Jennifer's Shadow

Jennifer Cassi (Gina Philips from "Dead and Breakfast") returns back to the house she grew up in which she recently inherited from her deceased sister, unbeknownst to her grandmother (Fay Dunaway) who's still living in it. Jennifer decides to sell it as she's in dire need of the money much to Granny's chagrin. She also begins to have troublesome recurring nightmares of a mysterious raven. There was really no one to relate to in this film. Jennifer seemed cold, distant, unsentimental, and narcissistic, whereas the grandmother seemed spiteful, sad, and also narcissistic. The film is good and well-made, but with no one to empathize with I found it hard to care about what happened to them.

My Grade: C-

(2004) Chronicle Of The Raven HORROR

Co-written and directed by Daniel de la Vega and Pablo Parés centers on twin sister, Jennifer Cassi (Gina Philips) inheriting a manor after her twin had currently died. Upon hanging around there, also lives her aunt Emma (Hilda Bernard) who just lies in bed with a paralyzed stance on her face and her suspicious granny, Mary Ellen Cassi (Faye Dunaway). As soon as Jennifer finally decides to sell the manor is when when she begin to receive nighmarish dreams about ravens, making her life rather difficult! Another interesting premised with a twist from an idea thought up by Edgar Allen Poe but with plot holes as the film progresses.

I fell asleep halfway through. Ditto on the second attempt, though I did manage to catch a few scenes and the TWO annoying endings.

Jennifer annoyed me. By the end of the film, I didn't care what became of her.

Ms. Dunaway was once a great actress, but her lifted/filled/injected face just can't communicate emotion anymore. Guess that's why she resorted to near-comical melodrama for this part.

The ending (the second one) just made me wonder why the heck I bothered staying awake through (most) of the film.

If someone made it through the entire film and wants to explain just what the heck I missed, I'd appreciate it, since I'm not up to giving this bore-fest another run.

The only reason I rented this was because of the article in Fangoria Magazine. The article made this film look interesting. Well, it isn't. This was a very boring, amateurishly written and directed movie. All the actors in this movie are awful, except Faye Dunaway, who is always a joy to watch. But too much time was focused on Gina Phillips and her ridiculous encounters with ravens and Duilio Marzio. Marzio has such a thick Argentinean accent, you can only understand every couple of words he says. Also on hand is Nicholas Pauls, who plays the ultra-bland love interest to Gina Phillips. The bottom line: this movie is not scary. There is only one good scene and that is the last five to ten minutes of the movie. I would have given this one star, but I gave it three just because I like Faye Dunaway so much. But even she wasn't that great in this.

Over a year trying to find my copy of chronicle of the raven, and now i finally got it. It is a great horror film i love it, the film is pretty original, not a remake or something unoriginal u will find in this Gothic gem. I love the story it was pretty interesting,original and creepy, the atmosphere is something to die for is one of the best things in this beautiful film, the acting was pretty good Gina Philips (jeepers creepers, ring around the Rossie) she did a great job her acting was very believable as always, Faye Dunaway (chinatown) she was fabulous and fantastic. And the other actors were so, so but they were decent. Thought that the film was a little slow at parts but that doesn't matter this film is one of the best Gothic horror i've seen recently. It is a hidden Gothic horror gem this film is worth watching, renting or buying. It is a big surprise the film is hard to found believe me but try to find it u will be impressed and u will not be disappointed, like i said it is a hidden Gothic gem. I gave it a 8/10