"Masters of Horror" Jenifer (2005)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Dario Argento

Writers:

Steven Weber (teleplay) and
Bruce Jones (short story)

TV Series:

"Masters of Horror" (2005)

Original Air Date:

18 November 2005 (Season 1, Episode 4)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

While parked in a remote spot lunching Chinese food with his partner, Detective Frank Spivey saves a...

Plot Keywords:

Blood | Painful Sex | Marital Rape | Rough Sex | Gore

Cast

Steven Weber	...	Frank Spivey
Carrie Fleming	...	Jenifer (as Carrie Anne Fleming)
Brenda James	...	Ruby
Harris Allan	...	Pete
Beau Starr	...	Chief Charlie
Laurie Brunetti	...	Spacey
Kevin Crofton	...	Homeless Man
Julia Arkos	...	Ann Wilkerson
Jasmine Chan	...	Amy
Matt Garlick	...	Institute Guard
Mark Acheson	...	Side Show Owner
Cynthia Garris	...	Rose
Jeffrey Ballard	...	Young Jack (as Jeff Ballard)
Brad Mooney	...	Friend #1
Riley Ruckman	...	Friend #2

Runtime:

58 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-MA | Italy:VM14 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-15 (TV rating) (self applied) (2008) | Finland:K-18 (DVD) (self applied) (2007)

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Reunion Pictures

Trivia:

This was the only Season 1 episode to require cuts. 2 shots were removed from the final film, both involved graphic depictions of oral sex. The first one occurred during the 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.

Quotes:

Chief Charlie: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck with a meat cleaver.

Argento shows the other guys how it's done...well, almost.

Dario Argento is my favourite horror film director; but even that didn't fill me with confidence going into this episode of the 'Masters of Horror' series. Thus far, all Mick Garris' series has done is brought out the worst in it's participating directors, and while Argento's instalment isn't even close to being up to his usual high standard; it's a hell of a lot better than the poor first and third showings, and I'd rate it slightly higher than Stuart Gordon's 'Dreams in Witch House'. As you'd expect from the master of bizarre Italian horror films, Jennifer is a suitably weird tale. It follows the story of a police officer who saves a young girl from being butchered. This girl has an absolutely great body; but her head doesn't match, as she's hideously deformed. After taking pity on the girl he saved, our hero takes her back to his own home; much to the dismay of his wife and son. Argento doesn't seem too bothered about offending TV viewers, as the tale is gratuitous in both sex and violence. The nudity is in your face, and the sex scenes take up a lot of the running time. The scenes of gore look like something out of a cannibal film; and I'm actually quite surprised Argento got away with it, considering how tame the other three episodes thus far were. The music comes courtesy of Claudio Simonetti; better known as a part of Argento's house band, 'Goblin'. I can't say that this bit of music is among their best work, but at least it fits the tone of the piece. The character actions are a bit questionable, but Argento manages to wrap the story up without really explaining much, which takes some skill to do. On the whole; this isn't exactly great, but it's the best episode of the series up to this point.