Chronicle of the Raven Photos

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Cast

Gina Philips
as Jennifer Cassi/Johanna

Faye Dunaway
as Mary Ellen Cassi

Duilio Marzio
as Dario Bardevil

Nicolás Pauls
as Roberto

Hilda Bernard
as Aunt Emma

Elvira Onetto
as Lilith

Peter Holten Andersen
as Medical Technician

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Critic Reviews for Chronicle of the Raven

Audience Reviews for Chronicle of the Raven

• Nov 05, 2013

  <B><I>CHRONICLE OF THE RAVEN</I> (2004) </B> independent; US, Argentina WRITTEN BY: P.J. Pettiette, Pablo Parés, Daniel De La Vega DIRECTED BY: Pablo Parés and Daniel De La Vega FEATURING: Faye Dunaway, Gina Phillips, Nicolas Pauls, Duilio Marzio, Hilda Bernard, Elvira Donetto, GENRE: <B>OCCULT-HORROR</B> TAGS: mystery, thriller RATING: <B>5 PINTS OF BLOOD</B> PLOT:<B> In this black reworking of the Prometheus myth, Faye Dunaway plays an aging matriarch who sacrifices family members to a supernatural raven who appears in the victims' dreams night after night to devour their internal organs.</B> COMMENTS: Well, this is a strange one, a low budget but more or less competently produced Giallo Gothic horror yarn set and filmed in Argentina. Oddball and a bit murky, CHRONICLE OF THE RAVEN stars a well-preserved Faye Dunaway, the '70's screen icon of BONNIE AND CLYDE, CHINATOWN, and THE EYES OF LAURA MARS. CHRONICLE has all the requisites for a standard Gothic terror tale: a pretty protagonist in jeopardy, an obligatorily decrepit ancestral manor, and a mother mixed up with the occult. Turning it toward the unusual however, are a mute aunt who's become a living corpse, deceased family members who are in fact, undead, murder, immolation, and a blood-thirsty bird of prey. In CHRONICLE, upon the death of her sister, 20-something Jennifer (Gina Phillips) returns to her decaying family estate to probate her deceased sister's will. Right off the bat things get weird. Jennifer discovers that her sister Johanna died under mysterious circumstances, as did Jennifer's parents not long before. Jennifer's bedridden Aunt Emma (Hilda Bernard) is languishing in the grip of some mysterious illness and wants desperately to tell her something important, but can't. Jennifer's domineering grandmother Mary Ellen (Dunaway) locks Jennifer in her room at night. And something unwholesome is living in the attic. It turns out to be a raven, who Mary Ellen worships, literally. Everything goes to pot when Jennifer begins having nightmares, ones in which the raven attacks her and devours her internal organs. Oddly, these night terrors become grounded in reality; Jennifer comes to in a hospital missing a kidney, and that's only the beginning. As the raven's nightly feedings begin to whittle her down, Jennifer frantically searches for answers before she becomes completely incapacitated. In so doing, she entangles herself in a web of occult secrets which lead her to an ultimate horror. Although it's photographed in color, CHRONICLE OF THE RAVEN is a study of greys, blacks, gloom and shadow. From the characters' dark attire, black automobiles, dimly-lit interiors where windows seem always to be facing away from the feeble winter sun, to the corner recesses of crypts and mausoleums, and action filmed at night, CHRONICLE OF THE RAVEN is shot at the dark end of the tonal scale. The movie should have been filmed in black and white, with frames thoughtfully composed to maximize good design elements and plenty of texture. CHRONICLE's premise, characters, and setting are certainly novel and grim enough to have justified making it a macabre art film. Frustratingly, the filmmakers passed on the opportunity, even though they had enough of an inkling to reportedly bleach the film negative to make the colors appear washed-out. It may be just as well however, given that CHRONICLE's script, while adequate, could have benefited from the oversight of a professional consultant. While Chronicle doesn't have the amateurish feel of a low budget effort -well, no more than most Giallo films at least, it's missing the dangerous edginess that behooves a scary movie. The pacing is unconventional, but not purposefully so. The overall flow is disjunctive, producing an effect not unlike accidentally skipping a few pages while reading a novel before bed, then realizing the mistake and sleepily backtracking. Like many Giallo/Euro-thriller movies, CHRONICLE lacks the polish which provides major studio releases with a slick feel. This is a shame, because the story is a good one, and with the right tweaks to the presentation, CHRONICLE could be an artful and memorable work. Yet even though it's not a candidate to be featured in film school classes, CHRONICLE has an intriguing and unusual appeal that makes it a worthwhile pick for Gothic horror fans looking for something different. For its uniqueness of story and truly nasty ending, much less the fact that Faye Dunaway delivers a characteristically good performance (as did "Edgar" the Raven) I'm going to give CHRONICLE OF THE RAVEN five full pints of blood.
  Pamela D Super Reviewer
• Aug 18, 2011

  This movie was ok....definately not the greatest suspense flick out there. There were some scenes in here where I gotta admit were pretty terrifying and bloody, but it doesn't make the film "great."
  Jacob P Super Reviewer
• Jun 14, 2009

  The mystery to this film is intriguing and the cinematography is good. Faye Dunnaway delivers a good performance but the rest of the cast did a decent work. Decent little Gothic chiller.
  John M Super Reviewer

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