann’s crowning achievements.
Krawchuk’s reference to Collateral makes me excited to see where he’ll take his characters in The Jester 2 when it hits VOD on October 17th from Dread. Until then, make sure you check out Mann’s pulse-pounding thriller with it streaming on Paramount+.
No comments:
Post a Comment