| J. D.'s Revenge | |
| Director: | Arthur Marks |
| Producer: | Arthur Marks |
| Music: | Robert Prince |
| Cinematography: | Harry J. May |
| Editing: | George Folsey Jr. |
| Distributor: | American International Pictures |
| Runtime: | 96 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Gross: | $2.4 million[1] |
J. D.'s Revenge is a blaxploitation horror film released in 1976. It starred Glynn Turman and Lou Gossett. The main character becomes an unwilling host for the restless spirit of J.D. Walker, a hustler killed 30 years earlier when he was wrongfully accused of killing his sister.
Isaac "Ike" Hendrix is a young law student who is married to Christella and works as a taxi-cab driver in New Orleans. While out on a night of fun with Christella and their friends, he participates in a hypnosis act and becomes an unwilling host for the restless spirit of J.D Walker, a man who is obsessed with wreaking vengeance against Theotis Bliss. J.D. was a hustler who ran numbers during World War II and managed a black-market meat plant. One night at the plant, J.D. witnessed the murder of his sister, Betty Jo, at the hands of Theotis.
Ike finds himself gradually being taken over by the sociopathic J.D., even eventually going so far as to adopt his hair and fashion style, mannerisms, and psychotic tendencies, often hurting Christella in the process. Once fully possessed by Walker, Ike commits havoc all over town before making his way to the church where Theotis' younger brother and Betty Jo's widower, Elijah, works as a preacher. At the church, he also sees Theotis accompany his brother, as well as Roberta, the daughter of Elijah and Betty Jo and J.D.'s niece who is the splitting image of her mother.
J.D. poses as Ike to befriend the Bliss family to be close to them, even seducing Roberta and having sex with his own niece through Ike's body. Meanwhile, Christella has gone to her ex-husband, a cop who is out for Ike's blood, believing him to simply be a psycho hiding behind a false persona—until he mentions to the Chief that Ike claimed his name was J.D. Walker, a man who was not only real, but also had died over 30 years ago.
After several disturbing encounters with Ike, Ike eventually reveals his true identity to Elijah and tells him to tell Theotis to meet him at the meat plant where Betty Jo was killed. Having left the gangster life behind to pursue faith full time, Elijah relays this to his brother and says that this is God's way of justice; he decides to join Theotis to hopefully free Ike from J.D.'s possession.
As J.D. makes his way through the meat plant, he finally remembers the whole truth through flashbacks. Betty Jo had an affair with Theotis, who is the real father of Roberta, but she was constantly dismissive of him. At the meat plant, Theotis was enraged by Betty Jo's derisive chiding of him and her threats to expose Roberta's true paternity, so he impulsively slashed her throat before escaping. J.D. made his way to cradle his sister's body, but Elijah stumbled upon them and mistook J.D. as his wife's killer and killed him.
J.D. confronts Elijah and Theotis at the meat plant, where Roberta had secretly tagged along. J.D. reveals the truth, and Theotis confesses it, stunning his brother and daughter. Theotis attempts to gun down J.D., but Elijah and Roberta struggle with him to stop, with J.D. laughing maniacally at the irony of the struggle. Elijah accidentally discharges the weapon and kills Theotis, prompting him to run away as Roberta mourns over his body and the police arrive. With his vengeance achieved, J.D. appears to leave Ike's body.
As Ike and Roberta are brought in by the police, Elijah has a breakdown in his church over killing his brother. He decides to go to the precinct and lies that Theotis accidentally shot himself, while defending Ike's actions as an act of possession by J.D., who is gone. Roberta reconciles with Elijah and continues to acknowledge him as her father. Ike is allowed to go free, although he is nervous that J.D. could return in the future. Ike rejoins Christella and his friends waiting for him outside.
Filming for J.D.'s Revenge began on January 5, 1976, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and concluded on February 6, with post-production commencing on March 1. It premiered in Los Angeles on June 30, 1976.[2]
The film was also released under the alternate title The Reincarnation of J.D. Walker.[3]
Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film two stars, pointing out that it was a "movie of possession where things have to pause while the spirit has things explained to it", and that it "takes longer than usual for the possessed man's friends to figure out something is not quite right with him". He added that "what makes the movie work, to the degree that it does, are the performances by Turman, Lou Gossett and Joan Pringle. Turman, in particular, has fun transforming himself from the mild-mannered law student to the zoot-suited 1940s two-bit gangster".[4]
J.D.'s Revenge was released on DVD by MGM Home Video on April 1, 2003, as a Region 1 widescreen DVD. On November 14, 2017, Arrow Video released the film on Blu-ray, featuring a 2K restoration of the movie from the original 35 mm interpositive and several special features.[5]