Tamara (2005 film)


Tamara is a 2005 horror film directed by Jeremy Haft and starring Jenna Dewan, Katie Stuart, Chad Faust, Claudette Mink, Melissa Elias, and Matthew Marsden. It was released only in select theatres by City Lights Pictures, a Manhattan-based production company.

Plot

Tamara Riley is a shy and unattractive but intelligent teenage girl who likes witchcraft and has a crush on Bill Natolly, her handsome English teacher. When a critical article she writes about the school's athletes is published, two of the star athletes, Shawn and Patrick, want revenge. Tamara attempts to perform a magical ritual to bind her fate to that of her teacher, but when she must spill her own blood, she ceases the ritual.
That night, a prank is orchestrated by Shawn and Patrick, along with Shawn's girlfriend Kisha. Shawn calls Tamara, impersonating Mr. Natolly, and invites her to a motel room. A video camera is placed there and catches Tamara undressing. Shawn, Patrick, and Kisha watch this, along with three others who did not know about the prank. Shawn comes in and taunts Tamara, and Tamara is accidentally killed in a struggle. Despite Chloe's demands that they inform the police, she is blackmailed into helping bury Tamara.
However, they are shocked when Tamara walks into class, looking more attractive than ever before. They convince themselves that she was only unconscious and dug her way out of the ground. While Roger is watching a film in the school audiovisual room, the image on the screen suddenly changes to the video of Tamara's murder.
Roger removes the tape and is confronted by Tamara. She torments him with hallucinations of what it is like to be buried alive and with his history of cutting himself. Then he sends a televised message to the entire school in which he proclaims that one should "hear no evil, speak no evil, and see no evil". He then cuts off his ear and tongue with a razor blade, then fatally stabs himself in the eye. Tamara then visits the home of Mr. Natolly, intending to seduce him. However, when he resists her, she says that "it is only a matter of time". The next day, she visits the school guidance counselor, Allison Natolly, the wife of Mr. Natolly. Tamara confronts Allison, mentioning Allison and Bill's infertility problems.
Realizing that her father fantasizes about having sex with her and that his alcoholism drove her mother away, Tamara makes him "finish the bottle", requiring him to eat a beer bottle. At a party, Tamara puts a spell on Patrick and Shawn, and forces them to have sex with each other. Kisha attempts to stop Tamara, but is incapacitated when Tamara begins to talk about Kisha's eating disorder. Tamara tells Kisha that she is "skin and bone, and really should eat more". Kisha begins to eat herself into a stupor, but is taken away by Jesse and Chloe. When Chloe and Jesse call Mr. Natolly and tell him about what happened, Kisha calls Tamara and tells her that Mr. Natolly knows. Kisha is knocked out by Chloe.
Chloe, Jesse and Mr. Natolly go to Tamara's house, where they find the corpse of Tamara's father and a spellbook describing the ritual Tamara tried to perform. They realize that when they killed Tamara that night, her blood was spilled; it was because of Tamara's blood being spilled that the ritual was completed and allowed her to rise from the grave as what she is and control others through touch. Meanwhile, Tamara, learning of what the others know, sends Shawn and Patrick to the Natolly residence to kill Allison. They try, but Allison kills them both in self-defense by stabbing Patrick in the neck with a utility knife and impaling Shawn with a broken shovel. Kisha and Allison are both taken to the hospital and treated, but Kisha wakes up and chases down Jesse and Chloe. Kisha stabs Jesse to death with a carving knife.
In the film's climax on the hospital roof, Mr. Natolly, Allison, Chloe and Tamara finally confront each other. Tamara attempts to control Chloe, but sees through her memories that Chloe actually cared about her and realizes that she has become a monster. She breaks down and slowly changes back into a corpse. Before fading away, Tamara asserts her will to be with Mr. Natolly and he appears to surrender to the inevitable. Mr. Natolly holds Tamara close and kisses her, then throws himself off the roof with Tamara. In the end, Chloe and Allison are fine. The camera pans back to the spellbook in the jeep, open at Part 6, "Resurrection and Immortality".
The film ends implying Tamara is possessing Kisha, and steals the book.

Cast

Tamara was released to US cinemas on February 3, 2006. It averaged $2,084 at 14 theatres, for a weekend gross of $29,157. It was in US cinemas for 13 weeks, and finished with a gross of $206,871

Reception

Tamara has received a mostly-negative response from critics. Aggregated across 28 reviewers, the film holds a 32% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a consensus that bemoans the film as "misguided without ever really crossing into 'so bad it's good' territory". This reception is mirrored on Metacritic, where a similar result of 34/100, amortized over 10 critics, materialized, indicating "Generally unfavorable reviews".
Nathan Lee of The New York Times noted its low budget and its "even lower ambitions", but acknowledged that it had "one genuine, if unintentional, surprise". Awarding it only ✦✧✧✧, Slant grappled with the film's "insufficient imaginativeness" and forced "theme of duality". Maitland McDonagh, a critic specialist in horror films, wrote that Tamara "panders to horror buffs" and "squanders the efforts of a competent cast", calling it a "rehash of Carrie", and awarding it ✦✦✧✧✧. Jessica Reeves of the Chicago Tribune was even more critical, panning the film with a harsh grocery list of descriptions: "dismal, depressing, embarrassing and utterly lacking in any artistic or social worth".
Some reviewers were slightly more magnanimous. For instance, Kyle Smith of The New York Post enjoyed the second act, praising how screenwriter Jeffrey Reddick "develops suspensefully". He noted some of the "creative murders", which were "grotesque" enough to "make even horror buffs flinch"; however, he decried the clichéd final act, complaining that Tamara is off-screen too much, and asserting that "villainy shouldn't be outsourced", "killings become routine".
Likewise, Frank Scheck, writing for Hollywood Reporter, provided a mixed review and confessed that "the film has its dubious pleasures".