NINE GIRLS

Ann Harding and Nina Foch

NINE GIRLS (1944). Director: Leigh Jason. 

"That harpy!"

A group of sorority sisters, accompanied by their chaperone Miss Thornton (Ann Harding), go to a spooky old house in the mountains on a dark and stormy night for the initiation of new members. Capt. Brooks (Willard Robertson) and his assistant Cummings (William Demarest) arrive to tell them that late arrival Paula (Anita Louise), whom everyone hated, has been murdered. Although few details are given, the girls immediately begin to suspect one another. The suspects include vivacious Mary (Evelyn Keyes of Before I Hang), whose boyfriend Paula was after; four-eyed Alice (Nina Foch of Jennifer) who owed Paula money; tomboyish "Butch" (Jeff Donnell of The Unknown); Shirley (Marcia Mae Jones of Lady in the Death House); and others. An unknown person is running around the manor indulging in mischief. Will there be another murder?

William Demarest and the gals

Nine Girls is a comedy-mystery with too much emphasis on alleged comedy, none of which is funny. Much of the so-called humor focuses on the bumbling Demarest and Butch. This is too bad, as there is a decent enough plot lost in here and the acting is satisfactory, with Harding giving the best performance. Unfortunately, the identity of the killer -- who has a very convincing motive -- is given away much, much too early -- instead of maximizing suspense as it was probably intended to, it just minimizes it. One of the sorority sisters -- it's hard to tell them apart sometimes -- appears to be doing an imitation of Katharine Hepburn! 

Verdict: Despite its brevity and some points of interest, it becomes boring rather quickly. **. 

JENNIFER

Lisa Pelican

JENNIFER (1978). Director: Brice Mack. 

Jennifer Baylor (Lisa Pelikan) lives with her father, Luke (Jeff Corey), who runs a pet shop and is a borderline religious fanatic. Years ago Jennifer had the "gift," a power over snakes, which she seems to have lost. Jennifer attends an exclusive girls school on a scholarship, and innocently provokes the enmity of some of her classmates, especially a blond sociopath named Sandra (Amy Johnstone), whose camp follower is a chubby gal named Jane (Louise Hoven). When Sandra and her friends go too far with Jennifer, she unleashes her powers against them to exact revenge. 

Amy Johnstone and Louise Hoven

Jennifer is clearly modeled on the far superior Carrie, with many of the same elements from that more successful and original picture. However, this movie still retains a bit of power in its depiction of the sheer loathsomeness of some of the antagonists, the evils of peer pressure, and the reckless and entitled, even criminal attitude, of teenagers with too much money and little common sense or compassion. In fact, there's so much nastiness on hand that at times it seems like overkill. One effective sequence shows a trembling Jane on the phone with her tired, uncaring mother after the former has been sexually assaulted. (She and Jennifer eventually become allies.) Sequences like this have a certain power, and Jennifer might have worked as a dramatic film if it had stuck to that. 

Nina Foch, Amy Johnstone, John Gavin

Unfortunately, Jennifer is a horror film, and when it comes time to deliver the vengeance a la Carrie, the movie becomes laughably bad. Poor Lisa Pelikan is forced to adopt an attitude like a super-villainess casting spells, and the whole sequence is shot so poorly that you can hardly make out what's happening in any case. This insured that even if audiences liked the rest of the film, they went home sorely disappointed, although there is some catharsis in watching a few of the participants get their comeuppance. This includes the horrible, money-hungry headmistress, Mrs. Calley (Nina Foch), whose death isn't nearly miserable enough to suit most viewers. 

Nina Foch in outsized glasses

As for the acting, Lisa Pelikan -- while no Sissy Spacek in terms of presence -- gives a good enough performance, although in her uncompromising portrait of the unsavory Mrs. Calley Nina Foch walks off with the acting honors. Next is Amy Johnstone, who is blond viciousness personified, and Louise Hoven as the chubby girl who wants acceptance but finds she has made a deal with the devil. Jeff Corey is okay as the father, and John Gavin has a couple of scenes as Sandra's clueless and essentially uncaring father, Senator Tremayne. Burt Convy is amiable as the pleasant teacher, Mr. Reed, who tries to befriend Jennifer, and Ray Underwood is effective as Dayton, the venomous Sandra's equally psychopathic boyfriend. A small role is played by Cher's younger sister, Georganne LaPiere. The film holds the attention but its deliberate pacing may have some viewers hitting the stop button long before it's over.

Verdict: Another Carrie clone which has good scenes and acting but doesn't deliver in the long run. **1/4.