MovieChat Forums > Jennifer Eight (1992) Discussion > Would this movie have fared better now?

Would this movie have fared better now?

posted 16 years ago by JohnFK
8 replies | jump to latest

I just watched this movie by accident. Just got pulled in by the cinematography at the beginning, and the setting. Awesome stuff. Then I saw Lance Henriksen played in it, and I was sold.

I mean really, apart from the ending, and some other minor problems, this movie is really excellent. It's kind of funny, it looks kind of X-Files/Millennium-ish with a small dash of Se7en. All before any of them, and it even looks like it's partly recorded in Vancouver. Stellar atmosphere. When I saw Conrad Hall photographed it I wasn't surprised.

Too bad it misses just that little zing to make it really excellent. But by all means, beats the crap out of most thrillers of this sort. Weird that it flopped. Makes me wonder if it would have fared better closer to Se7en, and with a different ending. I mean, how did it do critically? Really strange if critics gave it the thumbs down, because it's way ahead of it's time (or just right, with X-Files just started/about to begin).

[–] jacksommersby 16 years ago

Well, first, it didn't star a bankable star. Sure, Andy Garcia is a wonderful actor, but he's never been a box-office draw. Second, the film is about 15 minutes overlong, with the love story not particularly interesting.

[–] Endut_Hoch_Hech 16 years ago

A good genre film like this would probably go straight to DVD these days. It's too sombre for most of the teenagers that movies are aimed for now and there's not enough gore. Sadly, it went straight to video in the UK even though much less successful films were released in cinemas. Distributors here suck...

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[–] unruhe-3 15 years ago

I absolutely agree about the love story. The relationship between Ross and his wife was far more interesting than that between Andy Garcia and Uma Thurman. Lance Henriksen was wonderful in this.

[–] Naughty-God 16 years ago

I really like the atmospheric tone of this movie. Strangely enough, I've been to Eureka CA many times and it doesn't really feel or look like this in the movie as much as it does farther North (British Columbia) where it was really filmed.

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[–] jacksommersby 15 years ago

Yeah, if you've been to Eureka (and I lived there for a summer -- man, the air's GREAT!) you know that it doesn't need near the big police department that it does in the film.

[–] residentevil6901 7 years ago

I think it's a great movie, it doesn't miss any zing to me. Love it. Watch it all the time still. Would've been fun though to have got the originally intended ending instead of the studio interference one.

[–] Dan_Garten 7 years ago

Interesting.

[–] Sidha108 (2350) 3 years ago

I like how you mention X-Files/Millennium because this movie actually reminds me of Twin Peaks with the Pacific Northwest setting, crime investigation premise, and some shots such as the crime scene flashing lights and autopsy scenes.