Now here’s a film that I’d wanted to see since it first came to my attention in Flesh & Blood magazine issue 10 way back in 1997 when the films showing as part of Montreal’s Fant-Asia film festival was covered. Unfortunately due to being screwed over by financiers the film has never really seen the light of day beyond its success at Fant-Asia (including positive feedback from Abel Ferrara), but I finally managed to lay my mitts on a copy thanks to a DVD-R copy from the good folks at Visual Pain.
The film is basically a “feminist” updating of the rape/revenge/vigilante genre; a young woman named Allison (the films co-writer / producer Deborah Twiss) steps from Ohio into NYC and promptly walks herself into trouble at the hands of two muggers and would-be rapists. Luckily for Allison a group of female vigilante’s come across her plight, putting pay to the two thugs with a bullet or two and some nice genital mutilation.
Fearful that she will go to the police, the group of gung-ho feminists take Allison with them in their van. When asked her name, Allison introduces herself “Jennifer” (hence the films title), a name she spots when passing a store front.
From here on in “Jennifer” is introduced into the girls world; working bar for their legitimate cover of running a dingy go-go club (yep, feminists running a go-go club… it actually seems more plausible in the context of the movie) and their vigilante escapades led by Jesse (Freida Hoops), taking revenge upon any unconvicted rapist or pervert who’s name hit’s the media, be they high court judge or mob boss.
The films plot also partly unfolds from the point of view of Police Detective Billie Perez (Benja Kay), following the trail of quickly mounting castrated corpses and her hunting down the “Angel’s of Vengeance.”
The film takes a few twists and turns, and we learn a little about the characters backgrounds including why Jesse and the other group members are so militant, and why Allison/Jennifer has run away from Ohio. Amongst the bullets and bloodshed, including a very bloody climax, we’re also treated to part of a live show from lesbian punk band Tribe 8 who also provide part of the films soundtrack.
A Gun For Jennifer really is the “Riot Girl” of revenge movies, while remaining firmly in the exploitation camp, it steers away from gratuitous rape scenes or nudity and focuses far more upon the bloodshed and splatter of the revenge elements. Although having a male director, Deborah Twiss’ script holds it’s “feminist” approach (in an Annie Sprinkle or Lydia Lunch sense rather than Andrea Dworkin) and works far more than say Baise-Moi, which simply comes across more as female writer/producer/director waving a “feminist” banner while clearly just making a film that was intentionally trying to court controversy by using porn actors and elements.
It’s also quite evident that the film is quite a personal project for Twiss, who herself had worked bar and as a topless dancer in a strip club, intending the film to be a statement on her experiences and her way out of dancing, although due to the trouble with the films Japanese financier it seems she had to get further into dancing to complete the film.
Aside from it’s soundtrack which is distinctly 1990’s, the film has a very late 1970’s / early 1980’s Grindhouse look and feel, which comes off somewhere between early Abel Ferrara and a Jim Van Bebber flick, baring most obvious comparisons to Ferrara’s MS.45 (a personal favourite of mine). While the acting from some of the supporting cast is maybe a little shaky in places and the elements of “police drama” could have been reduced, A Gun For Jennifer is a pretty good little film, that like several of those that came out of the Fant-Asia ’96 festival ( i.e. – Richard Stanley’s Dust Devil, Jim Van Bebber’s Charlie’s Family, Nacho Cerda’s Aftermath and Karim Hussain’s Subconscious Cruelty) is worthy of wider attention, so it’s a shame that it may never see legitimate distribution.
6/10
