Carrie Anne Fleming as the Phantom

Following the proud tradition of Argento Phantoms, Jenifer is a very liberated woman. When she is saved by detective Spivey from being chopped into little chunks,. You’d think life would get better. It doesn’t. She’s shipped to a mental institution because of her looks. Something like her can’t be allowed to roam the streets.

How right the unknowingly were. Spivey has already fallen in love with her, as she exudes sexuality. So he rescues her from the insane asylum and brings hee home. Here’s where Jenifer’s fun starts. She bites his nagging harridan of a wife on the mouth, thus putting her ‘Raoul’ in her place.

She also eats the family cat, but does stop mid-meal to offer her detective beau some nice bloody guts. The family leaves, but oddly enough, Jenifer manages to eat the daughter shortly after this. Her lover is now pretty resentful and sells her to a freak show. The coward even leaves town while the deed is done.

Guess what he finds when he returns home? Right. So Jenifer gets taken into the woods with him to live. But she sees him with another woman and is heartbroken. So of course she finds a young man to play with.

Fleming does a much better job than most actors or actresses. She shows us just how feral a person would become after years of isolation, abuse, and neglect. She manages to show Jenifer’s humanity and child-like spirit too. In the end she’s just so darn cute when she giggles, you’ll gladly forgive her the body count.

Note: That the Phantom here is female shouldn’t matter to viewers. The same themes of being outside society, having a faithless lover, and in the end, being a monster by nature still apply. Jenifer is the rare type of Phantom that has accepted her monsterous self, never mind the outside packaging.

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