#128 -- Masters of Horror: Jenifer (2005)

Director: Dario Argento
Rating: 4/5

May contain spoilers.
In this episode of Masters of Horror, we meet Jenifer, a strange but somehow lovely young lady. We first meet her when a police officer, Frank (that guy from "Wings"; I can never remember his name), saves her from being butchered by a homeless man. Her face is deformed, but she is otherwise quite attractive (what we call a butter-face). She can't speak or communicate in any way and, since the police force believes her to be mentally handicapped, she is sent to a mental facility. But Frank doesn't like it, because he sees her as merely a victim. So he has her released from the facility and takes her home. His wife isn't happy about it, especially after a brutal make-out session with Jenifer, and she leaves him. But Jenifer is quite the little seductress, and Frank absolutely cannot resist her. After being raped by her in his car, they begin a strange little love affair. I guess you could possibly put this in the torture porn category, because it features sex that is so disturbing that it's hot (for me at least, but maybe I'm just a freak). Frank soon realizes that Jenifer isn't just a helpless little victim. She starts off by eating his pet cat, and then escalates to the little girl next door. Having had enough, Frank hires a carny to kill her; but that man ends up stuffed in Frank's refrigerator. Instead of going to his colleagues, the police, he buries the bodies and goes on the run with Jenifer. They end up in a shack out in the woods. He gets a job at a local grocery store, leaving Jenifer alone to eat some more people. Again, Frank's had enough. So he takes her outside, ties her to a tree, and plans to behead her. He's thwarted by a local hunter, who kills Frank and starts the cycle all over again.

Yeah, there are plot holes in this. Or at least, things that make the story a little bit silly. A police officer refusing to go to the police after folks are murdered in his house, for instance. And why doesn't Frank kill her in the seclusion of their little shack, instead of outside where he's sure to be stopped? It seems to be a never-ending cycle, with Jenifer simply finding new men to seduce into keeping her dirty little secret. Some parts of it are silly, yes, but I don't care. It was entertaining, and that's all I'm worried about. So what is Jenifer exactly? I wouldn't call her a zombie, because she seems very much alive to me. I don't think she was just a crazy person either. The most likely explanation to me seems that she's one of those "hillbilly" types. Born of incest and forced to live in solitude, she (and perhaps her unknown family?) was forced to resort to cannibalism. Of course, she could've have been a cannibalistic mutant from outer space. Only the writers know the answer, but one thing's for sure. Don't mess with girls named Jenifer. I haven't yet found an episode of MoH that I absolutely didn't like. There have been episodes that I liked more than others, but overall I'm a huge fan and they never disappoint.