New Poe Forward Scream Queen
JENNIFER CARPENTER
DEXTER, QUARANTINE, THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE
My wife thinks double-jointed scream queen Jennifer Carpenter to be too skinny. But when I watch her face light up the tube, I can’t take my eyes off of her eyes. When the camera does this for me, I find her body to be ample enough for sexual recreation. I’m sure her husband does as well.
I first encountered Jennifer on the show DEXTER, playing the ambitious, horny, homicide cop and sister to the homicidal eponymous character. (in real life, she and the star of the show are married.) Her character is professional and competent. She wants the gold shield and all that. (Dupin’s Prefect would've been proud of her, after he got over a woman being a police officer in 1840’s Paris.) Her character’s compulsively nervous disposition always serves to slightly increase my own anxiety levels. Which is good when following a mystery story. But what adds to her complexity is that her emotionally unstable character seeks to replace her lost father figure with every penis she can capture. She even mounted Keith Carradine on her trophy wall of fatherhood fornication.
Then I watched QUARANTINE. This film’s closest comparisons to Poe would be the torture dungeon in THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM and the locked room homicide in MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. Jennifer screams a lot. She whimpers at lot. She screams and whimpers a lot. At one point late in the movie it started to drive me mad. Which is good when following a horror story. She carries the film. Her athleticism serves her well for all the physical work she does (even with a stunt double). I hope her character survives for the sequel.
When I watched THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE, I found her physical work to be even more demanding. I read that this is where her being double-jointed came in handy. It’s hard being a scream queen, especially when the devil is inside your character. Her character was girlish and not at all sexual. She makes up for this by portraying true horror. She also makes a hell of a demon. However, I couldn’t take my eyes off of Laura Linney. She carries this film.
(Poe Note: Concerning the “devil” genre, Poe wrote a satire titled “Never Bet the Devil Your Head.”)
Demon possessed rural teen, contaminated human prey, horny detective - these three roles solidify Jennifer Carpenter’s status as a Poe Forward Scream Queen. Now, she’s free to do Shakespeare. Perhaps, Lady MacBeth?
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