Masters of Horror: Episode 4 Jenifer

I was kind of rolling my eyes when I hit Play on this episode, eagerly awaiting my chance to eviscerate it. That chance, however, did not come. I'd say this is a case in which my tastes have changed since I first viewed MoH a few years ago. At the time, I think I wanted to believe myself a refined movie buff looking for substance. Now, having chilled a bit, I find myself relaxing and enjoying the style of this very simple story, driven by the idiotic decisions of its protagonist. It's based on a 10-page comic from the 70s, clearly inspired by EC Comics, and so it does feel a bit like an extended Tales from the Crypt episode. However, that extension comes courtesy of Dario Argento, a man who never let his visual style be constrained by plot or characters, and who pumps it full of every sexily stomach-turning image you can think of.

This episode also benefits from the presence of Steven Weber. All that need be said to establish his horror cred is this: Among all the debate over The Shining movie versus the mini-series, the single point of agreement between both sides is that Weber's portrayal of Jack was better than Nicholson's. I repeat: Weber's performance of a man losing his mind was so good he is almost universally agreed to have made Jack Nicholson look like a hack by comparison.

I should note that this is basically an evil seductress story, and I'm uncertain how much we're supposed to like Weber's character. It plays on the idea of men as completely unable to resist a woman sexually. Weber is ensnared by a woman who is mentally disabled, and who realistically has very little power in the dynamic. I'm here to assess the quality of the material, not my approval of it, but I do think the episode is much stronger if you assume Weber is supposed to be an irresponsible jackass.

Frank Spivey (Weber) is a cop who shoots a meat cleaver-wielding lunatic to save a young woman (Carrie Anne Fleming), only to discover that the woman is severely deformed. She has a beautiful body, but a disfigured face, black eyes, and the mind of an animal. The dying man's last word is “Jenifer,” giving Frank a name for the woman.

Frank, fearing that Jenifer will not be properly cared for in an institution, decides to take her home. Her appearance terrifies his wife and son. Both of them find Jenifer disgusting based on her face alone before she even becomes violent. When Frank is unable to find other accommodations for Jenifer, and Jenifer eats their cat, the wife and son flee. Jenifer then kills the neighbor's daughter, but she keeps her place in Frank's life by having sex with him, apparently as part of an instinct to preserve her bond with her protector.

You're probably already seeing the problem here: Frank continuously blames Jenifer. She acts violently to anyone who isn't Frank, while using sex to sate him when he grows angry with her, and I his mind it's her fault. She doesn't know what she's doing, but it's her fault. Frank seems to be unable to bring himself to return her to an institution, even though it's clear she's highly aggressive, and not responsible for her actions (and unable to consent to sex in any meaningful way), and in need of sedation and confinement.

Eventually, Frank tries to hand her off to someone else. Unable to do it himself, he gives the key to his house to the owner of a Freak Show. He tells the owner to break in, kidnap her, and use her as an exhibit. Jenifer stores the Freak Show owner in the fridge, having disemboweled him when Frank gets home.

After the second murder, Frank and Jenifer go on the run. They live in a shed, and he starts working in a grocery store. Then Jenifer murders the son of his employer (one of the few times in the episode she shows greater-than-animal intelligence, as she knows to restrain his arms), and Frank decides she has to die. He ties her up in the woods, gets an ax, and is killed by a hunter. His last word is “Jenifer,” and the hunter becomes her new protector...so, we apparently have an ongoing line of irresponsible dumb asses who can't bring themselves to put the deeply troubled young woman with nice breasts in the care of medical professionals who can treat for her properly.

The episode works mainly on a visual level. Argento knows how to make Jenifer both enticing and disgusting, and people looking for gore won't be disappointed. However, if the implication was supposed to be that Frank was right to blame Jenifer, then this episode is just messed up. I don't “recommend” it, in the same way I don't recommend skydiving. If it's the kind of thing you're into, you don't need me to suggest it.