#and maybe reach an audience who'd like this movie

[chriscdcase95]

So I discovered “Tamara”, and have some thoughts...

So, I recently caught wind of this 2005 film, Tamara, which has been a bit of attention. Apparently this movie’s been getting some traction, but not a lot of love on here.

There’s very few posts on here about this movie, and as of this post, only two AO3 works based off it.

I don't see how this apparently went under the radar for so long, as it has the makings of similar cult classics such as Ginger Snaps, The Craft, Jennifer's Body and All Cheerleaders Die. So after checking it out, I figured I would give my thoughts, and spread the word.

Tamara Riley is a shy high school student, who lives with an abusive father, has a crush on her hot teacher, Bill Natolly, and looks for escapism through witchcraft. 

Tamara is also a target of bullying, especially when she writes an article exposing her school's jocks for using steroids. Besides Natolly, only one other person seems to treat Tamara with any decency, and that would be Chloe, a new student who tries to befriend Tamara, but never gets the chance. 

For the first third of the movie, this is the story of a girl, who cried a river and drowned the whole world. She looks so sad in photographs but...It gets worse from there.

For the first third, Tamara is a pretty sympathetic, likable, but flawed protagonist. As a villain, she is Jennifer Check lite (despite predating Jennifer by four years). Jenna Dewan really sells both sides of Tamara, with her performance as both being what carries this movie. 

Tamara has a crush on her teacher, despite him being married and trying to conceive a child with his wife. Tamara even attempts a love spell to bind their fates together.  

What's this ? A Villain Protagonist in a horror movie is problematic ? Stop the presses! 

Tamara's initial flaws are believable and part of what makes her sympathetic; she wasn't malicious, and it's pretty clear before her transformation, she's socially naïve and gullible. This leads to Tamara's demise. She's lured into a ‘date’, with who she thinks is Natolloy, only to be lured into a prank orchestrated by Shawn. 

Shawn is the movie’s secondary antagonist, and resident Hate Sink; a jock who was ousted from his team when he was exposed for taking performance enhancers, and refused to take a drug test. 

So Shawn get's his friends, and three newcomers to lure Tamara to a party, tricking her into stripping on camera, in a prank which I'm pretty sure qualifies as sexual assault (not helping is that Shawn is later revealed to be a serial rapist). 

When Tamara is accidentally killed in the ensuing struggle, Shawn threatens the rest of the party into secrecy while disposing of Tamara's body...and now they gotta pay with it for their lives. 

See, Tamara's ritual could only be completed when she spills her blood, but she ultimately backs out on it; but when she's killed, her blood spills completing the ritual without her knowledge and consent. From there, Tamara rises as a confident, sultry and vengeful revenant, out to take what she thinks is hers. 

What keeps Tamara tragic is, this movie is clear that what she's doing isn't really her her. Tamara's villainous personality is the result of magic she took in from her ritual, making her a near 180 of her mortal self. 

Towards the end, she has this “What have I done/become ?” moment where she realizes she's become a monster, only to snap back because the spell is just stronger than her. 

As a villain, I think Tamara was at her best when seeking revenge; she takes no one's bullshit, unapologetically vengeful, wicked, and has a sense of poetic justice.

Most of her villainy is brainwashing and enslaving others, tormenting her victims with hallucinations, and through some ironic  punishment. Tamara only directly kills two people, both of them being gnarly; she tells her abusive alcoholic dad to finish his bottle, and the guy is forced to eat it. 

The revenant revenge plot was where the movie was at its best, IMO. I honestly wish they kept it as a revenge story for the third act. Preferably with Shawn as the de-facto antagonist.

If one thing holds Tamara back, I think it's her obsession with Mr. Natolly; and the movie is pretty weak in the last third, focusing on a rescue mission for Natolly and his wife. You can make the argument Tamara is magically bound to her crush - her spell was to bind their fates together. But I still think it takes away from Tamara's agency. 

Tamara’s not like Jennifer Check, Ginger Fitzgerald or Nancy Downs - whose transformations highlight toxic qualities that are already there - it’s literally “Dark Magic rewrites her whole personality”.

As for the other characters, a few others stand out.

Mr. Bill Natolly and his wife Alison are pretty likable, and are the more sympathetic characters. They both mean well, and are genuinely excited about starting a family. 

Bill genuinely wanted to help Tamara, and she misreads his singles and tries to kiss him. Bill is understanding of Tamara and tries to explain things to her, before she walks out in embarrassment. 

Bill, through no fault of his own, is roped into this drama; he was bound to Tamara's "spell", and it was only cast when Tamara was murdered. Now that his life is bound to Revenant!Tamara, and the only way Tamara and her spell can be broken is if Bill makes a sacrifice of his own.

There's also the film's ostensible protagonist, Chloe Bowman.

A new girl who stands up for Tamara, Chloe soon becomes a witness/unwitting participant to the prank, and Tamara’s subsequent murder. In fact, Chloe's attempts to help Tamara gets her mistaken for a perpetrator and is what escalates the fight. As a result, Chloe feels guilt for Tamara's death. 

Not helping is that Shawn intimidates the party, including Chloe's supposed boyfriend, into covering up the incident. Chloe’s is kind of a hit and miss. As a protagonist, she's pretty bland and is mostly just along for the ride. 

On the other hand, the pieces are there to make her a great character, and to have a dynamic with Tamara. It's just they aren't really utilized. In the original script, it would be revealed that Chloe is a closeted lesbian, and implicitly in love with Tamara. In the final film, Chloe is also the one who breaks through to Tamara. 

Near the end Tamara looks into Chloe's mind, learning that she genuinely cared for and tried to help her. It's this that allowed the real Tamara to resurface and break down over what she's done and become.

Like holy shit, that sounds like the climax for a tragic love story, doesn’t it ?

Unfortunately, outside of that, the movie doesn't do much with these two; they don't really bond before Tamara's death; no significant interactions following her resurrection, until the climax. 

Chloe feels like she's supposed to be the Needy Lesnicki or Sarah Bailey of this story. But unlike Jennifer's Body or The Craft, we don't get that same “Sapphic Enemies/Broken Friendship” that we get with Jennifer x Needy, or Sarah x Nancy.  

It feels like a case of They Wasted of a Perfectly Good Plot/Character.

Would I recommend this movie ? Sure, but it's really nothing spectacular. I think All Cheerleaders Die or Jennifer's Body are closer to what Tamara was trying to be or could have been, but it's not completely unsalvageable. 

And for what it's missing, that's what AO3 is for, amiright ?

[qdbs-writes]

May I have a slightly strange request?  Raiden and Fujin's reaction to their crush suddenly saying "God save Johnny Cage" (the reader and Cage are friends and this phrase just escaped by chance and was not even intended for anyone in particular)

nonny, i promise you this is like the least strange thing i've had in my inbox lately

Fujin and Raiden React To Their Crush Saying "God Save Johnny Cage"

It was like any other day in the Sky Temple, or, as normal as the Sky Temple could be. In the last few weeks, you'd been setting up your friendly neighbourhood Shinto deities with some more modern Earthrealm technology, the latest edition being a TV. It was nothing fancy, an old Goodmans 1408 that you had lying around. The real challange was hooking it up to modern channels. After some percussive maintenance, you tune the CRT TV to a talk show featuring Johnny Cage. The storm brothers gathered behind you, enchanted by the flickering screen you had brought to life for them. The interview itself was relatively dull, with Johnny being asked about his latest movie or suspected liasions with other Hollywood actors. It was until the interviewer mentioned one of Johnny's costars, an actor who'd been publicly outed as transgender, and asked if Johnny could ever work with the 'dirty, immoral liar' again. The three of you watch as Johnny begins to shout at the interviewer, screaming that they had no right to say that about his costar. The arguement continues until Johnny punches the interviewer across the jaw, before turning to the camera crew and live audience to speak about the importance of trans rights. But he could only get a few words in before the program cuts off, with a 'We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties' message. The storm Gods share a look while you nod your head proudly. "God save Johnny Cage." you mutter. You didn't have time to think about the nuances of what you had said in front of the two Gods, but decided that it was more amusing to let them come to their own conclusions.

Fujin

Recently Fujin had been building up the courage to reveal his feelings towards you. He was sure of how he felt but painfully unsure of how to go about it. He had asked his brother, Raiden, who was little help. He had even asked other Earthrealmers, although he did his best to hide your identity as the object of his affections.

Fujin knew one thing, that if he couldn't tell you, then he absolutely couldn't tell any of your friends, what if they stepped in? What if they said something to you that gave you a bad opinion of him? What if someone stole your heart first?

There were far too many ways it could all go terribly wrong. And now he was even more confused. "God save Johnny Cage", what did those words mean? Well he knew what they meant, but why would you say them?

Fujin was a god, did you want him to save Johnny? If that were the case, Johnny didn't seem to be in any danger. If you really cared that much about Johnny, maybe it's time Fujin confessed his feelings for you before it's too late.

When the two of you are alone, Fujin will drop to his knee dramatically, "I vow to protect Johnny Cage for you, because since the day we met, I have loved you, and I will do all in my power to make you happy, even if you love another."

Fujin emotionally braces, expecting rejection, but instead hears your delighted squeals as you wrap your arms around him, saying how you love him too, pressing soft kisses to his cheek.

Raiden

For the last few months, Raiden had been delicately calculating how to best start a relationship with you. Part of that was navigating how you felt about others, and if he had any competition to worry about.

From what he had seen, your relationship with Johnny Cage was platonic at best. But Johnny was also more experienced in courting techniques and had succeeded in gaining many partners over his short, mortal lifetime.

Raiden's heart sinks at the idea that perhaps Cage's charm had reached you through the television, ensnaring you enough to make you say "God save Johnny Cage".

He knew the meaning behind that saying, he wasn't a complete fool. To ask a god to save someone was a verbal decleration of your devotion to someone, your pride in them, how you wish their lives to be long and happy.

Weren't all those things the sum of love? Those were certainly all the things Raiden wished for you. For you to suddenly feel this way towards Cage... The only explaination was the TV, clearly a cursed device that you must be protected from.

Que Raiden launching the TV over the nearest balcony when you aren't looking, if you ask where it went, Raiden will feign ignorance and instead invite you for a walk in the gardens, offering his arm for you to take.