From the Hallmark duo behind Baby in a Manger comes this horror flick about a couple (Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings) who kidnap a pregnant woman (Konstantina Mantelos) to use as a host to bring back their dead grandson.

This Satanic pregnancy Horror seems an odd choice for director Justin G. Dyck, who has made no fewer than 30 Hallmark movies, often alongside screenwriter Keith Cooper. But scrolling through his filmography (A Puppy for Christmas, Christmas With a Prince, Christmas With a View) makes you realise their only remaining options were to make a horror movie or go on a killing spree.

Fortunately they chose the former, relishing the opportunity to exorcise some seriously pent-up darkness in Anything for Jackson, a 2020 black comedy that subverts the hallmarks of the horror genre. After all, who better to subvert a formula than the people who brought you Christmas in the Rockies, Christmas in the Wilds and Romance in the Wilds?

The Canadian picture inverts the usual haunted house formula by having the protagonists be the ones to unleash the evil in the first place. Rather than attempting to banish demons they are actively trying to summon one, giving the film a fresh and funny point of view.

Even having older characters who are not depicted as either mad (Crazy Ralph in Friday the 13th) or monstrous (X) is refreshing. These grieving grandparents look straight out of American Gothic but their motivations and underlying sweetness quickly become apparent. Sympathetically played by McCarthy and Richings, their story is a surprisingly tender exploration of what grief and love can make us do.

Like its characters the film follows through on its weird ideas, striking a delicate balance between horror and comedy that few get right. And perhaps as penance for all those Hallmark movies about women needing to get married, the filmmakers weave in political subtext about religion controlling women’s bodies, and in a far more interesting manner than Immaculate.

What comes out is an endearing, surprising and sardonic mashup of Rosemary’s Baby, Pet Sematary and Eyes Without a Face. And yet it is probably the least horrific film the pair have ever made.