“Jenifer” is based on a ten-page black-and-white story — written by Bruce Jones and illustrated by Berni Wrightson — that originally appeared in Creepy 63.

Directed — for Showtime in America no less — by Dario Argento and written by star Steven Weber, this is the story of Frank Spivey (Weber) and Jenifer (Carrie Fleming). They first meet when he saves her from a man who is trying to kill her with a meat cleaver. As a cop, Spivey tries to save her as the man says, “You don’t know what she is.” He kills the man before he can kill Jenifer. And when he sees her face, it doesn’t match her luscious body. Instead, it looks quite a bit like the child in Phenomena.

That night, while making love to his wife Ruby (Brenda James), all he can think about is Jenifer. Whatever it is about her makes him grow violent and Ruby shoves him off. It turns out that no one will take her, so he brings Jenifer home, which disgusts his wife and son Pete (Harris Allen). Yet at night, he keeps dreaming of making love to her.

Ruby tells him that he must get rid of the girl, so he drives around, trying to find somewhere to leave her. Instead, she seduces him, eats the family cat and then murders a young neighbor named Amy (Jasmine Chan). Realizing that all hope is lost, Frank leaves town with her, looking for a hidden town somewhere that they can hide out in.

Frank starts to work at a general store and begins to lose his fascination with Jenifer as he’s starting to have feelings for the store’s owner. Jenifer retaliates by finding that woman’s son, seducing him and, well, eating his penis while the teen screams in pain. Frank then tries to kill her and just like Spellbinder, the cycle starts all over again when a man saves her from a murderous Frank.

Of all the Masters of Horror episodes in the first season, this was the first to be censored with oral sex taken out and Jenifer literally castrating the young man on screen. Another story, Takeshi Miike’s “Imprint,” was outright rejected by Showtime.

There’s also a great score by Claudio Simonetti and plenty of gruesome sights from KNB. Sure, Argento’s filming here looks like a TV movie because that’s what it is. He is following a lot of the panels of the comic book, though. He would return for the second season to make “Pelts.”