Jennifer's Shadow (2004) Reviews

• Chronicles of Narcissism

  movieman_kev2005-05-29

  Jennifer Cassi (Gina Philips from "Dead and Breakfast") returns back to the house she grew up in which she recently inherited from her deceased sister, unbeknownst to her grandmother (Fay Dunaway) who's still living in it. Jennifer decides to sell it as she's in dire need of the money much to Granny's chagrin. She also begins to have troublesome recurring nightmares of a mysterious raven. There was really no one to relate to in this film. Jennifer seemed cold, distant, unsentimental, and narcissistic, whereas the grandmother seemed spiteful, sad, and also narcissistic. The film is good and well-made, but with no one to empathize with I found it hard to care about what happened to them. My Grade: C-

• Nicely Gothic

  gingerrogers492006-11-05

  The movie does fill the bill of a true horror movie in the old Gothic school of a haunted house slash conspiracy witchcraft theme. The location and sets are spot on. The house itself lends it'self perfectly for what you would call a haunted house. It positively drips with a doom and gloom atmosphere which is what makes the movie worth seeing for this reason alone. I would love to own a house like this. I did feel that the acting is a bit contrived leaving you with a feeling as if the actors are still rehearsing their parts instead of a leaving you with a polished performance. I did enjoy the movie though. Maybe I'm just a sucker for this genre and that makes me bias.

• A gem toward modern Gothic

  gothicgoblin13342007-03-21

  Now, look not at the fact this film has not many ratings, look more towards the film in general. In my opinion, The Chronicle of The Raven is a Gothic masterpiece (as a goth I greatly appreciate this). The story, is indeed originally and quite Poe-esquire. For the plot revolves around a woman, in a grim and beautiful section of Argentina, just moved into her grandmother's mysterious old mansion. Facing surrealistic settings and dreams, each night she is tortured by a ravenous raven that devours parts of her body. Indeed a gruesome and unlikely tale for a film generation perhaps in the dusk. I strongly recommend it, also the originality of the filmmakers with such a plot. The acting is stubble yet in this case, like a play and performed melodramatically. The cinematography and use of lighting is low, a dark stark colour surrounds the film-this is one of the greatest things of the Chronicle of the Raven. Anyway, look for this film wherever you can find it, you'll indeed be impressed.

• Boring nonsense.

  poolandrews2008-03-08

  Jennifer's Shadow is set in Argentina & starts as Jennifer Cassi (Gina Philips) arrives there after her sister Johanna dies. Jennifer is left Johanna's large house in her will, Jennifer decides to sell the house & head back to Los Angeles even though her Grandmother Mary Ellen (Faye Dunaway) is opposed to the sale. However strange things begin to happen, Jennifer starts having nightmares about Ravens pecking at her & she starts to feel very ill. After a check up in hospital it seems that one of her kidney's have mysteriously disappeared, what is happening to Jennifer? Is it an ancient family curse? Will Jennifer be the next to succumb to it... This Argentinian American co-production was co-written & co-directed by Daniel de la Vega & Pablo Parés & is a really dull waste of ninety odd minutes, a tedious & predictable modern ghost story that I would imagine will put more people to sleep sooner than scare them. The script by Vega, Parés & P.J. Pettiette is pretty slow going & tedious which is not what anyone wants, I mean I'm sure most people don't want to sit down & be bored out of their skulls. The character's are all uninteresting & fairly faceless with little or no motivation for anything they do. For instance who is that graveyard caretaker guy? How did he know about the demons? What is his interest & motivation for getting involved? I couldn't see it. Jennifer herself is a pretty unlikable & bland leading lady, her Grandmother Mary Allen is as clichéd as they come & it's surprising that she is so obviously the villain. I mean for this sort of mystery based horror/ghost story it's surprisingly predictable & routine. There are gaps in both logic & the story which together with the terrible twist ending which isn't much of a twist I didn't like Jennifer's Shadow one iota. Directors Vega & Parés goes down the much used route of bleaching almost all of the colour from the picture which often renders it not too far from black and white, I suspect that they wanted to give it a period Gothic feel but it's been done so many times before & often so much better that it didn't do much for me at all & just makes the whole film look dull & lifeless. There's a definite 40's period look as well, from the costumes to the interior of the large house but again it's rather half hearted & cheap looking. Jennifer's Shadow is well made but it's rather forgettable, it's not scary or creepy & it's rather predictable. If that wasn't enough there's no gore either, there's a few scenes of Ravens pecking away at people & a beating heart but nothing else. With a supposed budget of about $1,000,000 & retitled to The Chronicles of the Raven for it's US & international DVD release this is reasonably well made but a million won't buy you too much these days & Jennifer's Shadow pretty much proves that theory. There are too many scenes of actor's speaking in thick Argentinian accents as well, even though it might be realistic I actually like to be able to understand what people are saying. The acting is alright although Dunaway overacts badly & is obviously there for the money. Jennifer's Shadow is a rubbishy ghost film that I thought was a total bore from start to finish, I would rather watch The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964) again instead. A total waste of time.

• Pretty Lousy

  LeaBlacks_Balls2005-06-18

  The only reason I rented this was because of the article in Fangoria Magazine. The article made this film look interesting. Well, it isn't. This was a very boring, amateurishly written and directed movie. All the actors in this movie are awful, except Faye Dunaway, who is always a joy to watch. But too much time was focused on Gina Phillips and her ridiculous encounters with ravens and Duilio Marzio. Marzio has such a thick Argentinean accent, you can only understand every couple of words he says. Also on hand is Nicholas Pauls, who plays the ultra-bland love interest to Gina Phillips. The bottom line: this movie is not scary. There is only one good scene and that is the last five to ten minutes of the movie. I would have given this one star, but I gave it three just because I like Faye Dunaway so much. But even she wasn't that great in this.