1976 Blaxploitation New Orleans supernatural revenge jam from Arthur Marks tells the tale of mild mannered college student Ike, who, on a night out with friends, participates in a nightclub hypnotism show and gets possessed by the spirit of notorious murdered gangster J.D. Walker.What follows is a slow takeover of Ike, as he tries to control J.D.’s murderous rage that’s hellbent on hunting down the murderer of both he and his sister. Glynn Turman’s (off the fucking charts) performance as the struggling to deal with unexplainable Jekyll & Hyde spirit madness’ Ike, is so real—in fact all these characters feel real—not just stock archetypes, and whenever he’s in J.D. mode it’s a sight to see, shooting off one liners in dope 1940’s gangster apparel as well as being a downright lecherous psycho gangster with a penchant for razor blade revenge.New Orleans is always a delight of a setting, but this particular vision isn’t a swampy Cemetery voodoo land, in fact there’s no voodoo in this (which makes me love this movie even more), and the natural city atmosphere is a refreshing plus. Gritty thoughtful filmmaking, solid performances all around, and a possession story I can totally get lost in, J.D.’s Revenge is low key one of my favorite undervalued cult movies of the 70’s and I couldn’t be happier that Arrow gave this a proper Blu-ray treatment... if you ask me, this needs to be seen more.Cautionary reminder to never get hypnotized while visiting New Orleans.
As a former New Orleanian, I'm delighted to finally see a film that tells the truth about the city: If you go to a Bourbon Street hypnotism show, you WILL end up possessed by a psychotic 1940s black market meat dealer with a vendetta against Louis Gossett, Jr. For real, though, this movie is all kinds of awesome.
Hooptober 8.0, pt.30- In which Ethan's love of sharp suits is undercut by the worrying amount of woman-beating here.17/6 Countries (Australia, Belgium, UK, USA, Japan, Italy, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Austria, UAE, Finland, Spain, Germany, Iceland, Czechoslovakia, France, Sweden) (COMPLETE)11/8- Decades (1980s, 2010s, 1960s, 1990s, 1970s, 2000s, 1950s, 1930s, 1940s, 1910s, 1920s) (COMPLETE)3/3- Extra Credit Films (COMPLETE)1st Arthur MarksA really quite nasty film in a number of ways. Most disturbing of these is the way in which women are positioned as objects that motivate the male plot. Standouts are J.D.'s younger sister, who is on the receiving end of a razor blade slash when she tries to blackmail a man and Ike's girlfriend Christella, who repeatedly excuses his behaviour while he's possessed by the spirit of the 40s gangster. Ike's friend even tries to frame slapping a woman around as natural because 'women want to be controlled', a skeezy sentiment indeed. It leaves a rather bitter taste in the mouth for what is a really quite interesting idea, where the trauma of a wronged murder floats around the ether for thirty years only to resurface in the body of another. Marks pays a lot of attention to these hazy lines between past and present through vigorous montage, especially when using shots of butchered cows, an unsettling punch in the gut for the viewer. Glynn Turman is also really quite good as the possessed Ike. When inhabited by the spirit of J.D. Walker, he speaks with a wonderfully exaggerated tonality and sense of movement, to the point where it almost borders on the comic in its outlandishness. That element of the grotesque creates a real sense of unease, especially when he spends his time beating up women, cutting guys with a straight razor and generally being a rather nasty fellow. The fact that we're meant to sympathise with J.D. and his mission is quite hard to swallow today considering how utterly despicable he is, leaving the final few moments of the film really quite unsatisfying. A shame, really.
