Tamara (2005)


REVIEWER RATING: 
5/10


If you throw The Rage: Carrie 2, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2, and The Craft in a blender, you'll get little horror film called Tamara. Apparently this film has been getting quite the internet buzz lately, so much so, that the people behind the film reportedly wanted to give it a limited theatrical release before the direct-to-video treatment. It was originally slated to hit DVD late January, but instead it won’t see the shelves until sometime in the spring.

Although, I admit that it's good to see old-school horror goin' back to it's no-brainer routes with this film (as it's clear that it's a movie basically made for horror fans), but if you're like me -- where you've seen it all to the point that you end up renting the same flick again by accident -- then you'll roll your eyes more than cheer on our villain’s evil deeds (much like horror fans do, or me anyway). Sadly, this movie really doesn't offer anything we haven't already seen, and doesn't deliver the gore that the online pictures or trailer led us to believe. In fact, we really don't see a lot of on-screen gore at all; just a decent amount of blood.

The story starts off pretty much like any 80's horror film -- where a group of dumb high school kids decide to play a prank on the outcast, only to have it end in death. See our lead is a quiet girl who chooses to do her work rather than drink and party, but she gets the attention of a couple jocks when she posts a report of enhance-performing drug-use amongst the team in the school paper. This naturally leads them to come up with this insane scheme to publicly humiliate her. After discovering her attraction to a male teacher, the punks decide to pretend that the teach wants to meet her in a motel room, all-the-while they'll have a camera recording her undressing and making a fool of herself.

The jig is up when one of'em busts out of the bathroom and surprises her with the camera, causing her to frantically run outside, and in a fit of rage, to the next room, where the group of "teens" are hiding. She attempts to fight them, but instead hits her head on the table, which ultimately kills her -- or so they thought. After burying her body, they make a pact to not tell anyone about it (sound familiar?). Luckily for them, she strolls into class the next day a new woman -- short skirt and-all.

It turns out that the night before, she attempted to use her witchcraft to create a love spell in hopes of getting her teacher's affection; hence, why she was so enthused when he supposedly calls out of the blue wanting to meet her in a motel. Apparently the spell causes her to return from the dead because she is now "bound" to the teacher and not even death can stop them from being together. The only remotely "original" thing this movie offers is the fact that Tamara can control anyone she touches. This leads to interesting deaths for our group and anyone else who stands in her way.

Although the deaths are interesting, I felt like the film was holding back its potential of being a solid horror entry. Maybe I was just expecting more gore, or more on-screen action -- like in one sequence someone cuts their ear, tongue, and stabs themself in the eye. A sequence like that -- given with the right make-up effects -- could have been a sweet watch. Instead we see mostly the person's hand and a fair amount of blood. I suppose I was sucked into the "hype" this movie had received.

I wanted to like this, but given that it's unoriginal and doesn't offer anything interesting other than the on-screen deaths, I looked towards the potential of gore to save itself, but instead we don't even get that. Don't be urged into seeing this simply by the headline of "from the makers of Final Destination" either, because director Jeremy Haft only worked on a little on the screenplay for the film, while serving as executive-producer for the second. If you were like me expecting a throwback of cheesy 80's gore-flicks, then expect to be disappointed as I was.

Unoriginal, but does offer interesting deaths, but sadly, the deaths are the only thing remotely decent about the film. Also, don't expect a lot of gore like I did. Basically if you watch this, don't expect much.
OVERALL: 
Unoriginal, but does offer interesting deaths, but sadly, the deaths are the only thing remotely decent about the film. Also, don't expect a lot of gore like I did. Basically if you watch this, don't expect much.


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