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High school is hell for people like Jenna Dewan’s put-upon character in the 2006 horror movie Tamara. The pathetic namesake doesn’t have any friends to call her own, and she spends most of her time daydreaming about her hunky teacher when she’s not playing with the dark arts. Now, Tamara thinks her life is finally starting to improve when her crush comes a-calling, but as things tend to go in these kinds of movies, the sudden attention isn’t real. No, someone is out to humiliate her. And like other wronged women in the horror genre, Tamara won’t rest until she gets her revenge.
Before Tamara Riley takes the stage as a violent vixen from beyond the grave, Dewan plays a smart yet frequently bullied girl at Hafton High School. The performance is convincing, quickly endearing her to viewers. Director Jeremy Haft’s movie then goes down a familiar path to reach the revenge portion of the story; here Tamara’s classmates lash out after she writes an exposé about steroid use among the football team. The article is praised by the object of Tamara’s affection, Mr. Natolly (Matthew Marsden), but jocks Shawn and Patrick (Bryan Clark and Gil Hacohen) use it as motivation for a cruel and foreboding prank.
For those who can’t wait for the carnage to occur, the vengeance parts of Tamara come along sooner than later. After the audience absorbs just how unhappy Tamara’s life is, at home and school, they are forced to watch her die. Shawn and Patrick’s scheme includes preying on Tamara’s unrequited feelings for Mr. Natolly; they lure her to a seedy motel for a secret dalliance between the student and teacher. And with a few classmates waiting in another room (Katie Stuart, Chad Faust, Marc Devigne and Melissa Elias), three of them unaware of the hosts’ hidden agenda, Tamara’s utter embarrassment is caught on video.
Jeffrey Reddick’s screenplay for Tamara channels Carrie at first, but the act of burying Tamara’s body and then taking a vow of secrecy — Tamara died from an accidental blow to the head — is a callback to movies like Prom Night and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The main difference, though, is Tamara doesn’t hide the identity of its angry avenger. No sooner than the following Monday does Tamara show up to Mr. Natolly’s class, fully made-over and itching to kill. The fact that Tamara doesn’t disclose the others’ crime creates a short-lived amount of tension before the story moves on to the actual payback.
Dewan is clearly having fun as her foxy character parades around the school, reveling in her transformation, and making Shawn and the other wrongdoers sweat. The audience is also undoubtedly enjoying the show. Reddick’s penchant for outlandish death sequences eventually comes out as Tamara delivers tailor-made punishments to all those connected to her premature passing. First up is the token nerd whose involvement in the prank wasn’t exactly malicious, yet like the others, he didn’t do the right thing in the end. His public demise is the appetizer before the remaining offenders are tracked down at an ill-fated house party.
One distinct visual aspect placing Tamara squarely in the noughties decade is its level of lingering violence. The moderate use of practical effects and makeup manages to cause a few winces from time to time. Tamara’s killing spree is neither brief nor unimaginative — no one would expect anything less from Reddick, the creator of the Final Destination franchise. And the ensuing murders are as enthusiastic as they are customized. From Tamara compelling her perverted, drunken father to literally eat beer bottles, to her preying on someone’s eating disorder, the movie gets damn nasty at certain points.
Thoughts of other horror movies crop up when watching Tamara. Carrie is the go-to comparison, but this movie’s back end shows more traces of the sequel, The Rage: Carrie 2. Going a touch deeper into the history of teen-horror, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 is an even more accurate spiritual companion; these two movies would make for a killer double feature. And while Tamara isn’t granting wishes, her magic powers echo those of other masters of manifestation, such as The Djinn of Wishmaster. She has the potency of Death from the Final Destination series, but Tamara’s knack for bizarre butchery makes her more like Damien from the Omen series.
Tamara feels like something out of straight-to-video, nineties horror. It’s lurid, gory and darkly amusing. Despite its mean streak, though, this movie has an emotional element; after Tamara gets the vengeance out of her system, she realizes what’s been missing since she came back from the dead. In the same moment, viewers remember why they cared about Tamara in the first place. So if the body count and gruesomeness don’t win you over, perhaps Jenna Dewan’s persuasive performance as the titular villain will.
Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.
The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.
