Movie Reviews: 'Jakob's Wife' And 'Monday'

This weekend, two new releases that are headed to theaters and streaming services come in flavors of horror dramedies and romance dramas.

In "Jakob's Wife," a subservient wife suddenly feels empowered and liberated after she encounters the undead. The film stars Barbara Crampton in the titular role, alongside Larry Fessenden as her husband, Jakob, a small-town minister.

In the romance-drama "Monday," Sebastian Stan and Denise Gough play an unlikely pair of love birds who unwittingly meet in Athens one summertime.

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Here's what to see/stream and what to skip this weekend:

“Jakob’s Wife” — Barbara Crampton, Larry Fessenden; directed by Travis Stevens

The ’80s “scream queen” ingenue Barbara Crampton stars as the titular wife of small-town pastor Jakob (Larry Fessenden) in Travis Stevens’ observational horror-dramedy about marriage, empowerment and sense of identity.

The movie introduces Anne (Crampton) as a dedicated wife always standing by her man. But deep inside, she feels trapped, longing to escape her long toxic marriage with the insufferably controlling minister. No wonder she exudes charm and charisma when she casually meets up with her old flame Tom (Robert Rusler) for lunch. Their tête-à-tête has an air of nonchalance — that is, until the old love birds reminisce about their past. As the mood turns flirtatious, Anne and Tom encounter the undead, rendering both shocked beyond belief.

However, it won’t be long before Anne, surprisingly, starts feeling liberated, taking control of her life and the reins of her fractured marriage. Suddenly, Jakob is at his wits’ end, as he can’t really decipher her subservient wife’s puzzling transformation to someone adventurously bold and beautiful.

Poor Jakob! Unbeknownst to him, his wife is now a vampire lusting for life and fresh human blood. Besides, the couple’s codependent relationship is now front and center more than ever.

Will Jakob finally discover the truth? But wait! What really happened to Tom?

See/Screen it. A disgustingly good gore fest, “Jakob’s Wife” smartly propounds vampirism as a metaphor for untangling a twisted marriage. Plus, the leads’ amazing performances buoy a somewhat silly script.

Watch the trailer:

“Monday” — Sebastian Stan, Denise Gough; directed by Argyris Papadimitropoulos

What if two lost souls met on a Friday and decided to spend the weekend together, replete with hot kisses, sizzling lovemaking and dirty dancing until wee hours — and then came Monday, a day of reckoning with the inevitable? This is the premise of Argyris Papadimitropoulos’ latest romance drama.

Enter Mickey (Sebastian Stan) and Chloe (Denise Gough), two 30-something American ex-pats who, on a fateful Friday, meet in Athens one summertime at a dance party. Their attraction is instant and palpable, rendering them wildly smitten in each other’s arms. As it turns out, Mickey has been in Greece doing a DJ gig for the past seven years, while Chloe is an immigration lawyer about to return to the U.S. after an 18-month stint.

The narrative is interwoven in a series of Fridays, marking the passage of time and depicting the vicissitude of emotions. Their unlikely relationship somehow thrives; however, Monday — the day when they have to face the harsh realities of their relationship — simply looms ahead.

Will their relationship survive in the end?

Skip it. As the love story unfolds, it simply loses its oomph along the way, notwithstanding the leads’ compelling performances.

Watch the trailer: