Jenifer

I gave this a 8 as compared to TV, what it was made for, if it was a big screen movie it would be considered a future cheesy classic.

Dario Argento is just having fun here, so do not read anything deep or artsy into this movie as some have. He is having a good time and getting paid. Now on to the movie.

This was fun to watch when it was not being disturbing. The whole thing is a grimace & wince fest, from the sex scenes to the cannibal scenes.That is what shock horror is all about. For a 58 min TV movie this succeeds at that wonderfully.

The effects are pretty gruesome and bloody, the girl Jennifer a wonderful mix of sex appeal and repulsion, and the poor ol' cop a kind and pathetic (when it comes to saying NO to sex) character. I enjoyed this slightly disturbing show from beginning to end. If you are not easily insulted and have a open sense of humour this is a fun way to spend a hour!

I've seen a lot of sick and disgusting movies. No big deal. But Jenifer, for some reason, seemed really sick and disturbing to me. I almost couldn't watch. I can't explain it, it wasn't the guts and gore of eating a cat, it wasn't the awful face of Jenifer. But the overall effect of it was really something. Watch this if you dare, but you will be saying to yourself (ok, more like screaming at the TV) WHAT THE...!!!

It is possible that some people will not like the ending, some even might find it predictable. But in no way is it disappointing, and in no way does it ruin the whole thing. It's a splatter of gore, just as I am used to with Dario Argento. It's not a masterpiece, but it is a very good (or should I say very evil, bad, filthy, sick) episode of the Masters of Horror series.

This episode is very disturbing, but that is what it makes it good. This is one of those times where despite someting being distrurbing or "wrong," you can't help but watch and are drawn in more, fitting the overall theme of the episode.

The make up on Jennifer is phenominal, perhaps the best in the entire show. They took Carrie Anne-Fleming who was a rather attractive actress back then (Google her), and gave her a horribly, repulsively disfigured face that will straight up gross you out. A literal stuff of nightmares. And despite that face, Jennifer still manages to pull a powerful sex appeal over any man she meets, making this episode all the more twisted.

What starts as an innocent attempt to help a disfigured and possibly mentally handicapped woman, turns into dark obsession that soon takes over the Main Character's life. The story is simple enough but works, with decent acting all around.

The ending is very predicatble as you know where the episode will have to ultimately end up, yet I still think it works. Despite its predictability, the ending doesn't deminish the story, and if anything sells it more. It made me wonder how long has this macabre gone on for, and will it ever end? It's rare to see predictability and repuslion work so well, and thus I award this episode 8/10.

Directed by Dario Argento ("Suspiria"); written by Steven Weber, based on the original graphic story by Bruce Jones and Berni Wrightson; starring Steven Weber, Beau Starr and introducing Carrie Anne Fleming as "Jenifer."

Stephen King has previously outlined his blueprint for writing successfully. You go for the creeps first. If that doesn't do it, go for the scares and if that doesn't do it, go for the gross-out. For the master of Italian gialli, Dario Argento, that plan is his intentional M.O. with every film, and in this one, he works his macabre magic with almost surgical skill, bringing to life a tale so twisted, that it sears itself into your memory banks with the same intensity as the original story upon which it's based.

Writer/actor Steven Weber, (so good in Mick Garris' reworked version of King's "The Shining",) stars as world-weary cop Frank Spivey, whose life and sanity are destroyed by a fateful encounter with a young girl. Frank interrupts what appears to be a murder-in-progress: a crazed maniac wielding a meat cleaver over a bound, bedraggled, helplessly cowering figure. But even after Frank fatally shoots the man and frees the girl, all is not what it seems. Frank has just met "Jenifer," which is the only word the dying man can utter with his last breath.

Apparently mute, or unable to talk, Jenifer is graced with a body that would shame the 'Venus de Milo.' But the problem with her speech is horrifyingly clear, as the poor girl has a unnaturally deformed face that would stop a clock...especially if that clock is "Big Ben!!!" Confused by the simultaneous feelings of repulsion and sympathy that course through him, Frank takes deliberate steps to take the girl into his house, once he discovers that she is homeless. But at the core of his compassion, which his wife and son understandably don't share at all, is something compelling, disturbing and powerful that he can't deny, explain or resist...

He has fallen under Jenifer's insidious spell, and as she systematically destroys his will, his sanity and finally his life, he discovers that she is one siren/succubus whose appetite for the flesh is not limited merely to rounds of mind-blowing sex, in horrifically erotic sequences that will make you cringe and yet leave you unable to avert your eyes from what's on-screen...Argento fans will rejoice even as they're fighting their gag reflexes. This is the maestro in rare form...on a groove we haven't seen from him since the days of "Deep Red" and "Tenebrae."

Though he usually works from his own scripts, it's a pleasant surprise to see him demonstrate such even-handed confidence with material from other sources. Which is essential here, since a less-skilled hand could've turned this into a really bad Saturday Night Live skit viewed through an l.s.d. haze. Weber, in addition to having done a terrific job with adapting Jones' story, does some of his best acting ever as Frank makes the constantly shifting transitions from sympathy, to lust, to revulsion, to self-loathing, to outrage and back again.

As for Ms. Fleming, she does an amazing amount with what is basically a wordless role. All of her acting has to be done via her physicality, (and with a stunning body to begin with, she has to work at it, but not too hard), and her portrayal of a creature designed to seduce-and-destroy any (and every) man she meets is suitably compelling, disturbing and ultimately revolting.

Amazingly, I haven't seen anything by Argento. I've intended to rent The Bird With Crystal Plumage, but I keep expecting that I'll hate it. Giallo flicks were never my forte.

Jenifer deals with a cop who saves a disfigured woman from being killed by a man. His concern for Jenifer grows, and winds up bringing her to stay with his family for a time. He gradually becomes obsessed with Jenifer, and protecting her comes into conflict with his feelings about her behavior.

How far do we go for love? At what point does behavior become unforgivable? Jenifer behaves like a pet in this film, to the point that she makes purring type noises as part of her seduction. The gore is strong, but brief. There is a strong amount of sex in this story, and there have been complaints about that. I considered the sex to be entirely necessary to the plot. The psychological aspects of the characters involved make these sequences indispensable. A very strong entry in the series, probably one of my favorites.