A Gun for Jennifer (Poster Says it All Revenge Thriller)

 

It’s “Vinegar Syndrome Month” here at Deaf Sparrow and this writer would like to highlight two exceptional releases that are currently flying under the proverbial radar. These are criminally underrated films that will blow your fucking socks off if given the chance yet through some bizarre circumstances or just poor judgment on behalf of gatekeepers have languished in obscurity. The first one I would like to bring up is Todd Morris and Deborah Twiss’ lost classic A Gun for Jennifer. Why? Because it’s been unjustly buried for the last two decades and Vinegar Syndrome deserve a Nobel Prize for digging it up out of obscurity and making this definitive release happen. “Why are you so adamant, David?” Bend over, I’ll drive. A Gun for Jennifer begins with a timid young girl from Steubenville walking down the last vestiges of a crack-ravaged 42nd Street. Almost immediately, she is robbed and nearly raped by a pair of creeps until a vigilante gang of feminists come to her aid. With nowhere to go, she dubs herself “Jennifer” and quickly joins their circle. As the stakes grow larger and the cops put together the stack of castrated corpses as the work of a singular unit, Jennifer must fight a battle within herself to resist the temptation to murder rapists. Does it go smoothly? Of course not.

   

There’s no way around it, folks…this movie just straight up kicks ass and takes names. Combining exploitation tropes with a 90’s alt-rock/Riot Grrrl aesthetic turns out to be an absolutely incredible idea. What could have been a tired rehash of the similarly underrated The Ladies’ Club from 1986 feels fresh and adrenalized. This reviewer really wishes Todd and Deb had done more films, as A Gun for Jennifer is a cinematic shot in the arm just as potent as Deadbeat at Dawn. As for the disc itself, Vinegar Syndrome went all out for this release and deservedly so. The new transfer straight from the 16mm negative looks absolutely gorgeous and renders all bootlegs permanently obsolete. The punk soundtrack featuring Bush Tetras and Tribe 8 comes through loud and clear. The jewel on the crown comes in the form of the hour-long documentary on the making of this incredible film, a story even wilder than the bucking bronco of a movie that is A Gun for Jennifer. In closing, this has been a tough year on fan’s wallets but this is a purchase and blind buy well worth making. Here’s hoping Vinegar Syndrome’s hard work leads to A Gun for Jennifer finally getting the respect and attention it deserves.

 

Vinegar Syndrome Official Facebook

Written by David, Comptroller of Your Last Scrap of Existence

A Gun for Jennifer (2023 on Blu-ray)
Director: Todd Morris
Distributor: Vinegar Syndrome
4.9 / 5