My Review Of ‘To Jennifer”

“To Jennifer” is James Cullen Bressack’s continuation of the horrors of realism, maybe from an heir of surrealistic design but more real than most horror tends to journey. The film is a low tech documentation of one man’s trip to confront his girlfriend’s infidelity. Shot completely on iphone5, “To Jennifer” is a video diary of a road trip into places where nightmares breed. The synopsis follows Joey, a young guy heartbroken, because he is convinced that his girlfriend of two years is cheating on him. He and his cousin decide to take a trip to confront Jennifer while documenting the entire journey. This is the plot line that I had going into the film and this will be the one I keep with in writing this review, because to spoil this film with in-depth review would really be to spoil this film.

“To Jennifer” begins as a casual display of comradery, benign puckish banter and very little theatrics-much as a normal life and simple, innocent adventure would be. The story is almost comical by nature with apparent improv dialog, that does more to fill the moments of an otherwise pointless atmosphere of life alive, than to set purpose to journey’s intent. It creates a false comfortability  that makes you forget that the film is to be a horror story. I found myself just simply caught up in the video diary format of watching these guys try to make it to Jennifer’s house. There are moments of mild drama that seem to rise to more darker moments of drama along the way, but with Bressack’s character Steven as a consummate jokester, you find even those moments more entertaining than unnerving. Still this all just part of a careful ruse, to keep you off guard, as a slow sinister cloud builds over the story, edging it’s way closer to the destination. It is the last act of this rhapsody that goes truly dark, and reminds us of just who James Cullen Brasseck is – someone who isn’t afraid to drive straight into terror, and uncomfortably intense situations, through the camera lens.  It is also during this last episodic death rattle of corrupted life that finds the true nature of this piece.

How do I feel about “To Jennifer”? The story was a truly smart and creative out play that twists into an even more creative nightmare. I-even though I don’t watch reality television-found myself completely absorbed in the affairs of Joey and Steve. I also related to the fact of trips with unpredictable people not going quite the way I expected, and finding it almost impossible to conceive the desired outcome. I never had it result in such a gruesome resolution, but still I related to the entertainment value of a screwed up turn of events. Added to the fact that Steve found everything happening too funny to take serious, or to see any signs of the true horror in front of him, made the film seem more like watching Youtube video of goof offs- which was clever. You never see the wall until your about to hit it and then it is always too late. The acting in this film isn’t really polished but don’t mistake it for amateurish, because the unpolished feel of the characters just lends to the notion that it is a documentary situation of regular guys on a mission. The use of the iphone5 as a filming format is brilliant, and is probably what made the most of this movie viewable, considering it is a slow build to the terrifying outcome as opposed to a set ‘em up – knock ‘em down horror film. The hidden motive that lay under the falderal of the story,(because face it-whining over a break up and wasting energy to pursue this type premise is foolish),  was perfectly timed in it’s slow reveal. It wasn’t until the rundown hotel and hookers that I started to question the lead character Joey. By then  I was so hooked on watching everything play out that, when the ending came, there was no way to prepare for the impact. I found myself once more held in tight anxiety and awe as Bressack brought back that familiar feeling of horror that I normally associate with his work. It was an experience that started from beginning to end in “Hate Crime” but wasn’t accentuated until the last scenes of “To Jennifer”, but the effect was the same powerful experience. I think Bressack has found a niche in horror filmmaking. It plays on realism, twists it into almost surrealistic nightmares that, almost feel to real, and yet are completely entertaining. Even in there brutal exposition, of how the really scary shit that happens is a result of really scary people and not monsters, Bressack’s film’s -“To Jennifer” no exception-always manage to define a true sense of horror lying in Man.