Bruce Robinson was on my shortlist of favorite directors in the ’80s. I saw Withnail & I each of the four weekends it played in my town. I made a journey out to Chapel Hill to absorb the weirdness of How To Get Ahead In Advertising. Word got out that his third film would bring Robinson to America (or British Columbia, Canada posing as Eureka, California) and working with Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman and the android from Aliens. I was excited. The movie was a serious change of pace from his first two films since this was a cop investigation movie. I enjoyed it opening weekend, but the theater was rather sparse. Months later, I read that Robinson wasn’t happy with this first big studio experience. He wouldn’t direct another movie nearly for 20 years. Jennifer 8: Special Edition includes both an extended cut of the film and the deleted alternate ending. We get a little closer to what Bruce Robinson had in mind.
Det. Sgt John Berlin (Godfather Part III‘s Andy Garcia) needs to get away from being a cop in Los Angeles for a few major reasons. He goes for a quieter life on the police force in the Northern coastal town of Eureka, California. Even before his first day on the job, he finds himself at the dump picking around the site where a homeless man might have killed himself. While looking for the murder weapon, they find a garbage bag with a severed hand inside. Lead Detective Freddy Ross (Aliens‘ Lance Henriksen) isn’t happy that he’s going to have to spend even more time seeing if there’s other body parts in the rubbish. Berlin finds out about a previous case woman’s body showing up without hands or a head. They had just called her Jennifer. While the hand isn’t a match, he notices that the fingerprints have ridge damage that might have come from reading braille. He finds out there’s been six other unsolved cases involving seeing impaired vision. He senses that Jennifer was the 7th victim and the hand represents Jennifer 8. Chief Citrine (Slaughterhouse-Five‘s Kevin Conway) isn’t wanting this case reopened. Berlin visits a home for the blind and meets Helena (Henry & June‘s Uma Thurman). She’s a cellist that’s been blind since a car wreck at 14. Her roommate Amber had recently moved away. Berlin suspects Amber is Jennifer 8. While trying to get facts about the boyfriend that took Amber away, he finds himself taken by Helena. It’s doesn’t hurt that she looks like his ex-wife. Berlin learns he’s on the right track when Amber gets attacked in her bathroom.
The good thing about getting to rewatch Jennifer 8 after all these years is the Blu-ray has two different cuts. The Theatrical Cut runs 125 minutes and still has an abrupt ending that doesn’t involve the main characters. I remember feeling a bit confused when the theater lights came up. I thought maybe this was Bruce Robinson’s arty way of playing with the expectations we have when seeing a major studio thriller. Turns out that’s not even close to how he intended to end the film. The Extended Cut goes 129 minutes and has the ending Robinson wanted that feels right for the genre. What also feels right after all these years is Uma Thurman’s performance. The 1080p image allows us to notice how she looks in the early part of the film. They lightly applied makeup on her. She is not glamourous here It makes sense since her blind character doesn’t spend hours in the bathroom mirror. We can also see her face better at the Christmas party when all the noises keep distracting and disturbing her character. John Malkovich is imposing when he shows up to grill Andy Garcia. There are great performances from the cast that help maintain the tension with an unknown killer stalking a blind woman.
Jennifer 8: Special Edition with the Extended Cut is refreshing revisit. While not completely what Bruce Robinson wanted to create, this version feels so much better than what ran in the theaters over 30 years ago.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer lets you appreciate Conrad Hall’s cinematography. He does a lot of work with keeping things dark in Helena’s life since she doesn’t need to turn on a light. The Audio is 5.1 DTS-HD Surround and 2.0 DTS-HD MA stereo. The sound is clear so you hear how silent the killer can be when sneaking up. There are subtitles.
Is It Dark Yet: Looking Back At Jennifer 8 (42:38) gets Bruce Robinson, Andy Garcia and Lance Henricksen to reflect on the production. Bruce Robinson goes deep into after How To Get Ahead In Advertising, he couldn’t get another movie deal in England. But his American agent was eager to get him a gig. He flew to Hollywood with only the premise of cops finding a dismembered hand. Before he could pitch at studios, he ran into mega Producer Scott Rudin. He signed him up and placed the project at Paramount. Robinson had no idea how the studio would compromise his work. He originally had Al Pacino as the cop, but the studio demanded Andy Garcia. Andy and Lance talk about the scenes that were either cut from the script or eliminated in editing. This includes the ending which wasn’t so abrupt. Robinson and the others talk about working with cinematographer Conrad Hall who made the film look so good. There is a mention about how the studios were going to fire Hall. Robinson points out the film made him give up wanting to direct again (although he changed his mind for a friend).
Deleted Alternate Ending (5:44) is what the studio hacked off at the end. It’s also included in the Extended Cut.
Original Theatrical Trailer (2:22) has them explain that “no one can see what Jennifer saw.” It’s promoted as a thriller.
Scream Factory present Jennifer 8: Special Edition. Directed by Bruce Robinson. Screenplay by Bruce Robinson. Starring Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman, Lance Henriksen, Graham Beckel, Kathy Baker, Kevin Conway and John Malkovich. Running Time: 129 minutes. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: January 23, 2024.
