Customer Reviews

Masters of Horror - Dario Argento - Jenifer

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Based on an old Eerie comic illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, this is an eerie tale that plays against a number of emotions. The story starts with a police officer who sees a man try to kill a woman. He shoots the man before he can cause harm. The rescued woman is Jenifer. She has a disfigured face, a killer body, and seems unable to talk. But no sooner is the case open than the detective begins to become obsessed with Jenifer. He visits her at an asylum and decides she needs compassion and friendship so he brings her home. This causes new trouble.

With Jenifer in the house things quickly fall apart for the detective's family life. Then he discovers that Jenifer has a very active libido and has targeted him. Then more of Jenifer's nature becomes apparent as she eats the family dog. Things continue to go downhill as the detective is both repulsed by Jenifer's behavior and enslaved to her passion. The downward spiral continues until the inevitable ending.

This is one of the best of the Master Of Horror series and may be the best of them all. The story is dark and disturbing. It is missing the cuteness that ruined some of the others in the series. The script is true to the original except the detective is given a happier home life so that he call fall even further during the story. There is a large amount of nudity and sexuality in this film. Had this been a theatrical release there would probably have been talk of an NC-17 rating for a couple of the scenes. All in all this is a very good horror film that gets to the viewer on multiple levels. Definitely check it out.

After police officer Frank Spivey saves a disfigured young woman named Jenifer from being killed, he takes her into his home and begins a dangerous love affair with her. (Okay, so I know this has been reviewed a million times over, but I will address issues not previously covered by others.) When Frank later returns home after killing a man and saving Jenifer, he is seduced by his wife. At first, her advances turn him off, but then he is plagued with flashbacks of the dying man and a helpless tied up Jenifer. This makes Frank become sexually charged and aggressive towards his wife. In an ambiguous move on the director's part, it appears as though he rapes his own wife. Later, you will find him sinking to new lows with devastating consequences.

I could not help but notice the many similarities to David Cronenberg's Crash. There is an emphasis on the weird attraction we may feel towards some things that should repulse us. The nude & sex scenes show a heavy contrast between what is beautiful and what is disgusting and as it turns out, there is a thin line between the two.

I have read some other reviewer's opinions and they seem to state that their interpretation of Jenifer is as a monster or severely disfigured woman. Some even called her an "alien". My personal opinion is that she is none of the above. I think that would be missing the point of the film. I believe that Jenifer is not a human, but rather a manifestation of man's desire. Inevitably, all the men lose their wives, children, jobs, freedom, and eventually their lives. It is a cautionary tale to all stupid men, uh, well, I guess all men. The good news is that Frank pays for his stupidity in the end. Actually, things come around full circle. And I have to admit, I laughed.

Like a typical Argento film, he covers much ground here. Besides the obvious comparison to ugly and beauty, he takes a look at a corrupt police force. When the man that attempted to kill Jenifer has his nice clothes searched, but found missing an ID, he is written off as a homeless person. It later turns out that he was wealthy. When Jenifer is rescued, she is considered retarded and admitted to a mental institution because "that's the system".

While the story itself is great and tackles bizarre subject matter, my biggest complaint is that the nudity goes way overboard. I got the point about 5 nude scenes in. I don't need a paint by numbers cheap porno where the partners switch positions repeatedly. Top, bottom, side, car, bed, cabin, etc. It got very boring, very quickly. Plus half the time the nudity made no sense at all. For instance, if Jenifer is showering in an institute, Why is a male orderly and a male stranger allowed in there to gawk at her? Why is Jenifer walking around naked at Frank's house in front of his wife and young son and no one bothers to cover her? Another thing that didn't make a lot of sense was when Frank quits his job to live in the woods with Jenifer. Why not just hide her there and visit? Okay, to keep an eye on her and bone repeatedly. Fine. But wouldn't his wife and son report him missing? Um, there is such a thing as child support. He cannot just run off with another broad and not expect people to come for him.

Clocking in at a full 58 minutes, the film features great SFX (and in case you missed it, nekkid people). Claudio from Goblin supplies the soundtrack.

Weird Fact: This was the only Season 1 episode to require cuts. 2 shots were removed involving graphic depictions of oral sex. The first one occurred during the awkward sex scene in the car and the second occurred at the end of the film. The deleted scenes are edited into the 'So Hideous My Love' documentary on the DVD, which somehow I completely missed. Uhh, I guess I don't know oral sex when I see it. Or maybe I accidentally skipped over this. Or I got tired of watching this and did something else.

Favorite Quote: Police Chief, "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck with a meat cleaver." DVD Extras: Interview with Director & Cast, Commentary, Stills, Bios, Trailers, and the Screenplay on DVD-ROM.

Bottom Line: An honest look at disturbing subject matter. Incredibly sexual, while lacking in extreme gore and devoid of any scares.

Rating: 7/10

by Molly Celaschi

It sounds like Jenifer (yes one n), got under the last reviewer's skin. It's that type of story, written over 30 years ago by Bruce Jones. Jones is probably one of the best comic book writers of all time. This story is about obsession. How a man cannot pull away from a hideously deformed woman with a beautiful body. If you enjoy the over the top work of Argento, and the art of Berni Wrightson (which inspired the look of the film), this hour of horror will be appreciated. The dvd has a lot of extras as well.

Wow what a sick movie. "Jenifer" by Dario Argento (Suspiria,Opera) is a film of passion, sexual addiction and blood curdling horror. The film follows the plight of a cop who stumbles apon a crazed man trying to decapatate a woman by a river. The cop proceeds to shoot the man and save the damsel in distress. Sounds like the beginning to a nice love story right?...no. The cop is shocked to discover that the woman is horribly disfigured, sporting a pair of huge black eyes and razor sharp teeth. After failed attempts to get rid of her, the cop brings her home where Jenifer displays her terrible manners by eating the family cat. This doesn't sit well with the wife and she leaves before losing her lunch. With the wife gone and being in a nice big house alone with Jenifer the cop soon finds that Jenifer is amazing in the sack. (except for a few minor turn-offs like her twisted face and the fact that she sounds like an elephant)He begins to find that he is hopelessly addicted to Jenifer's passion and as that addiction grows so does Jenifer's murderous hunger for blood. I really enjoyed this film. I found it to be a very unique and innovative story in horror. I loved the symbolic ties between the characters (The cop slowly having his life distroyed by sex addiction and Jenifer, the seductive sucubus who's disfigurement reflects in a way her own nature but also the horror that she enflicts in her victim's lives. I really recommend this for fans of horror who like their plots more left of the dial. watch it!

Ok, let me start by saying this. I love Argento. Suspiria was a classic. Granted, "Jenifer" is no Suspiria, but for $12 bucks, it well worth picking up. If you love gore... you will LOVE this flick. Plus, the DVD is LOADED with extras. Well worth the purchase. You should also check out "Do You Love Hitchcock?", a brand new, full length movie by Dario Argento, also out today.

It's not as bad as others are saying. As long as you're not an Argento purist, you will find this flick rather enjoyable. I found it interesting how the cop went from helping the girl to losing everything as a result. It's a lot better than you think.

This entry into the "Masters of Horror" series is, by far, the worst I have seen (of about six or seven of them), a true disaster of a film. Or so I thought until I came here and saw the glowing reviews of so many other people. I am at a loss to understand what they could have seen in the film, so I'll try to explain my reaction and hope that those who read this review will read the more positive reviews and see which seem more in accord with their tastes.

First, the plot. Spivey, a police officer (Steven Weber) stops a man from killing a woman (Carrie Fleming) with a meat cleaver. Spivey shoots the man, who utters one word before he dies: "Jenifer." The woman turns out to be a deformed woman about whom nothing is known. Weber somehow manages to check her out of the mental ward and take her to his house, the first instance of a serious plot hole in the film. There, Jenifer eats the family cat, causing Spivey's wife and son to leave. For no reason that I could discern, Spivey makes no apparent effort to get them back.

What Spivey does get out of his relationship with Jenifer is a lot of sex. Why he would want to engage in sex with someone with cat breath is not clear. Jenifer has, it seems, some sort of hold over him, a hold that begins the moment he meets her. He does try to break free eventually, leading to an ending so predictable that it is obvious long before it unfolds.

In trying to reconcile the positive reviews of this film with my own reactions, I have gone over the film again in my mind and tried to figure out what there is to recommend it. The film is shot well, but the cinematography is not spectacular or even especially noteworthy, especially when compared to some of Dario Argento's earlier, better-known work (think Suspiria). The acting is competent, but the characters are so flat that there is little either principal actor can do with his or her role. Weber, for instance, never fully conveys why his character would choose Jenifer over his family, and Fleming is even more limited since her character does not speak. Indeed, Jenifer seems only to growl, eat, whimper, and have a lot of sex. There are some nice homages throughout, notably to Psycho (or, more precisely, Bernard Herrmann's magnificent score) and to Frankenstein (the scene in which a girl throws flowers into water). But allusions are not enough to save this film, at least not in my view.

Obviously, there are many who disagree, and I'm glad they found this film to their taste. For me, however, "Jenifer" really does rank as only 1 star.

The movie is the perfect mix of revulsion and attraction in one hour-long film. Personally, I think the cop (Frank) had the perfect situation but mishandled it. Think about it. A smokin hot blonde with a face that is a lil scary, combined with an inability to talk, a hunger for raw meat and an animalistic sexual appetite...TOO EASY! Jenifer's mixture of innocence and animal instinct reminds me of the siren story where the lusty sirens would lure seamen to their doom. Jenifer does all the same far too easily. And she does it while making you feel sorry for her and pitying her.

Well, The situation/movie could have turned out better if Frank had just kept a sane head on his shoulders. His family left him but he could have continued communication with them while he was with his new girlfriend. Yeah yeah yeah, she ate the family cat but I mean come on! The dude never fed her! Wouldn't you be hungry after a romp like that!? I know I'd be looking for a sandwich as soon as I woke up out of my romp induced coma! How could the dude expect her to be normal when he SAW how she ate the family cat!?! He should have kept his job and just locked her in the house all day and left her a few animals running around the house for her to stalk and eat. Then when he came home he could clean her up with a nice hot shower and take care of himself and clean up the house. He could take her out for a walk or to a park so she could get some air then come back home and eat dinner himself. Then relax a little bit before taking her to bed and making her howl.

There were a few parts where I wanted to know more...like, did she know how to dress herself, was she potty trained, who owned her before Frank, was she able to eat cooked food, was she teachable, was she a mutant or a demon, if she was a mutant who were her parents, was she just a disfigured abused female that someone kept in their basement most of her life, is she capable of true love or just animalistic companionship, who taught her to use her mouth without her shark teeth getting in the way?....all of these questions bounced around in my mind and they still do.
I am so thoroughly intrigued by Jenifer. She definitely has her teeth in me...

I heard really good things about this movie from a friend, so I had myself all psyched up to watch it over the week I waited for it to arrive. Unfortunately, I'm left severely disappointed.

The movie is gore-filled, with simple but good looking effects - Jenifer is certainly disturbing to see - but intestines and blood do not a scary movie make. The acting is decent enough, but the part that kills the movie for me is the atmosphere, or more accurately, the lack of it.

The colors, setting and music are all something that I would expect from an early ninties TV show on Sci-Fi, or even Nikelodeon. Throughout the movie, I was imagining how much better each scene would have been with a much darker, nightmareish theme, more like Eraserhead, but not as frustratingly dull. Instead, we get cheesey, staccato orchestrations and arpeggiated synths with bright colors and predictable scenes, one after the other.

I don't want to say it was bad. I like the story alright, and yes, there is plenty of nudity (call me crass if you'd like, I'm not ashamed to admit it), but 13 Ghosts set a better mood than this movie... and that's scary. Two stars is too harsh, but three is too much. I'd do 2.75 if I could, or even 2.5.

Believe it or not, Steven Weber wrote the screenplay for this installment. I feared that Argento would go soft because of this (considering all the lame Stephen King tv adaptations Weber has done)...but this is all out nasty stuff. It's important to note that none of Argento's magic camera work or unique perspectives are present--it's all straightforward, but this tale of a man trying to care for a grossly mutated young women with a killer body, who SEEMS pathetic and victimized, makes for a perfect short film. It is utterly disturbing and horrific, and one of the best episodes of Masters of Horror that I own so far.