‘Tamara’ is about as ugly as it gets

There are few words to describe the awfulness of “Tamara,” but let’s try these: dismal and utterly lacking in any artistic or social merit, other than the filmmakers’ skill at conning someone into letting them commit this mess to celluloid.

The title character (played by Jenna Dewan) is an “ugly” girl. This, in the language of teen flicks, means she is a sexpot whose sexpotness is masked by stringy hair and a few pimples.

She lives alone with her repulsive, pedophilic father and practices witchcraft, a gift left by her (understandably) absent mother.

Tamara is tortured mercilessly by her “cool” classmates (kids who’ve bothered to wash their hair and faces). The classmates use Tamara’s crush on a teacher (Matthew Marsden) to lure her to a motel room, where violence ensues and she winds up dead. Tamara emerges from the grave, newly hot and wearing lots of kohl eyeliner.

Predictably, Tamara’s foes start dying off in the most unpleasant ways, but not before they’re made to suffer some degrading torture designed especially for them. We’ve seen all of it before, occasionally framed with some intelligence (“Carrie”) and, more frequently, soaked in a Kevin Williamson-esque irony.

Never has the teen revenge fantasy been served up with less wit, intelligence or style. That in itself is an accomplishment -- likely the only one this film will ever claim.

-- Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune

“Tamara,” R for strong violence, language and sexuality. Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes. In selected theaters.