Search - Masters of Horror - Dario Argento - Jenifer on DVD

Craig F. (sci-fifan) from SANTA FE, NM
Reviewed on 4/4/2017...

This is a messed up story. It is very dark and painful to watch. But if you are into dark stories where terrible things happen, I doubt you could do better.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Rob M. from STATEN ISLAND, NY
Reviewed on 5/31/2010...

First, let me say this, Masters of Horror was a waste of a TV show. It was as bad as Masters of Science Fiction, which took some great SF shorts and basically ruined them. Second, I'm not a big Dario Argento fan. He's too much about the visuals, with very little story or character development. This one, like most of MOH, was boring, using the lure of sex to bring in a viewer then giving them a little gore, with very little pay off. To me, this was another waste of a credit to trade for, but I wanted to see if time would have eased my thoughts toward this. Obviously - NOT!

3 of 5 member(s) found this review helpful.

Nikki H. (Tinyavenger)
Reviewed on 5/28/2010...

I found this to be kind of sick, creepy and oddly captivating. I liked it even though you saw the ending coming. Although, I don't know if it would have worked as well for me if it starred anyone other than Steven Weber.

4 of 5 member(s) found this review helpful.

Michelle D. from GRAFTON, MA
Reviewed on 11/16/2009...

almost a porn movie not very scary

1 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

"Disappointing" is too mild a term here

P. Mann | Los Angeles | 04/02/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"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."

True to the Comic

Joshua Koppel | Chicago, IL United States | 10/20/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Jenifer got under his skin

John Gentile | Hoboken, NJ | 08/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."