Horrible carnage

I received my videotape of Jennifer today and I saw it. While the effects near the end were a little shoddy, it was an overall good effort. The writing, acting, character development and suspense were very good. If they had today's digital effects with which to do the snake attack scenes, the film could have been a gem.

I know it's a long shot, but just in case you always wondered what Stephen Kings legendary character Carrie would be like if she used her telekinetic powers to manipulate animals, here's your chance! "Jennifer" IS "Carrie", but with a bunch of snakes thrown in. At least after a while; don't get your hopes about seeing snake-action up too soon. Carrie with snakes, how awesome does that sound? Both girls are the main target of mockery and humiliation at school, they both have one exaggeratedly protective and foolishly religious parent left and – of course – they are both driven to a mental collapse that ends with seriously horrific consequences for everyone. Heck, the only real difference is that Jennifer didn't suddenly start to menstruate in the school gym's shower! It's really too bad that the main story lines and narrative structure of "Jennifer" are so blatantly reminiscent to "Carrie", because the film itself really quite satisfying and competently made. The characters have depth, the script contains large and clever amounts of social commentary and the overall atmosphere of the film is unsettling and continuously ominous. Director Brice Mack (who the hell is he?) patiently takes his time to build up towards a solid & suspenseful climax, particularly through a long series of painful high-school situations. Lisa Pelikan is excellent as the pitiable heroine Jennifer, but Amy Johnston is even better as her nemesis, the rich, snotty, spoiled and manipulative bitch Sandra. She's one of them characters you would really like to pull out of the TV-screen and personally strangle her with your own bare hands. You know, like Nancy Allen's character in – oh yeah – Carrie!! "Jennifer" is an overall solid and recommendable thriller but, be advised, it's rather slow-paced and contains very little gore. As a matter a fact, this might actually be the ONLY rip-off that is less gruesome, less exploitative and less grotesque than the classic original it's based on. That particular aspect of curiosity alone is worthy of a recommendation.

There are a lot of similarities between Carrie and Jennifer (over-religious single parent, school snobbery, pent up anger sparking supernatural revenge, and I guess even at one point toward the end having Jennifer looking remarkably similar to Margaret White at the end of Carrie). Jennifer's power involves control over snakes, whereas Carrie had control over practically everything.

Jennifer is played by Lisa Peliken, who is excellent in this. She gets a scholarship to a ritzy school, and her poor background and lack of wealth make her an easy target. She almost instantly gets on the bad side of the biggest clique in the school, led by Chris Hargensen-like Sandra. The special effects (especially a giant snake) are poor, but it is a fun, dated movie to watch.

From a poor background, co-locating in a pet store with her depressed father, Mensa-grade intellect sees the beguiling Jennifer (Pelikan) given an opportunity to break free from her lower-class shackles amongst the well healed at a prestigious girl's school. But after prolonged bullying and passive subversion from the arrogant head mistress (Foch), Jennifer reveals her penchant for snakes, and her telepathic ability to command them to avenge her mistreatment.

A strong cast (Bert Convy as a sympathetic teacher, John Gavin in one of his last film roles before taking up politics) and some effective special effects are the cornerstones of this blatant "Carrie" knock-off, the parallels so shameless (particularly in the characterisations) that if you removed the snake aspect, you'd be watching an inferior remake.

Pelikan is capable and actually looks better than the material with which she's got to work, and Foch in particular is a strong, assured presence as the pompous principal, whose belief it is that only money and status can achieve worthy character. The giant snake head effects aren't bad, and you wonder how the actors feel about some giant puppet head clamping down on their skulls – not what they'd have anticipated at theatre school. But it's all about the audience, and it's cheesy and fun, so thumbs up.

Anyone who knows anything about horror will have no trouble identifying Jennifer's main influence - it is, of course, Brian De Palma's Stephen King adaptation Carrie. The two share so much in common that I can't quite believe that director Brice Mack actually got away with making this film. It's not just the central premise either, things are ripped directly from Carrie wholesale; stuff like the overbearing religious single parent, the popular clique that takes a dislike to the outcast protagonist and the sensitive member of said clique that has a bit of sympathy for the outcast. The central character is, unsurprisingly, named Jennifer. Jennifer is a scholarship student at a relatively wealthy school and as such gets picked on for not having as much money as the other girls. She takes it for a while but soon the bullying is stepped up a gear and Jennifer decides that she just can't take it anymore. Luckily for her, however, she can wield a strange power over snakes and decides to use it to get her revenge.

While the film is clearly a knockoff, it does have to be said that in its own right, it's actually a decent horror movie. Don't go into it expecting to be thrilled because it's very much of the slow burn variety, although it does manage to put forward some interesting characters. It's clear that it was shot on a low budget, however, and while the acting is largely decent; certain cast members are just terrible. Jeff Corey stands out in that respect as Jennifer's overbearing religious father. The central premise centres on snakes and as such you would expect the movie to feature a few of them; but actually they don't turn up properly until right near the end which is a bit of a shame. I'd have liked to have seen a bit more of a relationship between the lead character and the snakes. Jennifer is also not even nearly as big an outcast as Carrie was; she's just not weird enough and her reaction to the bullying even seems a bit extreme. Still, I wasn't particularly expecting anything great from this film and going in with expectations like that will ensure you wont be disappointed.