Once or twice a year, a stylish thriller comes my way. It’s dark and moody; it stars nobodys and it often has to deal with mystic or demonic forces … and it sucks. It sucks so badly, the only people who haven’t clued in their film blows are the producer and director. Even the director’s mother knows this thing sucks … but she’s too polite to say so. “You have a nice film, dear.”
Jinn begins in with an Indiana Jones wannabe spelunking in 1902 India. He finds his Jinn-Joint all right. The demonic creature appears as a naked old man taking a nap while sitting up. Before long, there’s action, or what passes for action in this film. The two fight to a draw, upon which the demon concludes (I paraphrase), “just for that, I’m gonna kill your children and your grandchildren.” Wow, how unfair. It’s like getting caught stealing and then deciding every police officer in the entire city has to die. Somebody’s really gotta teach Jinn a sense of proportion. And then the whole “descendants” thing – are we led to believe he’s gonna quit after two generations? I’m guessing no as Jinn’s still a revengin’ over a century later. But it does make me wonder when Jinn picks and chooses his moments. He’s clearly let several family members slide just so there can be great grandchildren and an uncle or two. What’s up with that? What are you, a Procrastination Demon? “Yeah, yeah. Good work, sleep well, I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”
Enter Shawn (Dominic Rains), presumably last of a bloodline, which has turned Jersey Shore-ish in the past 112 years. The Jinn warn him of their presence with a distinct rearranging of furniture. Clearly, they means business. Shawn doesn’t really get serious until his wife is taken, at which point he both seeks help and kinda forgets about her at the same time. I think it was just an excuse to get Father William Atherton involved. Dudes! William 
Atherton!
Jinn is one of these stylish attempts at supernatural thriller that miss so, so badly, but can’t really figure out how they missed. Let me give you a few hints: 1) try to give a reason to care about the hero other than “they took his wife.” 2) When the hero has to take a test to achieve a weapon of sorts, don’t drag it out and be very specific on the requirements of said trial – you don’t want the audience saying, “is this gonna be on the test?” or “can he take it for core credit only?” and 3) When you film a climactic battle between good and evil, try to make your hero, you know, participate, and do something that doesn’t resemble making tea. I’m not sure why I even have to explain #3 to you.
There is one (1) decent creepy moment in Jinn. Across from Shawn’s apartment is a cardboard cutout of a silhouette waving. The camera finds this shot a few times and then right before the wife is abducted, the silhouette moves. Ok, 1 star for one good thrill. Thank you for dusting off William Atherton and showing him to us; you can now put him back where you found him.
A curse not so easily dismissed
Gets passed to a zilch — that’s the gist
This half-assed lead
In appeal-need
Compensed by a no-assed antagonist
Rated PG-13, 97 Minutes
D: Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad
W: Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad
Genre: Grudge demons and the humans they annoy
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: The extended spawn of demon hunters
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Fans of bright colors
