I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Jack (Rory Culkin) writes for a magazine in L.A. He is a wordsmith, but doesn't interact normally, but is functional. Hearing that his father has passed in an accident, Jack goes home to help his mother (Lin Shaye) who has her own issues. Jack sleep walks, hallucinates, enjoys substance abuse, and has a secret in the attic. The ending has a twist which I should have seen coming.Be careful what you read, as the twist makes the film and can easily ruin it. The plot spoilers are out there. The film is a psychological thriller, as we unlock the secrets in the attic with Jack. During the film, there is a house close next door that can be seen from Jack's window. At the end they show an aerial view of the house, which clearly doesn't have any house that close. I liked the performances and dialogue is spite of some formula writing.Guide: F-word. MM sex. No nudity

Jack (Rory Culkin) seems cold to the news of his father being decapitated in a car crash. His pregnant girlfriend Cleo (Britt Robertson) is away visiting her parents. His lesbian friend Shanda (Daveigh Chase) finds him disturbingly sleepwalking. He goes home to care for his mother (Lin Shaye) and uncovers hidden family secrets. Shanda joins him.Thomas Dekker is an actor trying to branch out into filmmaking. There is some good creepiness mostly due to Culkin's disturbing acting. This is a psychological horror which is outside the norm. Dekker's work is professional but lacks an excitement. There are moments of tension but it never maintains its intensity. It all adds up to an uneven attempt with some interesting aspects.

The film centers around Jacob, who is weird and defensive and maybe a jerk or maybe a misunderstood, damaged soul. Jacob's girlfriend is pregnant and then he gets a call that his father has died in an accident. So Jacob goes home. Rory Culkin as Jacob is in almost every scene and that's a good thing. Even though this film was disturbing and ultimately disappointing, I watched all of it. It kept me on the edge of my seat, wanting to know what the hell was going on. Which is part of this movie's problem: too much was going on. Had the story been stripped to its bones and had the film been cut back in length, it would've been better. As it is, it's atmospheric but frustrating and messy. It's beautifully shot and Rory Culkin was pretty amazing. I read another review saying he was basically a block of ice but I completely disagree. The leads (especially Culkin) made what otherwise would've been crappy dialogue sound natural and all round I thought the cast was decent to very good. What I don't get is why anyone would hire Natasha Lyonne or Nikki Reed to then only give them one short scene. Makes me suspect scenes were cut and somebody hadn't figured out beforehand what do storywise.

"Jack Goes Home" is a psychological Thriller (with some horror elements) about a boy named Jack (Rory Culkin) whose dad is killed in a car accident, after hearing the news he returns home to help his mother with the funeral and cope with the whole ordeal. As Jack struggles with the loss of his father he starts to notice strange behavior from his mother while also attempting to uncover possible secrets that his parents have been hiding from him for years. I thought the plot line was interesting enough, unfortunately the movie does a poor job of developing and delivering it. The movie is essentially about a man's struggle with the loss of his parent and his own mental instability. I like movies that dig into the human mind and really focus on one individual slowly losing it, however "Jack Came Home" does a very poor job of pulling that off. Jack is a pretty unlikable character from the get go, he's emotionless, dull, and really has no interesting character traits so to be honest I really had trouble watching him mope around and complain about everything for almost two hours. Jack's mother (player by Lin Shaye) is an interesting character and makes for some of the more interesting scenes in the movie, unfortunately she isn't featured that much.The movie tries to keep things interesting by throwing in a little bit of mystery but again they just do such a poor job of developing it, by the time big reveals are made you will have likely figured everything out and be bored with it. I saw the final twist coming a mile away, so much so that I kept telling myself maybe that wouldn't be the twist since it was so predictable. I feel like they had the right idea in a lot of places but then just completely dropped the ball in the points that mattered most. As far as indie horror movie goes "Jack Goes Home" is far from one of the worst, even though it's barely a horror movie, but it is definitely not anything to write home about. It's predictable, drab, and pretty dry overall.