Tamara (2005) Reviews

• Good, sexy trashy fun.....

  LaRip2005-12-24

  This is my first time posting, but I recently saw Tamara and after reading some of the hatin' on this board, I thought I'd add my opinion. People have already covered the story, so I'll just talk about the film . While it's not the best movie I've seen, it was a definitely a great way to spend 90 minutes. It had a sexy lead, some great kills and a wicked sense of humor. I'm definitely going to see it again. The good... I thought the story was well written and well paced. As a horror fan, I hate when people say something's not horror, but a psychological thriller...butthat's what this film was. Sure, we know Tamara's gonna get revenge on her tormentors. But instead of just killing them off with an axe or a knife, her revenge is more psychological. She toys with the other kids and gets back at them in ways I've never seen. I thought it was clever that she didn't just go around slaughtering them. Jenna Dewan, the actress who plays Tamara, does a great job. You feel sorry for her in the beginning and when she comes back...she's amazing. She's not just evil. She's sexy and fun...if it wasn't for the whole "back from the dead" thing, she'd be the perfect hottie. If Jenna isn't a star in the next few years, I'll eat my...well, I'll eat something I don't like. She does a great job. I thought the directing was good too. I'm so tired of seeing MTV-style movies that are cut so fast and shot so dark that you can't see what was going on. The film obviously had a low budget, but they made the best of it. The bad... The film's not perfect. People expecting a lot of blood and gore, will be disappointed. But the stuff that's there really works...the Roger scene is classic. Also, I'm not a perv, but since the story was so sexy, I would have liked to seen more skin. There's some scenes...both with the gore and the sex...where they could have gone a lot further. Some of the acting. Overall, I thought the acting was really good, but there were a pair of actors I didn't like. (I won't name names, because I don't get off on being nasty.) Overall, this was obviously a low budget movie, but I think it delivered the goods. It's much better than a lot of the big budget stuff I've seen (The Fog...) And for the dude who thought it should go direct to DVD....check out all of Lions Gate's direct to DVD crap. This movie kicks the sh*t out of them. Actually, aside from Saw and High Tension, I think this is the best genre film they've put out. Peace,

• A worthy entry in the horror genre

  brettleitner2005-12-27

  I was fortunate to have seen an early screening of TAMARA and was quite impressed with the final result. The film is propelled by the star-making turns of its two leading female characters, Tamara (Jenna Dewan) and Chloe (Katie Stuart). Dewan is a real find, striking a terrific balance between pathos and horror. She makes quite an impact in her first starring role, and the fact that she's also quite stunning certainly does nothing to diminish her screen presence! Stuart's performance as the tragic do-gooder lends real weight and credibility to the film. It's a smart and sincere performance and not just another sassy-talking teen role that too often occupies this genre. The film is engaging throughout and provides some well-placed shock-and-gore to keep its pace humming along. Credit Jeff Reddick's screenplay for that- here's a film clearly written by someone who respects the genre. He never condescends to his audience, and just like in his film, FINAL DESTINATION, includes enough cleverly gruesome moments to ensure that the experience will memorable. While certain performances and scenes could have been tighter, all in all TAMARA makes for a solid entry in the horror genre and mercifully rises above the pack of overly slick (and perhaps overly sick) entries that horror fans have had to contend with as of late.

• Revenge of the Undead Hottie

  MetalGeek2010-12-06

  "Tamara" is a predictable-but-fun little teen horror flick, bolted together out of spare parts from films like "Carrie," "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "The Craft," to name just a few. Our "heroine" (and I use that term loosely), Tamara (Jenna Dewan), is a homely high school nerd who dabbles in witchcraft in her spare time. She's got an unrequited crush on her hunky, sensitive English teacher (Matthew Marsden) and is constantly picked on by the "populars" in her school. After she writes an article for the school paper "outing" the football team as steroid users, they naturally want to get back at her so they set up a particularly cruel prank where they make her think she's going to hook up with Hunky Teacher Guy at a local hotel. Naturally the naive Tamara is less than thrilled to find out that she's been fooled, and while struggling with her tormentors, she hits her head on a coffee table and dies. In true Horror Movie fashion, the Populars decide to simply bury her in the woods, swear to tell no one what happened, and move on. Imagine their surprise when Tamara simply sashays back into to school the next day as if nothing has happened, seemingly having gone through an Extreme Undead Hottie Makeover in the meantime. The "new" Tamara appears sweet enough at first, but quickly sets out to get revenge on the gang who wronged her, in the most brutal fashion possible. One kid recreates the "Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, Say No Evil" mantra with a razor knife, her abusive dad eats glass, a b*tchy cheerleader type vomits her guts out, etc., etc. Of course, Tamara's ambitions also extend to true happiness with her teacher, which means she has to get rid of his wife too. Will true love triumph over vengeance from the grave? OK, so "Tamara" is not a great movie by any means, but it is fun to watch. Jenna Dewan looks pretty hot even when she's supposed to be an Ugly Duckling in the first quarter of the film, but after she returns from the grave -- damn! The rest of the young cast perform their roles as obnoxious cannon fodder well enough, and the flick has decent production values and just the right amount of gore and nastiness. If you can get over the inherent silliness of it all, "Tamara" is a fun ride for B-horror fans. "Tamara" gets an "A" for eye candy, a "C" for originality, and a "B-" for execution. Worth a look if you can find it cheap, like I did.

• Tamara, honey, I think we should see other people...

  Coventry2006-05-06

  Don't you just hate it when this happens? Now that you finally found yourself a gorgeous looking high school sweetheart, she turns out to be a murderous witch, capable of making you eat glass beer bottles with the touch of her hand! Damn! But Tamara has some very good reasons to be this cranky. The popular crowd at school tricked her into believing that the handsome and beloved English teacher has finally fallen for her, too, and set up a whole fake meeting in a sleazy hotel room. That's a pretty good reason to get rancorous already but, on top of that, they also accidentally killed her, buried her body in the woods and made a pact to keep it a secret. Thanks to several puberty years of casting spells, Tamara rises from the dead like a gorgeous babe with exclusively vengeance on her mind. First and foremost, I think it's hilarious how these movies portray the so-called "unattractive" girl. Tamara was never ugly to begin with, so simply combing her hair and wearing a push-up bra already turns her into a teenage sex bomb! "Tamara" isn't a very good horror film, mainly because it lacks originality and surprises. A big list of horror movies, which featured similar plots before, promptly comes to mind: There's "Carrie" (of course), but also "The Craft", "I know What You Did Last Summer" and even a bit of "I Spit On Your Grave". There's few to no tension in the script, although I do have to admit that the film actually was a lot gorier than I expected it to be. The playful deaths Tamara has in mind for her enemies are quite ingenious and close to being pure splatter. One poor sucker, for example, commits suicide live on school-TV whereas a girl pukes up gallons of blood. The acting performances are far above average, especially the females are good, and Jenna Dewan is definitely a promising talent to keep an eye on. Overall, this surely isn't a memorable new horror movie, but it never bores you and it's at least as good (if not better) than most big-budgeted Hollywood productions that receive theater-releases.

• Good movie triumphs over fraudulent reviews

  tommyjames442005-12-27

  I don't really comment on these websites ever, but after logging onto IMDb to see when this movie was coming, I was surprised to see all these negative and mean-spirited reviews and thus felt compelled to write something positive. First let me say, I'm a horror fan, not an expert by any means, but I like a good horror film as much as the next guy. Secondly, I actually saw the movie at the NYC Horror Film Festival, where the movie got a standing ovation. Let me repeat that: The movie got a STANDING OVATION. And from what I understand, this was the only time this movie has screened thus far, so I wish someone could please explain to me how and where all these negative reviewers saw it. Everyone in New York seemed to love it. There's no way all these people writing negative stuff could've seen the movie as there were only 300 or so people in the audience and everyone loved it. Remember the standing ovation? I do. Regardless of what these frauds have written, the movie was good. I'm certainly not claiming it was the greatest or scariest film ever made, but it was certainly a good, fast moving, hide- your-face in your hands movie. The lead actress was hot, and moved from "put upon" to "tough" very well. In addition to having a great body, she was self-assured and sexy. The other girls were hot as well. The horror beats were scary and the movie had enough tension and mystery to keep me interested the whole time. There were also some great scares, original kills, and a few great gory moments. Look for the scene where Tamara emerges from the grave -- I was freaked out. Compared to a lot of the clichéd, over-the-top-gore out there, Tamara stood out as a good movie. It has a story and some excellent tension. Sexy and scary (and hot high school chicks) in one movie -- my kind of flick.