Jennifer

Anyone who knows anything about horror will have no trouble identifying Jennifer's main influence - it is, of course, Brian De Palma's Stephen King adaptation Carrie. The two share so much in common that I can't quite believe that director Brice Mack actually got away with making this film. It's not just the central premise either, things are ripped directly from Carrie wholesale; stuff like the overbearing religious single parent, the popular clique that takes a dislike to the outcast protagonist and the sensitive member of said clique that has a bit of sympathy for the outcast. The central character is, unsurprisingly, named Jennifer. Jennifer is a scholarship student at a relatively wealthy school and as such gets picked on for not having as much money as the other girls. She takes it for a while but soon the bullying is stepped up a gear and Jennifer decides that she just can't take it anymore. Luckily for her, however, she can wield a strange power over snakes and decides to use it to get her revenge.

While the film is clearly a knockoff, it does have to be said that in its own right, it's actually a decent horror movie. Don't go into it expecting to be thrilled because it's very much of the slow burn variety, although it does manage to put forward some interesting characters. It's clear that it was shot on a low budget, however, and while the acting is largely decent; certain cast members are just terrible. Jeff Corey stands out in that respect as Jennifer's overbearing religious father. The central premise centres on snakes and as such you would expect the movie to feature a few of them; but actually they don't turn up properly until right near the end which is a bit of a shame. I'd have liked to have seen a bit more of a relationship between the lead character and the snakes. Jennifer is also not even nearly as big an outcast as Carrie was; she's just not weird enough and her reaction to the bullying even seems a bit extreme. Still, I wasn't particularly expecting anything great from this film and going in with expectations like that will ensure you wont be disappointed.

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.

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.

This film is basically a rip off of Carrie, girl is bullied throughout the movie and then we get a climatic finish where strange powers are on full display. The problem with this trope is that you have to watch a lot of movie where the powers are not on display and there is filler to the extreme! Another movie that follows this formula is Evil Speak with Clint Howard, but that one was way creepier from what I remember. That being said, I was a kid when last I saw that movie so it may seem silly now. This one I liked the ending and aspects of it, but at times it just was a bit too far fetched.

The story has Jennifer, a nice young lady from rural country going to a private academy. Despite what is said, not all the girls dislike Jennifer, only this one senator's daughter and her clique. Her clique and the daughter are all flat chested, but hang around a girl they call fat, but to me had the best bod of the bunch as she had boobs and was not a zipper. The senator's daughter was not even all that, but she just had to taunt Jennifer and her chubby friend to a ridiculous degree so when the comeuppance occurs I was fully in Jennifer's corner.

Not sure what the deal with the school is as some of the girls seem to live there, but Jennifer lives with her father in a rundown looking pet store. I think the degree to which the head mistress protects the senator's daughter is a bit unrealistic too as sooner or later that girl was going to do something that would have brought down the academy's reputation...not sure there is any private school where the girls can just drive off with a couple of guys and go to a disco and do drugs...

So, the film had its moments and the climax was pretty cool as Jennifer displayed her powers which was not just controlling snakes, but materializing them out of thin air! However, there is so much filler, like watching the mean girls dance at a disco, Jennifer no where to be seen. I guess they did okay as this film was obviously a rush job to capitalize on the success of Carrie.

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.