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Masters of Horror: Jenifer
DVD/APPROX. 58 MINS/2006/USA UNRATED
DVD/APPROX. 58 MINS/2006/USA UNRATED
7
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I’m not a big fan of television, so don’t tend to watch on shows until they hit DVD. Masters of Horror was no exception. This was my first viewing
of the series, and I’m not sure what I think. I like the idea that cool people get to make hour long horror stories. I like nudity. I like the idea that
Dario Argento was involved, but this was actually a big problem as well.
This episode, Jenifer, opens with everyone’s favourite guy from Wings that went on to be in The Shining, Steven Weber, as a cop. He’s out with
his partner when he notices a dishevelled man about to cleaver a young woman. Weber intervenes, and the dishevelled man warns Weber that
he doesn’t know what the woman is. Weber shoots the would-be murderer, and goes to the girl’s aid. But she’s not just some girl. Despite being
very hot from the neck down, her face is horribly disfigured. This is, oh, I dunno, minute three after the credits. Have you guessed exactly how the
story will end? I know I had.
Anyway, the girl, whose name is presumed to be Jenifer, is taken in for processing, but ends up in an asylum. Weber is not pleased by this, so he
removes Jenifer, but having no place to take her, brings her home with him. This puts understandable strain on his family life. As Weber spirals
out of control, Jenifer’s behaviour gets more and more aggressive to anyone that’s not him. You HAVE to have figured out where this is heading by
now, so I’ll not bother with any more synopsis.
While Jenifer does have a lot of nudity, it’s mostly by the one girl with the heavily made up disfigurement, so it’s not entirely good. There’s a lot of
sex, and certainly some gore, but the sex gets old and the gore isn’t enough to carry the story. The whole thing seemed like a particularly sexed
up Tales From the Crypt, without the chintz factor. The script, by Weber, lacks any real punch or surprises, aside from one Frankenstein inspired
moment. But the real problem with this episode is Dario Argento. Okay, I know it says it’s Argento, but aside from about one minute of screen
time, you’d never know it was helmed by him. And that includes the Argento style end credits, so really, there’s like 4 seconds in the show that I
would say, “Oh, Argento did that.” This is Trauma revisited. Not bad, but kinda bland, and not up to what we expect from Argento. Well, pre
Phantom of the Opera anyway. At this point, I think most are just happy with what they can get from him.
The DVD contains plenty of special features. I did some research and found out there’s normally a lengthy, career-spanning interview with the
“master of horror,” but since Argento doesn’t speak English that well, this section is just about Jenifer in general on this DVD. Additional extras
include a featurette about working with Argento, interviews with the cast, behind-the-scenes featurettes (including one on the makeup), trailers
for other episodes in the series, the teleplay, and an audio-commentary track with Steven Weber the DVD producer of Anchor Bay. True to his
comedic acting roots, Weber cracks a lot of jokes, and the track is generally entertaining and informative.
The special features do reveal that some edits were made to this episode. I find this odd, because I thought the whole point of the series was to
give these horror meisters free reign, so censoring footage seems completely stupid to me. That, coupled with the fact that Takashi Miike’s
episode went to limbo, makes me question the long standing value of the series. However, Anchor Bay make good, and you can catch the deleted
bits in the interview with Dario. I have to admit, one of the scenes was certainly something I was curious about, and the other’s pretty damn
intense.
Regardless, if you’re a fan of the series, you’ll probably want to hold out for a box set, but if you just liked this episode and hated all the others, I
guess you should just get this one.
of the series, and I’m not sure what I think. I like the idea that cool people get to make hour long horror stories. I like nudity. I like the idea that
Dario Argento was involved, but this was actually a big problem as well.
This episode, Jenifer, opens with everyone’s favourite guy from Wings that went on to be in The Shining, Steven Weber, as a cop. He’s out with
his partner when he notices a dishevelled man about to cleaver a young woman. Weber intervenes, and the dishevelled man warns Weber that
he doesn’t know what the woman is. Weber shoots the would-be murderer, and goes to the girl’s aid. But she’s not just some girl. Despite being
very hot from the neck down, her face is horribly disfigured. This is, oh, I dunno, minute three after the credits. Have you guessed exactly how the
story will end? I know I had.
Anyway, the girl, whose name is presumed to be Jenifer, is taken in for processing, but ends up in an asylum. Weber is not pleased by this, so he
removes Jenifer, but having no place to take her, brings her home with him. This puts understandable strain on his family life. As Weber spirals
out of control, Jenifer’s behaviour gets more and more aggressive to anyone that’s not him. You HAVE to have figured out where this is heading by
now, so I’ll not bother with any more synopsis.
While Jenifer does have a lot of nudity, it’s mostly by the one girl with the heavily made up disfigurement, so it’s not entirely good. There’s a lot of
sex, and certainly some gore, but the sex gets old and the gore isn’t enough to carry the story. The whole thing seemed like a particularly sexed
up Tales From the Crypt, without the chintz factor. The script, by Weber, lacks any real punch or surprises, aside from one Frankenstein inspired
moment. But the real problem with this episode is Dario Argento. Okay, I know it says it’s Argento, but aside from about one minute of screen
time, you’d never know it was helmed by him. And that includes the Argento style end credits, so really, there’s like 4 seconds in the show that I
would say, “Oh, Argento did that.” This is Trauma revisited. Not bad, but kinda bland, and not up to what we expect from Argento. Well, pre
Phantom of the Opera anyway. At this point, I think most are just happy with what they can get from him.
The DVD contains plenty of special features. I did some research and found out there’s normally a lengthy, career-spanning interview with the
“master of horror,” but since Argento doesn’t speak English that well, this section is just about Jenifer in general on this DVD. Additional extras
include a featurette about working with Argento, interviews with the cast, behind-the-scenes featurettes (including one on the makeup), trailers
for other episodes in the series, the teleplay, and an audio-commentary track with Steven Weber the DVD producer of Anchor Bay. True to his
comedic acting roots, Weber cracks a lot of jokes, and the track is generally entertaining and informative.
The special features do reveal that some edits were made to this episode. I find this odd, because I thought the whole point of the series was to
give these horror meisters free reign, so censoring footage seems completely stupid to me. That, coupled with the fact that Takashi Miike’s
episode went to limbo, makes me question the long standing value of the series. However, Anchor Bay make good, and you can catch the deleted
bits in the interview with Dario. I have to admit, one of the scenes was certainly something I was curious about, and the other’s pretty damn
intense.
Regardless, if you’re a fan of the series, you’ll probably want to hold out for a box set, but if you just liked this episode and hated all the others, I
guess you should just get this one.
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