This movie is certainly one of the great serial killer movies ever made and the cast has arguably acted better anywhere else especially Lance Henrikkson and Uma who was absolutely brilliant. It is a pity that they don't churn out more thrillers like this.
shareSorry, I totally dissagree with you here. I think this movie was boring, need better editing and pointless.
If you want to see some classics serial killer movie, check out Seven or Silence of the lambs.
I totally agree with you thida, this movie had so much potential and sucked. I knew there was a reason why I stayed away from this movie in 1992. The author of this post has terrible taste of serial killers movies.
shareI loved it.
shareYou have to understand that if a movie is not 'Star Wars' or 'Silence of the Lambs' some adolescent will squeal "It Sucked". Jennifer 8 is a very good movie and a classic romantic thriller. Andy Garcia was terrific. I forget how compelling he can be. Lance H. was a perfect fit as buddy and is a vastly underappreciated actor (by the public anyway). Kathy Baker was good. And the Chris Young music takes the flic well beyond your average who dunnit.
More than competant professional entertainment 'product' from Hollywood....which IS saying ALOT anymore.
I liked it MUCH better than Seven (which I didn't really like much at all), And Jennifer rates right up there with Silence of the Lambs.
To each, his own.
I thought this was an excellent movie. Intelligent dialogue, great acting, non-simplistic plot and no Super Heroes or zombies.
shareIt definitely is timeless and different from other serial killer flicks. It is nice that a movie can still be suspenseful and entertaining without a lot of bloody violence.
"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man."
[SPOILERS]
I like this a lot - great cast, great atmosphere, compelling and absorbing story. Two nitpicks: The movie went to the effort to cast suspicion on Garcia that he's the killer. Uma, when she meets him, senses similarities between him and the mysterious man only known as "John" (e.g. they both have the same smoker's breath.) But as the story goes on Uma becomes more trusting of him - whereas I assumed we would go in the direction that she would become increasingly paranoid that Garcia was maybe the same "John."
And, although I'm fairly satisfied with the climax/resolution, I was expecting something a little trickier; that it turned out to be the most hostile character was not much of a fun surprise; maybe it would have been better to have gone the Hitchcock route and revealed Beckel a bit earlier (say, maybe a reveal on the steps right after he kills Henrikson - at that point, we're not really suspecting Garcia anymore anyway) and relied on suspense. (And we would still get the neat surprise of the Helena/Margie switch.)
Your idea about revealing Beckel earlier is a good one because the payoff at the very end with Ross's wife and Uma tricking Det. Beckel comes off as totally contrived. Having Berlin locked up but seeing Beckel kill Ross would have dispelled the need to have him bailed out and driving down to Oakland only to be conveniently side-tracked by Beckel all over again. I expected Berlin to overtake him but instead the scene cuts back to Berlin being subdued and re-arrested again. Instead, we could have had an interaction between Margie and Berlin explaining what happened and Margie believing him AND also eager to nail Beckel for what he is and what he did to her husband.
I still hate that they killed Ross off in the movie though. He was just too much of a realized character and friend to John Berlin to just remove him from this world. I think it would have worked better if the pervy grounds keeper ended up killing Beckel and in return getting killed by him in a shootout as they were both stalking Uma
Good points. Finding the right way to resolve suspense stories is always tricky. J8 remains a fine movie, but falls a bit short of being a classic. I agree that Henrikson's Ross was a great, well-rounded character, but it's also why his killing hurts so much and raises the stakes at the climax.
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