Watch J.D.'s Revenge For Free

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Warning- Extensive spoilers--JD's Revenge was a horror thriller released in 1976. Hitting theaters near the wane of African-American themed genre films, it was released by American International Pictures, which had become perhaps the most prolific American studio to produce 'blaxploitation' movies.Glynn Turman stars as Ike Hendrix, taxi driver and law student in New Orleans, who has a live-in girlfriend, Chrisette (Joan Pringle). A night on the town with another couple brings the group to a stage hypnotism show. During the show, Ike somehow is possessed by the spirit of J.D. Walker (john smith), a local hoodlum active during the 1940s who met a violent end at a meatpacking plant. Shortly, Ike begins to exhibit odd behavior—he buys a vintage used hat, has frequent headaches, but soon his behavior becomes sinister as J.D.'s influence comes to the fore.Terrorizing cab riders and womanizing are among the sins J.D. commits with Ike's face. Of particular interest to J.D. is the reverend Elija Bliss, who pastors a popular church in town. As played by Gossett, Reverend Bliss likes to use boxing metaphors in his sermons; his brother Cleotis apparently handles the business affairs for the church, but based on his dialogue he is not remotely the believer that Elija seemingly is. Indeed, Cleotis 'reminds' Elija that the church is just a barely-veiled hustle, and sends some ushers to rough up Ike when he takes Elija's lustful daughter home.Pros New Orleans is an interesting change of pace from the most frequent genre settings of New York (Harlem) or Los Angeles. Bourbon Street and other locales are showcased. The film handles Ike's internal struggle fairly well—mild mannered and genial normally, smug and swaggering as J.D. By the film's climax the possessed Ike has permed his hair and bought a garish suit to complete his 'old-school' look. The principal and supporting actors all play it straight, which helps avoid a campy feel to what is already a high-concept story. Some unintentional humor is wrought from a doctor who suggests to stressed-out Ike that he smoke some marijuana to calm down. The same can be said for when the movie's main couples celebrate an anniversary at a topless nightclub. Slightly less humorous is Ike's pal coming up with a rather reaching justification for Ike's slapping around Chrisette while possessed.Cons The climax of the film sets up a revelation that clever viewers may likely have figured out beforehand. The epilogue is fairly cut and dry despite the fantastic series of events that just took place. Despite some mirror-image appearances, there is no verbal confrontation between Ike and J.D., which could have been interesting—instead, Ike just totally blacks out whenever J.D. takes over. There are also several subplots that the movie seems to ignore: Shortly after the possession takes place, Ike visits a pimp to place a numbers bet (hinting at a possible criminal past for Ike) but this is soon forgotten; Reverend Bliss' past suggests that he was not only a former boxer but that he was involved in some sort of racketeerism, and his current career as a pastor may not be completely on the up-and-up. Ike assaults a man after sleeping with his wife; despite Ike being identified as a suspect, this is forgotten by film's end. A possessed Ike sexually assaults Chrisette in an overlong sequence; juxtaposed with the rather pat resolution at the end, it makes her look gleefully forgiving when she should not be—on that note, most of the women in the film are murder victims, harshly abused or sexually loose.

In their excellent book "The Golden Turkey Awards" the Medved brothers note that the good news was that Hollywood discovered the market for movies made for black audiences, the bad news was that most were crude, artless-and vulgar, like this one. It starts OK with an interesting premise and some interesting shots, such as the young law student seeing the late J.D.'s face in the mirror of his cab, but it soon degenerates into another cheap sex and sadism Garde Z exploitation movie. 3 of the 4 sex scenes are rapes, in the last half of the movie the dialogue (?) consists of the 2 best known obscenities. I was embarrassed to watch this one, and I watched all by myself late at night-with the curtains drawn! Got the tape from a co-worker with whom I had been discussing the Golden Turkies and bad movies. Lent him a tape of "Plan 9 from Outer Space", he said he howled over that, he got the best of that deal.

This is a startling movie starring Glynn Turman and Louis Gossett Jr. Here Glynn Turman is the innocent laid-back Ike who is a law student. Then he becomes possessed by a violent fornicating 1940s gangster. This reminds me of a Jekyel and Hyde movie. The setting of the movie is gloomy and the flashback scenes couldn't be any more eerier. The way he slapped around actress Joan Pringle when he (Glynn) was JD seem so real. To me this role fits Glynn Turman because he does it so naturally. If you are in for some suspense and thriller from the old school. This is the movie to check out.

A solid standout from most Black flicks of the middle 70's, JD's Revenge provided an early platform for Glynn Turman (Cooley High) to prove his acting prowess. By playing essentially two characters at once, Turman's passion for the roles combines with the spookiness of the New Orleans setting for memorable results. Louis Gossett plays an excellent preacher with a sordid past. The horror edge of this film is a little heavy-handed, but it is considerably better than most of the genre. A great Black thriller.