Jennifer

I received my videotape of Jennifer today and I saw it. While the effects near the end were a little shoddy, it was an overall good effort. The writing, acting, character development and suspense were very good. If they had today's digital effects with which to do the snake attack scenes, the film could have been a gem.

Jennifer is a poor and hard-working student and she possesses a power over snakes,an ability to control them and communicate with them.Her father Luke is a mentally unstable religious nut.The worst of all some wealthy students led by cruel Sandra constantly harass Jennifer at school.Sandra turns many other students and teachers against Jennifer including the school's headmistress.Eventually Jennifer gets revenge on her cruel classmates with the help of her snakes.Vastly enjoyable and fun to watch "Carrie" clone with likable main character.There is no gore,but if you like your horror cheesy and entertaining you can't go wrong with "Jennifer".I'd love to have a date with such a pretty girl.7 out of 10.

Surprisingly effective little low budget shocker here that proves once again that just because a horror movie from the 1970s has a PG rating that doesn't mean it's for kids. This one has some genuinely sick material though not in the department that one might think even with the unexpected brief nudity. It's a Snake Horror ripoff of CARRIE for sure but there's something else going on here. And proof yet again that the key element to any good movie is the writing, not the budget or the stars, unless you consider Bert Convey a star. That must be him singing the opening theme song, and its just so awful you have to love it.

So CARRIE was about a misunderstood waif pushed to the edge by a bunch of stuck-up bored rich kids who torment her at school. JENNIFER is about a plucky young lady from the country who runs afoul of a boarding school's resident teenage psychopath convincingly played by Amy Johnston who literally has the whole world struck dumb by her. She's put the whammy on everyone at the private school the film is set at. Her classmates, her teachers, her boyfriend and his pack of loser buddies (one of which is former "Land Of The Lost" actor Wesley Ure, showing that he really could act after all), the pill-popping boozer headmistress, even the people who despise her hold her in a certain amount of awe. Including John Gavin playing her senator father whom I suspect knows that her daughter is completely psychotic and doesn't give half a damn.

The Snake Horror stuff -- while good enough, given the budget and PG ratings prohibition against overtly sexualized content -- takes second seat to what is actually a pretty good rendition of how a charming psychopath can insinuate themselves so well into the lives of their victims that dislodging them becomes traumatic in itself. The most horrifying scene in the film is when the maniac sets up one of her flunkie so-called friends to be date raped by her equally sociopathic boyfriend. The damndest thing is, I've heard of worse in real life. By keeping its psycho horrors in check the film is all the more frightening. Other than the snakes you could really see some of this happening, suggesting that maybe what we're seeing here were two scripts combined into one: A story about a young lady with a gift for controlling reptiles, and another about a psychopathic Barely Legal who eventually destroys the lives of everyone she comes in contact with. The latter story steals the show.

So yeah, the young lady with the past as a snake handling tongue speaking miracle girl does indeed unleash hell's fury in an amusing display of serpentine pyrotechnics that includes a couple of great ironic justice payback deaths for her tormentors. But to me the real story is about this pretty young psycho and the lengths that she will go to perpetuate the almost hypnotic hold she seems to have on her followers. Kind of makes you wonder about all those bullies and demented weirdos you used to run afoul of yourself as a younger person. I knew they were crazy all along. Nobody can be that cruel & still have a conscience. Here's a movie that shows how it works -- the Snake Horror stuff is just gravy.

6/10

From a poor background, co-locating in a pet store with her depressed father, Mensa-grade intellect sees the beguiling Jennifer (Pelikan) given an opportunity to break free from her lower-class shackles amongst the well healed at a prestigious girl's school. But after prolonged bullying and passive subversion from the arrogant head mistress (Foch), Jennifer reveals her penchant for snakes, and her telepathic ability to command them to avenge her mistreatment.

A strong cast (Bert Convy as a sympathetic teacher, John Gavin in one of his last film roles before taking up politics) and some effective special effects are the cornerstones of this blatant "Carrie" knock-off, the parallels so shameless (particularly in the characterisations) that if you removed the snake aspect, you'd be watching an inferior remake.

Pelikan is capable and actually looks better than the material with which she's got to work, and Foch in particular is a strong, assured presence as the pompous principal, whose belief it is that only money and status can achieve worthy character. The giant snake head effects aren't bad, and you wonder how the actors feel about some giant puppet head clamping down on their skulls – not what they'd have anticipated at theatre school. But it's all about the audience, and it's cheesy and fun, so thumbs up.

I know it's a long shot, but just in case you always wondered what Stephen Kings legendary character Carrie would be like if she used her telekinetic powers to manipulate animals, here's your chance! "Jennifer" IS "Carrie", but with a bunch of snakes thrown in. At least after a while; don't get your hopes about seeing snake-action up too soon. Carrie with snakes, how awesome does that sound? Both girls are the main target of mockery and humiliation at school, they both have one exaggeratedly protective and foolishly religious parent left and – of course – they are both driven to a mental collapse that ends with seriously horrific consequences for everyone. Heck, the only real difference is that Jennifer didn't suddenly start to menstruate in the school gym's shower! It's really too bad that the main story lines and narrative structure of "Jennifer" are so blatantly reminiscent to "Carrie", because the film itself really quite satisfying and competently made. The characters have depth, the script contains large and clever amounts of social commentary and the overall atmosphere of the film is unsettling and continuously ominous. Director Brice Mack (who the hell is he?) patiently takes his time to build up towards a solid & suspenseful climax, particularly through a long series of painful high-school situations. Lisa Pelikan is excellent as the pitiable heroine Jennifer, but Amy Johnston is even better as her nemesis, the rich, snotty, spoiled and manipulative bitch Sandra. She's one of them characters you would really like to pull out of the TV-screen and personally strangle her with your own bare hands. You know, like Nancy Allen's character in – oh yeah – Carrie!! "Jennifer" is an overall solid and recommendable thriller but, be advised, it's rather slow-paced and contains very little gore. As a matter a fact, this might actually be the ONLY rip-off that is less gruesome, less exploitative and less grotesque than the classic original it's based on. That particular aspect of curiosity alone is worthy of a recommendation.