Review: J.D.’s Revenge

 

Law student (and cab driver!) Glynn Turman attends a hypnotist show with his lady (Joan Pringle) and friends, and somehow ends up possessed by the spirit of nasty gangster J.D. Walker (David McKnight) who was murdered in the early 1940s. All of a sudden Turman turns into a violent thug, whilst tracking down the man who betrayed him. That leads him to the Reverend Elija Bliss (Lou Gossett Jr.), a former gangster turned shonky religious show-pony.

 

One of the more underrated blaxploitation films, this 1976 supernatural revenge story from director-producer Arthur Marks (“Friday Foster”, “Bucktown”, “The Monkey Hustle”) is a strange but compelling mix of silly and scary. Scripted by Jaison Starkes (who wrote this, an episode of “MacGyver” and basically nothing else), I think the explanation for the supernatural events is lacking and Lou Gossett seems a good 10-15 years too young for his role, but otherwise this is weird as hell and I liked it. It’s even a little giallo-esque in parts. There’s a lot of fun and silliness to be had here, but the film also wades into some rough waters, it’s quite creepy at times. At no point did I feel like it was an uneven mix or lacking cohesion, it’s quite well executed.

 

Glynn Turman is excellent in the rather tricky lead role (especially once he adopts the funniest, least flattering hairdo you’ll ever see in cinema), and it really is shocking to see this man turn from genuinely nice, upstanding guy to a total woman-beating savage as the spirit of J.D. runs riot inside of him. Joan Pringle is also tops as his clearly concerned spouse who looks at Turman like she has no idea who the hell he has become and is clearly quite scared of him. On the silly end of the spectrum, Gossett gives a fun performance as a clearly shonky reverend who uses boxing vernacular in his high energy sermons. It’s interesting that by the end of the film, Gossett’s unscrupulous character probably ends up only the third or fourth most objectionable person in the film. Look out for veteran stuntman/bit player Bob Minor as an angry husband who threatens to rip Turman’s arse apart. I don’t think that threat sounds quite the way it was intended.

 

Although it isn’t always credible and doesn’t always make sense, this supernaturally-charged blaxploitation film is so damn wacky that it’s fascinating. Terrific performances by Glynn Turman and Joan Pringle help make this a lot more palatable than It could’ve been. Worthy of reappraisal in my view, but be warned that elements here are really quite nasty.

 

Rating: B-