Jennifer Eight
Encyclopedia
Jennifer 8 is a 1992 film written and directed by Bruce Robinson
and starring Andy García
, Uma Thurman
and John Malkovich
.
) is a cop teetering toward burnout on the streets of Los Angeles
and the collapse of his marriage. At the invitation of an old friend, fellow cop Freddy Ross (Lance Henriksen
), Berlin bolts from the LAPD
for a supposedly quieter life in rural California
with the Eureka
police force.
Instead, Berlin prickles his new colleagues, including John K. Taylor (Graham Beckel
), who was passed over for promotion in order to make room for Berlin.
After finding a woman's severed hand in a garbage bag at the local dump, Berlin reopens the case of an unidentified murdered girl, nicknamed "Jennifer", which went unsolved despite a full-time six-month effort by the department. Berlin notices scratches on the severed hand's fingers and realizes that they came from reading Braille, determining that the girl is blind. He begins to believe the cases are related.
Berlin does his best to convince Freddy and his fellow officers of his suspicions, but Taylor and police chief Citrine (Kevin Conway
) refuse to believe that the hand found at the dump is in any way connected to the case.
After consulting his former colleagues in southern California, Berlin discovers that in the previous four years, six women, most of them blind, have either been found dead or are still missing, all within a 300 mile radius of San Diego. He becomes convinced that "Jennifer" was the 7th victim and the girl who's hand was found at the dump is "Jennifer 8", or victim 8. While investigating the links between the dead and missing blind girls, he meets blind music student Helena Robertson (Uma Thurman
), determining that her roommate Amber was the eighth victim. Berlin becomes obsessed with the case, despite an almost complete lack of hard evidence, and he becomes romantically involved with Helena, who resembles his ex-wife.
After an attack on Helena, Ross accompanies Berlin on a stakeout at the institute where Helena lives in a dorm, after leaving Helena at a party with Ross' wife Margie (Kathy Baker
).
When they see a flashlight shining on the same floor as Helena's apartment, Berlin investigates and is knocked unconscious by the killer, who then shoots Ross dead with Berlin's gun.
After a grueling interrogation by FBI agent St. Anne (John Malkovich
), Berlin figures out that the killer is Taylor, whose killing spree began when he was a San Diego Detective and was prompted by a traumatic
childhood spent attending the Daphne Klebe School, an all-girls school for the blind where his mother, also blind, was a teacher.
Berlin tries to tell St. Anne and Citrine what he has learned, but St. Anne and Citrine refuse to believe him. Berlin is arrested for Ross's murder, but is bailed out by Margie, who believes the truth that Berlin is not the killer.
When Berlin hears that Margie has taken Helena back to the institute, Berlin knows Helena and Margie are in danger, because Taylor believes Helena to be a witness to his abduction of her roommate Amber and intends for her to be his next victim. But Margie has a plan.
Margie masquerades as Helena, and is cornered by Taylor at the dorm. Taylor is shocked when the woman that he thinks is Helena turns around ... and he sees Margie's face.
Margie raises a gun, aims it at Taylor, and fatally shoots him, exactly the way he did Ross.
giving Jennifer 8 a 35% rating. It also went straight to video in the UK.
Bruce Robinson
Bruce Robinson is an English director, screenwriter, novelist and actor. He is arguably most famous for writing and directing the cult classic Withnail and I , a film with comic and tragic elements, set in London during the 1960s which drew on his experiences as 'a chronic alcoholic and resting...
and starring Andy García
Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez , professionally known as Andy García, is a Cuban American actor. He became known in the late 1980s and 1990s, having appeared in several successful Hollywood films, including The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs and When a Man Loves a Woman...
, Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
and John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
.
Plot summary
John Berlin (Andy GarcíaAndy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez , professionally known as Andy García, is a Cuban American actor. He became known in the late 1980s and 1990s, having appeared in several successful Hollywood films, including The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs and When a Man Loves a Woman...
) is a cop teetering toward burnout on the streets of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and the collapse of his marriage. At the invitation of an old friend, fellow cop Freddy Ross (Lance Henriksen
Lance Henriksen
Lance James Henriksen is an American actor and artist best known to film and television audiences for his roles in science fiction, action, and horror films such as the Alien film franchise, and on television shows such as Millennium....
), Berlin bolts from the LAPD
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
for a supposedly quieter life in rural California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
with the Eureka
Eureka, California
Eureka is the principal city and the county seat of Humboldt County, California, United States. Its population was 27,191 at the 2010 census, up from 26,128 at the 2000 census....
police force.
Instead, Berlin prickles his new colleagues, including John K. Taylor (Graham Beckel
Graham Beckel
Graham S. Beckel is an American character actor. He is known for his prolific guest appearances on television but has had prominent roles in several major films as well. Most recently he played Jack Fisk on Battlestar Galactica and Hal Sanders on Heroes...
), who was passed over for promotion in order to make room for Berlin.
After finding a woman's severed hand in a garbage bag at the local dump, Berlin reopens the case of an unidentified murdered girl, nicknamed "Jennifer", which went unsolved despite a full-time six-month effort by the department. Berlin notices scratches on the severed hand's fingers and realizes that they came from reading Braille, determining that the girl is blind. He begins to believe the cases are related.
Berlin does his best to convince Freddy and his fellow officers of his suspicions, but Taylor and police chief Citrine (Kevin Conway
Kevin Conway
Kevin Conway is an American actor and film director.-Early life:Conway was born in New York City, the son of Helen Margaret , a sales representative, and James John Conway, a mechanic...
) refuse to believe that the hand found at the dump is in any way connected to the case.
After consulting his former colleagues in southern California, Berlin discovers that in the previous four years, six women, most of them blind, have either been found dead or are still missing, all within a 300 mile radius of San Diego. He becomes convinced that "Jennifer" was the 7th victim and the girl who's hand was found at the dump is "Jennifer 8", or victim 8. While investigating the links between the dead and missing blind girls, he meets blind music student Helena Robertson (Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
), determining that her roommate Amber was the eighth victim. Berlin becomes obsessed with the case, despite an almost complete lack of hard evidence, and he becomes romantically involved with Helena, who resembles his ex-wife.
After an attack on Helena, Ross accompanies Berlin on a stakeout at the institute where Helena lives in a dorm, after leaving Helena at a party with Ross' wife Margie (Kathy Baker
Kathy Baker
Katherine Whitton "Kathy" Baker is an American stage, film and television actress.-Career:Baker began her career at San Francisco's Magic Theatre, performing in several of Sam Shepard's plays before getting her break in an off-Broadway production of Fool for Love opposite Ed Harris...
).
When they see a flashlight shining on the same floor as Helena's apartment, Berlin investigates and is knocked unconscious by the killer, who then shoots Ross dead with Berlin's gun.
After a grueling interrogation by FBI agent St. Anne (John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
), Berlin figures out that the killer is Taylor, whose killing spree began when he was a San Diego Detective and was prompted by a traumatic
Psychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
childhood spent attending the Daphne Klebe School, an all-girls school for the blind where his mother, also blind, was a teacher.
Berlin tries to tell St. Anne and Citrine what he has learned, but St. Anne and Citrine refuse to believe him. Berlin is arrested for Ross's murder, but is bailed out by Margie, who believes the truth that Berlin is not the killer.
When Berlin hears that Margie has taken Helena back to the institute, Berlin knows Helena and Margie are in danger, because Taylor believes Helena to be a witness to his abduction of her roommate Amber and intends for her to be his next victim. But Margie has a plan.
Margie masquerades as Helena, and is cornered by Taylor at the dorm. Taylor is shocked when the woman that he thinks is Helena turns around ... and he sees Margie's face.
Margie raises a gun, aims it at Taylor, and fatally shoots him, exactly the way he did Ross.
Cast
- Andy GarcíaAndy GarcíaAndrés Arturo García Menéndez , professionally known as Andy García, is a Cuban American actor. He became known in the late 1980s and 1990s, having appeared in several successful Hollywood films, including The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs and When a Man Loves a Woman...
- Sgt. John Berlin - Uma ThurmanUma ThurmanUma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
- Helena Robertson - Lance HenriksenLance HenriksenLance James Henriksen is an American actor and artist best known to film and television audiences for his roles in science fiction, action, and horror films such as the Alien film franchise, and on television shows such as Millennium....
- Sgt. Freddy Ross - Graham BeckelGraham BeckelGraham S. Beckel is an American character actor. He is known for his prolific guest appearances on television but has had prominent roles in several major films as well. Most recently he played Jack Fisk on Battlestar Galactica and Hal Sanders on Heroes...
- John "J.K." Taylor - Kathy BakerKathy BakerKatherine Whitton "Kathy" Baker is an American stage, film and television actress.-Career:Baker began her career at San Francisco's Magic Theatre, performing in several of Sam Shepard's plays before getting her break in an off-Broadway production of Fool for Love opposite Ed Harris...
- Margie Ross - Kevin Conway - Chief Citrine
- John MalkovichJohn MalkovichJohn Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
- Agent St. Anne - Perry LangPerry LangPerry Lang is an American director, writer and actor.He has directed episodes of television series such as Arli$$, ER, Millennium, Dawson's Creek, NYPD Blue, Nash Bridges, Fantasy Island, Weeds, Gilmore Girls, Army Wives, The Twilight Zone, Alias, Las Vegas, Jack & Bobby and...
- Travis - Bruce Kenselaar - Bobby
- Nicholas Love - Bisley
- Thomas J. HageboeckThomas J. HageboeckThomas J. Hageboeck was an American film and television actor, best known for playing characters involved in law enforcement.-Biography:...
- Max - Stephen Piemonte II - Trimble
Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics, with Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
giving Jennifer 8 a 35% rating. It also went straight to video in the UK.