6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A big-city cop, John Berlin, from L.A. moves to a small-town police force and immediately finds himself investigating a murder. Using theories rejected by his colleagues, John meets an attractive, young blind woman named Helena. Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose and only John knows it.
Starring: Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman, Lance Henriksen, Graham Beckel, Kathy BakerThriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
5.1: 3743 kbps; 2.0: 1977 kbps
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
After directing the satirical comedies Withnail & I (1987) and How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) in his native Britain, Bruce Robinson traveled to Hollywood where he hoped to make his first "mainstream film" (as he put it to longtime Southwest film critic Bobbie Wygant in a 1992 interview). Robinson penned an original screenplay titled Jennifer Eight: A Policeman's Story. While Robinson's script was commissioned at Paramount, no one at the studio wanted to make it except for chairman Brandon Tartikoff, who green-lit it. [Star Andy Garcia confided this to Paul Willistein in a 1992 interview, which appeared in the daily paper The Morning Call (Allentown, PA).] Robinson envisioned an older, unattractive man for the police officer who gets romantically entangled with a beautiful blind woman. Robinson wanted an older actor but Paramount thought a younger leading man would be a better box-office draw so it chose Garcia, who appeared in his first starring role. It seems that Uma Thurman was both Robinson and Paramount's first choice to star opposite Garcia. She hardly had to audition to win the part.
John and Helena.
Scream Factory's "Special Edition" is sourced from a 2023 4K restoration that was struck from the original camera negative. Jennifer 8 appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The Theatrical Cut and Extended Cut can be accessed on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50. Each has a rough average video bitrate of nearly 35 Mbps. The standard-definition inserts on the EC carry a standard video bitrate of around 19658 kbps. I have not seen Paramount's older Blu-ray transfer that Reviewer Emeritus Michael Reuben covered of the bare-bones BD-50 released by Warner Bros. in 2013. But I would echo several of his observations for this recent transfer: "the blacks are deeply black...The color palette is muted and washed out, in part because the film is set in Northern California during the rainy season....Despite the frequent softness of the image, there is abundant detail, even in shadows of the many dark interiors." It's also worth quoting from Michael MacCambridge's review from the Austin (TX) American-Statesman: Robinson and Conrad L. Hall "invest the pea-soup foggy exteriors of northern California with a chilly, ominous foreboding." In looking at Michael's screen captures, I'd say that Scream Factory's presentation has better clarity in the long shots and overall, the image sports greater texture.
I was curious to see how Jennifer 8 looked initially on home video compared to this latest release. Paramount issued the film on LaserDisc in two separate presentations: standard "full screen" (1.33:1) and non-anamrophic 1.85:1. I chose to watch the former after reading Douglas Pratt's comparison of the two in his book, The Laser Video Disc Companion: A Guide to the High-End Delivery System for Home Video (New York: Baseline Books, 1995; 3rd edition): "The color and audio transfers [on the LDs] are identical. When the film's cinematography experiments with pale lighting or misty images, the disc's picture gets a little too grainy, but generally, the flesh tones are accurate and the presentation is acceptable. The Widescreen Edition has been letterboxed with an aspect ratio of about 1.85:1, masking off the top and bottom of the standard version image and adding nothing to the sides. Since the letterboxed image often looks cramped or awkwardly framed, we prefer the standard presentation" (p. 399). As you'll see in my screenshots, the 1.33:1 adds quite a bit of headroom. But it also masks info along the sides in Hall's wider compositions. So in those types of shots, the 1:85:1 shows more picture info. Scream's transfer is noticeably brighter than Paramount's LD and this helps illuminate details on faces. There are some differences in color temperature. For instance, Det. Sgt. John Taylor's (Graham Beckel) face is a bit red on the LD compared to the light fleshtone on the Scream Blu-ray. In one of the interrogation scenes, Garcia's suit is light brown on the LD and gray on the Blu-ray. In a different scene, there's a long shot of Helena Robertson (Uma Thurman) playing her cello in the gymnasium of Shasta-Trinity Institute. In a June 1991 draft of his screenplay, Robinson writes: "Sunlight streams in staining the air red." There's a slight red tint to that scene on the LD (frame grab #37). Scream's transfer of the identical shot is much clearer (see #38) with some brightness coming in, but it doesn't have the red air. Altogether, there are some differences in the color timing compared to the LD, which I'd say is at least close to how the film appeared in theaters. My video score for Scream's transfer is 4.25/5.00.
Screenshot #s 1-10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, & 40 = Scream Factory 2024 Blu-ray Special Edition (1.85:1)
Screenshot #s 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, & 39 = Paramount Home Video 1993 LaserDisc (1.33:1)
There are twelve scene selections for each version.
On the Theatrical Cut, Scream has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround remix (3743 kbps, 24-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo track (1977 kbps, 24-bit). The Extended Cut only receives a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo mix (1964 kbps, 24-bit). I listened to both mixes and they sound similar. The 5.1 adds a bit more surround effect. Rainfall, a door closing in the Shasta Institute, et al. are clearly audible on the rears. Robinson so aptly described "marauding wind" as a sound f/x in his screenplay for a nighttime exterior. That's also heard on the satellite speakers.
Andy Garcia's dialogue is sometimes hard to understand. (I could hear his words a little better on the 2.0 than the 5.1.) A few print reviewers also had issues with intelligibility. In her review in the Asbury (NJ) Park Press, Eleanor O'Sullivan wrote: "Garcia also has sloppy diction; he slurs so many lines he adds to the plot's confusion." Roger Moore, then an arts reporter for the Winston-Salem (NC) Journal, had this to add about Garcia's delivery: "[The actor] mumbles and slurs his dialogue in the worst Brando fashion. He makes it difficult to put together what might seem, early on, an obvious bit of puzzle-solving." When I played my LD transfer of the film, I could discern the words better. Paramount's Dolby Stereo 2.0 mix probably focalizes dialogue better on the center channel.
Christopher Young's original score, which was recorded at the Skywalker Scoring Stage, sounds splendid on both mixes. Balance is good between front and back channels. Note: First composer Maurice Jarre's unfinished score, which La-La Land Records released on CD in 2012 along with Young's, has not been included on an alternate track.
Optional English SDH are available for both cuts.
Jennifer 8 is a solid psychological thriller that I am glad Scream Factory has released to replace the out-of-print WB Blu-ray. While it's doubtful that we'll ever get a director's cut that recovers scenes that Robinson shot, which were left on the cutting room floor, the home video debut of the alternate ending is a welcome addition. The skin tones on Scream's transfer are natural and consistently rendered, although there are some differences from how some of the characters' facial complexions originally appeared in the theatrical and first home video releases. The recent interviews with Robinson, Garcia, and Henriksen make this a fine edition to own. RECOMMENDED.
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Masterpiece Mystery
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