Search - Chronicle of the Raven on DVD

Oddly effective horror drama

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 01/26/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A no-name cast surrounds aging Faye Dunaway in "Chronicle of the Raven", a horror film that appears psychological in the beginning but shows as it unfolds that is it pretty mainstream stuff.

Dunaway is the aging matriarch residing in a South American mansion that granddaughter Jennifer (Gina Phillips) is determined to sell. After Jenny's twin sister (the owner) dies mysteriously, she moseys on down to Buenos Aires to inherit the place and sell it. Another aging relative, an aunt, and Granny Dunaway reside there. Granny doesn't want to give the place up.

Weird stuff begins happening during Jennifer's first night in the place. She begins having nightmares about a bird pecking away at her innards. Then she awakens to realistic dreams of being tied in bed while a raven chews on her guts.

The whole thing is an obvious paramour to the Prometheus legend -- Prometheus defied the gods by doing the people's duty and, for that, he was chained to the side of a mountain where an eagle would come every day and eat out his guts.

I thought the treatment kind of hokey when the flick opened. However, the atmospheric film noiry treatment inside the old house mated to the otherworldly characters, creaky floors and stairs, and oddball goings on, kept me involved from the beginning. It ganis a new more interesting dimension when an old man, a caretaker at the cemetary where Jenny's sister lies in state, comes calling and successfully tells Jennifer what's going on in her head at night.

"Chronicle of the Raven" won't go down as one of the great horror films of history but it has enough going on -- including a very sinister characterization by Dunaway -- that you'll stay with it to the end. The movie fits in the midrange of horror films and is good fare for a Thursday night at home with the TV."

Good Creepy Horror Mystery With Nice Bizarre Undercurrents

Stephen B. O'Blenis | Nova Scotia, Canada | 02/11/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Although in the first couple of minutes the obviously low budget of "Chronicle Of The Raven" (aka "Jennifer's Shadow") and the pitfalls it threatens to create threaten to derail the movie, it very quickly becomes so absorbing that any technical shortcomings are forgotten. A young woman played by Gina Phillips arrives in Argentina to claim the house willed to her by her recently deceased twin sister, dead of the same wasting/vitality-draining disease that seems to haunt much of the family like a curse and that previously claimed the twins's parents. Currently residing in the house are Phillips's estranged grandmother (played by Faye Dunaway), a housekeeper, and Phillips's aunt Emma, who's currently succumbing to the same malady. Phillips begins to exhibit what may be early signs of this ailment, but that may be the least of her worries, as coming with this 'family curse' seem to be all the trappings of hauntings and supernatural manifestations. The thrust of the movie is delving deeper and deeper into the strange and increasingly frightening nature of this bizarre bane. A great horror mystery similar in atmosphere to the original "Amityville Horror", "Trauma", "Seven Days To Live" and "The Omen", helped along by strong performances - especially Phillips and Hilda Bernard in a small but important role as her aunt Emma. Once again, the poor ol' raven - in the tradition of Poe, King, et al. - gets cast in a sinister role; it works well but just to be different couldn't somebody make a horror movie one of these days where a raven or bat or something gets to play a good guy, er, good critter? At least the little feathered fellow gets to star in some great tales, both written and filmed."