Director: Dario Argento
Writer: Steven Weber, Bruce Jones
Tagline: Their wildest dreams are your worst nightmares.
Actors: Steven Weber, Carrie Fleming, Brenda James, Harris Allan, Beau Starr, Laurie Brunetti, Kevin Crofton, Julia Arkos, Jasmine Chan, Matt Garlick, Mark Acheson, Cynthia Garris
Original Air Date: November 18th, 2005
Runtime: 58m
Category: Creature, Demon
Synopsis: While enjoying a quiet lunch with his partner in his car, Detective Frank Spivey saves a girl from being horribly mutilated. She was being dragged around by a chain that was attached to her bound wrists. After shooting down the man dragging her around, he notices that there is something wrong with her face; it’s disfigured. The girl becomes enamored with Frank after her rescue. Due to the girl’s lack of social skills and facial abnormalities, she is instituted. Frank decides that this is no way for her to live and discharges her to move in with him, his wife and son. All is not well as Frank can’t seem to get his mind off of the hideous girl with a body that could kill. On their way back to the institution after Frank and his wife find her eating their cat, she ends up seducing him, furthering his obsession. All of his efforts to control his obsession, and control her, fail, leading to the demise of a neighbor and a carnie, and the separation between him and his wife. Now outcast to a remote cabin in the woods, she continues to seduce him to keep him from getting rid of her. When she murders his new boss’s son, he has had enough. He drags her out into the woods by bound hands and is ready to finally be rid of her until…
Review: I was not really expecting too much on this one. Don’t get me wrong, I love Argento but, there’s something about this story that bothers me. This is a classic story of a she-demon known as a succubus. This creature is known for its hideous aesthetics and gorgeous physique…and not to mention its insatiable lust. These creatures are very widely known and very widely accepted…even Comedy Central’s South Park did an episode about it. So it isn’t this story that bothers me, it’s the story of the succubus.
The story here was actually very good. I liked how Frank was taken in right from the beginning; it gave the story a kind of hopeless feeling. I also liked the connectivity of the beginning and end of the story, where what happened to the guy Frank caught trying to kill Jenifer, ended up happening to him as well. This is the most powerful feeling that one can feel, even more powerful than anger or rage; it’s love…especially hopeless love. Sometimes hopeless love is even worse because you know you’re in love but you can’t do anything about it, and you don’t even know why. That might be the thing that bothers me about the succubus story; that something could hold that much control over the human psyche. And it’s not like the Nazis or the Taliban where people believe something and have a purpose, however ludicrous it may be, it’s about being completely immersed and not understanding why.
The acting was a lot better than anticipated and was refreshing in a way. I dig a good B-movie whenever possible, and it’s common knowledge that most B-flicks lack in their acting talent department. So it was nice to see some really good acting that was convincing on the whole. Plus, I’ve always been a Steven Weber fan. I thought he got out of the biz but I guess I was wrong, eh? I must also mention Carrie Fleming in this section for one hell of a performance. I thought that she sis a fantastic job capturing the essence of the succubus demon. If ever there was an award for the best succubus character in a horror movie…she’d win!
The gore and effects were actually pretty good. I was expecting at least a decent amount of gore considering it’s an Argento film, and I got it! There was not much of it but the bit that there was, was done very well. The scenes where Jenifer is chowing down on Frank’s cat and where she’s eating the innards of the little girl next door were fantastic. You don’t see a whole lot which is not always bad. Sometimes the implied horror is more powerful that the visual horror.
Rating: 20. I personally didn’t care much for this episode. But what I do and do not like probably doesn’t matter to you. Either way, you’re reading this and I have your attention…ha! Overall I would say that this was a very well made episode that captured its goal and took the viewer on an interesting journey. If you get a chance and you like this kinda stuff, check it out…you won’t be disappointed. (20of25).
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