Revenge

4 stars kind of out of starvation, but enthusiastically so. The core of Rape & Revenge hasn't changed over the years, it's just that the rapists are no longer degenerate rednecks, but degenerate, secure rich townies with families. The main bastard then is a catalogue hunk with a great body and an ass on his chin that would make Ben Affleck cry in the corner like a little girl. There's no longer a need for the whole herd of beasts to take turns at the splendor (© The Butcher), but just a single bastard, with the other guilty party choosing to ignore the rape and the third guilty party trying to cover it up. The girl, however, turns a blind eye to the out-of-court settlement and chooses a much more painful path, but with all that much more catharsis. The initial nuisance of an apparently low body count is offset by the sadistic glee of each kill. The characters have dozens of gallons of blood inside them, which come splashing out while you wait. Whereas in ordinary films a gunshot to the shoulder is practically a yawning affair that barely rips your shirt, here this kind of gunshot wound barfs up a good eight liters of hemoglobin, and this is by no means the close of the unfortunate man's fate. Removing a shard from your leg must be a great collective cinematic experience, the shotgun round the bloody mansion is really what I expect from a thriller, and the make-up artists have done a great job on all kinds of injuries. And yet I must concede that the 108 minutes really weren't necessary and the film often wriggles out of certain situations in a very funny way. Still, an avenger with a burnt-out phoenix on her belly from a Mexican beer can. I fucking love that. PS: It's nice to have a little wink in Ken Russell's direction. (31/07/2018)

Before I dive into the review, let me tell you that if you see the trailer in advance, you already know 80% of the film, including the final scene. This is the exact reason why I barely watch any trailer, but what can you do when they throw it at your face prior to another flick in the cinema? The creators of such teasers just deserve to be lynched. Now (besides the really bad editing), the film itself disappointed me by being a total self-serving visual show. The straightforward plot is actually so conditioned by the search for an attractive appearance that some sub-scenes, for that reason, are pretty meaningless and their only goal is to enable the director to showcase a gorgeous shot (the burning tree). Then, there are scenes which don’t make sense either, but, this time, serve as crutches to push the story further – for example, one of the masculine characters has the urge to inspect his broken nose in the mirror, but rather than simply use one of the rear-view mirrors of his vehicle, he chooses to get a little make-up pocket mirror in the trunk, unwittingly unveiling his location to the revengeful heroine by the mirror’s reflection. Trivial pickiness, you say? Personally, it got me thinking. If those illogical details were part of the main character’s drug-induced hallucinations, it would be a different matter and there for a reason, but, unfortunately, it’s all over the film. I understand Revenge wasn’t meant to be a sophisticated flick, but when the whole thing relies so glaringly on those dozy crutches, then nothing can save the day – not even the interesting visuals or the electronic music. (24/09/2018)

A youthful version of Furiosa in a hyper-stylish package like Drive. There is plenty of violence, clouds of blood, brutality and a hypnotic soundtrack. If Gosling wore a cool jacket with a scorpion emblem, here the main character is sporting an eagle on her body. Of course, a lot of scenes don't have a very realistic undertone, but for fans of splatter, tough female protagonists and a specific formal style, this might be a fun festival one-off. Quite daring, but also quite bullshit. (23/05/2018)

It's nice to say that France is back! Revenge is another enjoyable addition to my all time favourite subgenre rape and revenge (I Spit on Your Grave is still unsurpassed, though). The film impresses especially with its excellent cinematography and beautiful visuals. The desert, the beautiful Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, who runs around the entire film in cut-off shorts covered in blood with a stick in her stomach and a sniper rifle in her hand, decent bad guys, nasty gore, a lot of unconventional retro disco music and a few standout scenes. The only problem is actually the not very explicit rape scene and the small body-count. Intellectuals and geeks may not get past the immortality of the main character and the almost minimal story, but everyone else will have a great time with this juicy sexy ride from France. 80% (13/05/2018)

Revenge is an entertaining bit of French exploitation craziness from the California desert. Attractive with splatter movie brutality and especially a delicious soundtrack straight out of Italian horror video-nasties. However, too much emphasis is placed on the attractive surface. The script should have been more innovative in its work with the environment instead of wasting time with scenes that are superfluous and, moreover, nonsensical (setting a tree on fire, the neurotic states of one of the thugs, etc.) [Sitges FF] (11/10/2017)