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.
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.