Movies like this always crack me up. They try and appear hip and trendy, but they end up looking like low budget direct to video titles. Jenna is about as basic as a girl gets. I don't find her attractive at all making this subject matter of the film that more laughable. I'll give her a B+ on body, but that face is beyond butta. She can dance, there is no question about it, but her acting skills are on par with the likes of Paris Hilton. I'm sure this movie was inspired by Carrie and went on to inspire movies like Jennifer's Body, but if you are planning on this film having any substance, you will be extremely disappointed with the product. I don't recognize any or the cast of this film, so I am going to assume they were nobody's when they were cast and never got another or better break after this film. I really can't say anything positive about this movie, it was the definition of horrible.

Unattractive occult enthusiast Jenna Dewan (as Tamara Riley) desperately wants to play hide the eraser with her handsome high school English teacher Matthew Marsden (as Bill Natolly). Happy with his beautiful wife, Mr. Marsden pushes Ms. Dewan away when she tries to kiss him, after class. The other kids in school tease Dewan and decide to prank her. Knowing about her interest in teacher Marsden, they set up a fake rendezvous with him, ordering Dewan to get undressed and wait for her hunky lover. They secretly videotape her stripping down to a black bikini. After some taunting, Dewan appears to accidentally hit her head and die...But, she may not really be dead...This highly derivative horror story gets off to a poor start by introducing the incredibly sexy Dewan in a fantasy sequence. Then, we're supposed to think she's plain and unattractive. Moreover, she and the others look too old to be in high school. On a deeper level, it's odd that such a powerful young woman (as we later see) is unable to even brush her hair. But, everyone tries their best to impersonate the characters. Director Jeremy Haft and photographer Scott Kevan show skill, albeit wasted. The sex scenes are limp, with the camera shooting up Dewan's skirt a highlight. The gore scenes are a bit nervy, with the tongue slicing a highlight.**** Tamara (10/23/05) Jeremy Haft ~ Jenna Dewan, Matthew Marsden, Chad Faust, Katie Stuart

Tamara Riley (Jenna Dewan) is your average high school geek, she wears unflattering glasses, frumpy clothes & has just written a damming expose on the high school football team in which several big stars have been exposed as drug cheats. A lot of people dislike Tamara & have good reason to want to see her suffer, football ace Shawn (Bryan Clark) has been benched by the coach for the rest of the season over the drugs allegations & he will miss the opportunity to impress a major scout & he blames Tamara, as revenge Bryan & some of his mates humiliate Tamara & film it. When Tamara discovers what has happened there is a struggle & Tamara falls & dies after hitting her head on the side of a table. Bryan & his mates panic & decide to bury the body & tell no-one but the next day at school Tamara show's up & begins to take revenge on her killers...This American Canadian co-production was written by Jeremy Haft & isn't that bad to be honest with a few good moments & ideas but overall it doesn't really come across as anything that special, the plot about an accidental death & then a cover-up by a bunch of scared teens is right out of I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) with the whole female teen witchcraft angle is lifted from The Craft (1996) with a little supernatural horror thrown in there for good measure. My biggest problem is the familiarity of it all, the geeky kid who by some means becomes a stunner & gets her revenge, the teen slasher angle & the whole growing pains teen angst thing as well as a very sedate pace, it's over half an hour before Tamara gets killed & while this time is spent on developing her character we get the idea that she's picked on & doesn't have a very nice life quickly & you just end up saying to yourself get on with it. There are a couple of memorable moments like when Tamara tortures a guy by making him experience what it's like being buried alive, the character's are alright even if Natolly looks too young to be a teacher, it's never explained why Tamara kills the one guy but then only causes a girl to hallucinate her own death & the ending descends into predictable teen slasher mode with Tamara chasing people through the most deserted hospital in the US (are there like no other patients there?) but overall it's watchable if somewhat forgettable.This does actually look pretty good & there's a bit of gore although not that much, a guy is forced to cut off his own ear, cut out his own tongue & stick a knife in his own eyeball, there are worms seen in an open arm wound, there's some blood splatter, a guy is seen with bits of glass sticking out of his neck after being made to eat bottles & a guy has something stuck in his neck. There's no nudity or sex though. The film never really goes into the witchcraft behind Tamara's resurrection or even where she got the spell book from.Filmed in Winnipeg in Canada on a substantial budget of about $4,750,000 this looks good & has decent production values & if that budget is right then so it should. The acting is OK but I suspect the attractive cast were chosen for their looks rather than their acting ability.Tamara is an OK time waster that mixes supernatural horror, teen slasher & teen angst. You could do worse for sure but you could do better as well, worth a watch if you can pick it up cheap or catch it on telly for free.

For some reasons, the reviews do tend to be polarized on this movie. It's not the worst film ever made, but it's certainly not deserving of a standing ovation. It had its ups and its downs to me, and I'll try to lay them out as fairly as I can.Ups: 1. This may be a shallow observation, but I thought most of the lead actresses were pretty cute. Sad to admit it, but that makes it more watchable. I wouldn't mind seeing some of them in other roles. 2. I also liked that the ending wasn't as cliché as it might've been. Not that it was great, it just wasn't as bad as it could've been. I respect writers who don't only kill off the "bad" characters.Downs: 1. Tamara wasn't ugly in the slightest, she just dressed dorky. They could've at least had her wear glasses and switch to contacts, which is sort of standard fare for the "transformation into a hottie" thing. Hell, how hard is it to fake some acne scars?? 2. Some of the acting wasn't really top-notch. It wasn't all horrible or anything, but most of it wasn't great. 3. Biggest Problem: The "moral arc" of the movie was quite bent by my standards. I really, really didn't like how she lumped everyone together and sought vengeance on the most innocent of the people present. I mean, I felt that the characters that were the least involved got it the worst. It's as though the moral of the story is "being bullied and threatened into not reporting a crime is worse than committing a crime" and I 110% do not agree with that.Moreover, I don't agree with some of the judgments that she passed on people. Gonna punish someone for humiliating you and killing you?--go ahead, you've got the moral high ground there. But for having an eating disorder? That's something that you try to help a person through, not in the same galaxy as something like date rape.Mostly because of the last mentioned problem, I had a really had time getting into the movie. I mean, I have no problem sitting through a B-rate, somewhat trashy movie. But at least make a character that I can sort of cheer for as she acts out her vengeance, instead of someone that I quickly start to feel was so morally twisted that the "bad guys" might've done the world a service by killing her.