Co-writer/director Jody Barton’s horror film, For Jennifer, is a follow-up film to previous films of a similar name — To Jennifer (2013), 2 Jennifer (2016), and From Jennifer (2017). Collectively, these films are impressive if only for the singular fact that they were each shot, edited, and distributed on cell phone and GoPro video cameras and accomplished feature-length narratives. For this being director Jody Barton’s debut film, For Jennifer is a well-done film worth taking a stab at. It feels cliché but in a meta-cinematic sort of way that makes it feel fresh.

This found-footage film follows a group of friends who, after one of them receives a mysterious birthday gift, discover a horrific film and subsequently decide to make a horror movie of their own. Soon after beginning the casting process, strange occurrences like auditioners with cryptic information on similar movies and random break-ins to their home set the crew’s nerves on edge. They tumble down the rabbit hole which holds a series of snuff films, and in the end, find themselves continuing a bloody saga. The film succeeds at creating its own urban legend, a world where psychopathy spreads like a disease through the art of film.

For Jennifer is a film, within a film, comprised of other smaller films, and it is quite the ride for lovers of the horror genre — like It’s A Small World, there are tiny familiar characters lining the plot. Starring the film’s own writers, producers, as well as a handful of under-the-radar actors, surprisingly, the performances more than fit the needs of the film. The characters all felt real and the acting was solid — the psychopaths teetered on a little too crazy and the comedic reliefs were campy fodder. In fact, there were some pretty memorable performances from Hunter Johnson and Chuck Pappas as psycho killers Spencer and Chuck, as well as Meghan Deanna Smith as tragically disconnected vlogger Stephanie Hart.

Honestly, this film would have been better as a “regular” film instead of trying to go for found footage. This style may have been chosen for budget constraints and to make an excuse for the “YouTube level” of production-value, but a premise this good needed no excuse. The crew falls into the pit that so many others who attempt this hit or miss genre do — not staying true to the format. At times, the camera doesn’t even seem to need an operator to catch footage, angles change on their own to POVs that were not introduced, and Barton chooses to do split-screens, cutaways to aside scenes in the middle of dialogue, and even uses drone shots…can character’s fly in found footage films? These choices might make for a more interesting edit to the film, however, they feel like technical missteps that take away from the consistency of it being a found footage film. Yet still, the plot grew more intriguing as the mystery unfolded, and for the bloody and slasher-reveling ending alone, For Jennifer is worth a watch!

Ghoulishly good, the bloodhound in me has not been so satiated since the likes of Hostel 2. Horror fans can have some fun picking out the references, such as Circus of the Dead, Irrational Fear, Silence of the Lambs — this movie might require another watch to find others! Also, similar to Videodrome, For Jennifer‘s protagonist watches a snuff film, causing her world to fall into madness. I feel this movie would find a special place in the hearts of VHS enthusiasts, the ones who prefer the shot-on-video splatter treats from the 80s and 90s — For Jennifer feels like an updated version of those. To catch For Jennifer, JB Films has made this slightly comedic and meta-horror available via VOD.

MOVIE RATING — 6 out of 10 ☠️