Ricardo P
No way anyone in their right mind and not being paid to would give this 34%
The worst movie I have ever seen. Would rate 0 % if I could.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
12/29/22
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<B><I>CHRONICLE OF THE RAVEN</I> (2004) </B> independent; US, Argentina
WRITTEN BY: P.J. Pettiette, Pablo Parés, Daniel De La Vega
DIRECTED BY: Pablo Parés and Daniel De La Vega
FEATURING: Faye Dunaway, Gina Phillips, Nicolas Pauls, Duilio Marzio, Hilda Bernard, Elvira Donetto,
GENRE: <B>OCCULT-HORROR</B>
TAGS: mystery, thriller
RATING: <B>5 PINTS OF BLOOD</B>
PLOT:<B> In this black reworking of the Prometheus myth, Faye Dunaway plays an aging matriarch who sacrifices family members to a supernatural raven who appears in the victims' dreams night after night to devour their internal organs.</B>
COMMENTS: Well, this is a strange one, a low budget but more or less competently produced Giallo Gothic horror yarn set and filmed in Argentina. Oddball and a bit murky, CHRONICLE OF THE RAVEN stars a well-preserved Faye Dunaway, the '70's screen icon of BONNIE AND CLYDE, CHINATOWN, and THE EYES OF LAURA MARS. CHRONICLE has all the requisites for a standard Gothic terror tale: a pretty protagonist in jeopardy, an obligatorily decrepit ancestral manor, and a mother mixed up with the occult. Turning it toward the unusual however, are a mute aunt who's become a living corpse, deceased family members who are in fact, undead, murder, immolation, and a blood-thirsty bird of prey.
In CHRONICLE, upon the death of her sister, 20-something Jennifer (Gina Phillips) returns to her decaying family estate to probate her deceased sister's will. Right off the bat things get weird. Jennifer discovers that her sister Johanna died under mysterious circumstances, as did Jennifer's parents not long before.
Jennifer's bedridden Aunt Emma (Hilda Bernard) is languishing in the grip of some mysterious illness and wants desperately to tell her something important, but can't. Jennifer's domineering grandmother Mary Ellen (Dunaway) locks Jennifer in her room at night. And something unwholesome is living in the attic. It turns out to be a raven, who Mary Ellen worships, literally. Everything goes to pot when Jennifer begins having nightmares, ones in which the raven attacks her and devours her internal organs.
Oddly, these night terrors become grounded in reality; Jennifer comes to in a hospital missing a kidney, and that's only the beginning. As the raven's nightly feedings begin to whittle her down, Jennifer frantically searches for answers before she becomes completely incapacitated. In so doing, she entangles herself in a web of occult secrets which lead her to an ultimate horror.
Although it's photographed in color, CHRONICLE OF THE RAVEN is a study of greys, blacks, gloom and shadow. From the characters' dark attire, black automobiles, dimly-lit interiors where windows seem always to be facing away from the feeble winter sun, to the corner recesses of crypts and mausoleums, and action filmed at night, CHRONICLE OF THE RAVEN is shot at the dark end of the tonal scale. The movie should have been filmed in black and white, with frames thoughtfully composed to maximize good design elements and plenty of texture. CHRONICLE's premise, characters, and setting are certainly novel and grim enough to have justified making it a macabre art film. Frustratingly, the filmmakers passed on the opportunity, even though they had enough of an inkling to reportedly bleach the film negative to make the colors appear washed-out.
It may be just as well however, given that CHRONICLE's script, while adequate, could have benefited from the oversight of a professional consultant. While Chronicle doesn't have the amateurish feel of a low budget effort -well, no more than most Giallo films at least, it's missing the dangerous edginess that behooves a scary movie. The pacing is unconventional, but not purposefully so. The overall flow is disjunctive, producing an effect not unlike accidentally skipping a few pages while reading a novel before bed, then realizing the mistake and sleepily backtracking.
Like many Giallo/Euro-thriller movies, CHRONICLE lacks the polish which provides major studio releases with a slick feel. This is a shame, because the story is a good one, and with the right tweaks to the presentation, CHRONICLE could be an artful and memorable work. Yet even though it's not a candidate to be featured in film school classes, CHRONICLE has an intriguing and unusual appeal that makes it a worthwhile pick for Gothic horror fans looking for something different. For its uniqueness of story and truly nasty ending, much less the fact that Faye Dunaway delivers a characteristically good performance (as did "Edgar" the Raven) I'm going to give CHRONICLE OF THE RAVEN five full pints of blood.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
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Same old stuff with blase acting.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
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A very good storyline. A must see. Loved the dextority of the film.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/21/23
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<strong>Jennifer's Shadow</strong> (Daniel de la Vega and Pablo Pares, 2004)
This is another one of those movies where, when I read the comments on IMDB, I weep for the generation below mine's cultural intelligence. Along with the usual "how original!" comments that really aren't sarcastic and the "worst movie EVAR" comments, I found a real gem: someone asking about films with a similar atmosphere. Which means at least one person who watched this movie has no clue that <em>Suspiria</em> even exists. (I'll give the other guys a pass in just missing all the similarities, I guess.) For <em>Jennifer's Shadow</em>, also released under the title <em>Chronicle of the Raven</em> (presumably for more publicity, though given that as I write this the movie has 289 votes on IMDB, I don't think it worked), is about as close to being a <em>Suspiria</em> knockoff as possible without de la Vega and Pares, working from a script by P. J. Pettiette (<em>Bad Dreams</em>), simply remaking one of Argento's greatest films.
Plot: a young, rather unlikable, lass, Jennifer Cassi (<em>The Sickhouse</em>'s Gina Phillips), flies off to the other coast-we're never sure where she is or where she's from, though she does mention she went three thousand miles to get there-to oversee the sale of the family estate after the sudden death of her twin sister Johanna (also played by Phillips). The mansion is at present only inhabited by two old ladies, her aunt Emma (the fine Argentinian actress Hilda Bernard), of whom Jennifer is inordinately fond, and her grandmother Mary Ellen (Faye Dunaway, who should need no introduction), of whom she is... not. Now, it should be noted that many of the family members suffer from what seems to be a hereditary disease in which the body attacks itself, slowly eating away the internal organs. Emma is in the final throes of it, both of Jennifer's parents died from it, and while it's too early to say, it looks like Johanna also succumbed. In fact, the only two people in the family who seem immune are Mary Ellen and Jennifer. But Jennifer is still young. And, of course, as soon as she steps back into the house, the disease manifests, along with nasty nightmares about ravens eating her every time she goes to sleep. With the help of a possibly-cracked old ex-doctor turned gravedigger, Bardevil (<em>The Inquisitor</em>'s Duilio Marzio), and her sister's executor, Roberto (<em>Nueces para el Amor</em>'s Nicolas Pauls), she aims to get at the bottom of what causes this "disease", and whether her grandmother's seeming immunity to it is a coincidence. (You know better than that, right?)
Now, I have to admit right off that bat that Faye Dunaway slumming it in B horror pictures is nothing new, though if you're not old enough to remember <em>Suspiria</em>, there's no way you're going to remember <em>The Eyes of Laura Mars</em>. So the 1977 Best Actress Oscar winner (for <em>Network</em>) isn't entirely out of place here. And when it comes right down to it, it's a pretty solid cast, save low-budget veteran Phillips. But even Phillips brings a cold sliminess to the role that really works; I've heard a few people pan the film for Jennifer being so unlikable, but let's face it, that's what she's supposed to be. Aside from some clichéd silliness in the dialogue, actually, it's a pretty solid flick. Which makes sense, since it's almost entirely based on Argento. I grant you, you've changed the ballet school to the family mansion, but come on. Rudimentary changes like that, and the changes that radiate out from them by necessity, are the only changes in this movie. I mean, even the big talk Jennifer has with Roberto where everything starts falling into place mirrors Jessica Harper's talk with Rudolf Schundler in <em>Suspiria</em>, with the only difference being that the fountain in the background in <em>Suspiria</em> is replaced by a tree (but note it's still got a concrete bench surrounding it, just like the fountain!) in <em>Jennifer's Shadow</em>.
Given a touch more original thinking here, de la Vega and Pares, both respected directors of horror shorts working on their first feature, might have pulled off something good. There's certainly enough potential here for me to look into their seconds (De la Vega's came with <em>Death Knows Your Name</em>, Pares' with <em>Filmatron</em>, both released in 2007). But I can't get past the <em>Suspiria</em>-ripoff angle to enjoy this one as much as perhaps I should. * 1/2
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
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Horribly, horribly dull. Can't believe they tried to mix Suspiria with The Tell Tale Heart (complete with the beating heart and "Nevermore"). UGH!
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/20/23
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