Savage Vengeance

Last updated

Savage Vengeance
Savage Vengeance.jpg
DVD release poster
Directed by Donald Farmer
Written byDonald Farmer
Produced byBarney Griner
Starring Vickie Kehl
James Cochran
Melissa Moore
CinematographyDonald Farmer
Edited byDonald Farmer
Music byPerry Monroe
Production
company
Tapeworm
Distributed byEden Entertainment
Magnum Video
Massacre Video
Release date
  • October 27, 1993 (1993-10-27)
Running time
65 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget<$6,000

Savage Vengeance is a 1993 American rape and revenge film written and directed by Donald Farmer. It stars Camille Keaton (under the alias "Vickie Kehl") as Jennifer, a reference to Keaton's earlier role as Jennifer Hills in I Spit on Your Grave . For this reason the film is often considered an unofficial sequel to that film. [1] [2] The film was also published with the titles I Will Dance on Your Grave, I Will Dance on Your Grave: Savage Vengeance, and I Spit on Your Grave 2: Savage Vengeance. [3]

Contents

Plot

A woman named Jennifer goes to a park where she is raped and left for dead by four men. Five years later, Jennifer, now in law school, is exposed by her law professor when he reveals to the class her past. She was tried for murder, but pleaded not guilty. Angry, she decides to take a little vacation with her friend, Sam.

When they stop for gas, Sam is harassed by a strange local man named Tommy, who had previously murdered a woman who spurned his advances at a bar. Tommy is brushed off by the gas station clerk Dwayne, who playfully flirts with Sam. When Jen and Sam arrive at their cabin, Sam is disgusted by the place and takes a walk. When night falls, she is lost but quickly finds a cottage. She is surprised to find out Dwayne owns the place. Dwayne attacks and rapes her before Tommy, who is revealed to be a friend of his, shows up and stabs her to death.

The next day, Jennifer goes back to the gas station looking for Sam. Instead, she is greeted by Dwayne and Tommy, who tell her they know where Sam is. After taking Jennifer to their cottage, they reveal Sam's corpse. Jennifer escapes the cottage and runs into the woods, but is caught by Dwayne. After Dwayne rapes her, Tommy then stabs her in the chest, leaving her for dead. Jennifer survives the ordeal, hitchhikes, and plans her revenge.

A little while later at the gas station, the sheriff questions Dwayne and Tommy about the missing women, but they deny everything. Dwayne is then told by a friend at a bar that a woman matching Jennifer's description recently bought weapons and has been asking about him around town. Dwayne later takes a walk in the woods and is attacked by Jennifer, who slices his head in half with a chainsaw. Meanwhile, Tommy is back at his cottage treating both Sam's and a woman's dead bodies as if they were alive. Jennifer chases him out of the cottage and shoots him in the groin with a shotgun and walks away, leaving Tommy to die in agony.

Cast

Production

According to the director's commentary on the 2013 DVD release of the film, director Donald Farmer, met actress Camille Keaton while shooting his film, Cannibal Hookers, through a mutual friend. In 1988, Farmer was signed on as the casting director to the film No Justice and was in charge of finding celebrities to cast in the film. Farmer states he intended to put Keaton into as many films as possible. No Justice was shot in the spring of 1988 and Savage Vengeance was shot in the fall of 1988.

Farmer claims on a podcast, he pitched a film idea entitled Savage Vengeance to film producer Mel Lieberman of Lettuce Entertain U. The storyline would have involved Keaton's character as a detective cop who would kill criminals. Lieberman instead hired Farmer to write and direct what would be Savage Vengeance. The film's budget is estimated to be less than $6,000. It was shot in Tennessee on video.

The film was completed and shelved for five years until Magnum Video approached Farmer to include two of his films in a Grave Dancer collection.

In 2013 a special edition DVD was released by Massacre Video, including a rare interview with actress Camille Keaton.

Remake

The film received a remake in 2020 which was distributed by SRS Video. Donald Farmer was the producer and played a law professor. [4]

Reception

The authors Joseph A. Ziemba, Annie Choi, and Zack Carlson criticized the film for being "light on thrills and even lighter on kills". They wrote, "Mostly the film consists of extended rape scenes that aren't particularly explitive; they pale in comparison to those in I Spit on Your Grave. The assaults in Savage Vengeance are just uninspired devices that fail at disturbing the viewer." [5] In a positive review, Dan Tabor of Cinapse called the film "the Troll 2 of rape/revenge films", writing, "It's a film that, while hilariously bad, had more interesting drama going on behind the scenes than in front of the camera." [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>I Spit on Your Grave</i> 1978 American horror film by Meir Zarchi

I Spit on Your Grave is a 1978 American rape-and-revenge film written and directed by Meir Zarchi. The film tells the story of Jennifer Hills, a fiction writer based in New York City who exacts revenge on her four tormentors who gang rape and leave her for dead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Adamson</span> American filmmaker and actor (1929–1995)

Albert Victor Adamson Jr. was an American filmmaker and actor known as a prolific director of B-grade horror and exploitation films throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Meir Zarchi is an Israeli-American film director, screenwriter and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camille Keaton</span> American actress

Camille Keaton is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Jennifer Hills in the controversial 1978 film I Spit on Your Grave. She began her career in Italy, making her film debut as Solange Beauregard in the giallo film What Have You Done to Solange? (1972), and starred in several other Italian horror films through the early 1970s. In 2015, Keaton reprised her role as Jennifer Hills for the film, I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu, which was released in 2019.

<i>Jack Frost</i> (1997 film) American film by Michael Cooney

Jack Frost is a 1997 American direct-to-video black comedy slasher film written and directed by Michael Cooney. It stars Scott MacDonald and Christopher Allport.

<i>Savage Streets</i> 1984 film by Danny Steinmann

Savage Streets is a 1984 American teen vigilante exploitation film directed by Danny Steinmann and starring Linda Blair, with Linnea Quigley and John Vernon appearing in supporting roles. It follows a Los Angeles high school student who enacts revenge against the men in a gang who brutalize her deaf-mute younger sister and murder her friend.

Rape and revenge, or rape-revenge, is a horror film subgenre characterized by an individual enacting revenge for rape or other sexual acts committed against them. Rape and revenge films are also commonly thrillers or vigilante films.

<i>I Spit on Your Grave</i> (2010 film) 2010 American horror film

I Spit on Your Grave is a 2010 American rape and revenge horror film and a remake of the controversial 1978 cult film of the same name. It was directed by Steven R. Monroe and written by Stuart Morse, based on the original film's director/writer Meir Zarchi's screenplay, and stars Sarah Butler, Jeff Branson, Daniel Franzese, Rodney Eastman, Chad Lindberg, Tracey Walter, and Andrew Howard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Butler (actress)</span> American actress

Sarah Elizabeth Butler is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Jennifer Hills in the I Spit on Your Grave film series.

<i>I Spit on Your Grave 2</i> 2013 American film

I Spit on Your Grave 2 is a 2013 American rape and revenge horror film directed by Steven R. Monroe. It is a sequel to the 2010 film I Spit on Your Grave, also directed by Monroe, which in turn was based on Meir Zarchi's 1978 film of the same name. The film stars Jemma Dallender, Joe Absolom, Yavor Baharoff, Aleksander Aleksiev and Mary Stockley.

<i>Naked Vengeance</i> 1985 American film

Naked Vengeance is a 1985 exploitation rape-revenge film directed by Cirio Santiago. The film features Deborah Tranelli as its protagonist, actress-turned-vigilante Carla Harris. The film has since received a cult following and is often mentioned in works discussing films of the rape and revenge genre.

<i>Julia</i> (2014 film) Film by Matthew A. Brown

Julia is a 2014 American neo-noir horror thriller film written and directed by Matthew A. Brown in his feature directorial debut. The film stars Ashley C. Williams as a woman who seeks revenge for her brutal rape. It had its world premiere at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival on July 19, 2014, and was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on October 23, 2015, by Archstone Distribution.

<i>I Spit on Your Grave III: Vengeance Is Mine</i> 2015 American horror film

I Spit on Your Grave III: Vengeance Is Mine is a 2015 American rape and revenge film, directed by Richard Schenkman from a screenplay by Daniel Gilboy. It is the third film of the remake trilogy and the fourth overall installment in the series. The film stars Sarah Butler, Jennifer Landon, Doug McKeon and Harley Jane Kozak. Butler reprises her role as Jennifer Hills from the 2010 film I Spit on Your Grave.

<i>I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu</i> 2019 American horror film

I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu is a 2019 American rape and revenge horror film written and directed by Meir Zarchi. It stars Camille Keaton and Jamie Bernadette, and is a direct sequel to the 1978 film I Spit on Your Grave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Hills</span> Fictional character

Jennifer Hills is a fictional character in the I Spit on Your Grave horror film series, portrayed by Camille Keaton in the original film and by Sarah Butler in the remake films. She appears in four out of the five I Spit on Your Grave films. She is a vigilante in the 1978 original, its 2019 sequel Deja Vu, the 2010 remake, and the sequel to the 2010 film, I Spit on Your Grave III: Vengeance Is Mine. In the films, she seeks vengeance against her rapists and other sexual predators.

Her Vengeance is a 1988 Hong Kong film directed by Lam Nai-Choi and starring Pauline Wong. It is a remake of the 1973 rape and revenge film Kiss of Death with elements taken from the 1978 American film I Spit On Your Grave.

<i>Revenge</i> (2017 film) Film by Coralie Fargeat

Revenge is a 2017 French rape and revenge action thriller film written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, and starring Matilda Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe and Guillaume Bouchède. The plot follows a young woman who is raped and left for dead in the desert by three men, where she recovers and seeks vengeance upon them.

<i>Promising Young Woman</i> 2020 film by Emerald Fennell

Promising Young Woman is a 2020 film written, directed, and co-produced by Emerald Fennell in her feature directorial debut. It stars Carey Mulligan as a young woman haunted by a traumatic past as she navigates balancing forgiveness and vengeance, with Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown, Chris Lowell, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, and Connie Britton in supporting roles. It incorporates film genres including black comedy, crime drama, feminist film, rape and revenge, and vigilante thriller.

I Spit on Your Grave is an American rape and revenge film series that comprises two films written and directed by Meir Zarchi and three remake films, each installment following a woman who exacts revenge on each of her tormentors after four men gang rape and leave her for dead. The original 1978 film has gained a large cult following. Jennifer Hills is the only character to appear in every film, with the exception of the 2013 film I Spit on Your Grave 2.

Jemma Dallender is an English actress. She is known for her role in the film I Spit on Your Grave 2 (2013).

References

  1. ↑ "I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION - On Blu-ray 5th October - PART ONE". October 1, 2020.
  2. ↑ Fordy, Tom (October 13, 2020). "Misogynistic trash or feminist masterpiece? The dark, disturbing legacy of I Spit on Your Grave". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on October 13, 2020.
  3. ↑ Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra (2021). Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study. Jefferson, North Carolina: Jefferson, North Carolina. p. 36. ISBN   978-1-4766-8649-3 . Retrieved December 1, 2024– via Google Books.
  4. ↑ "SAVAGE VENGEANCE (1993) - A FILM GUTTER REVIEW". GINGER NUTS OF HORROR, THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR WEBSITES.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. ↑ Ziemba, Joseph A.; Choi, Annie; Carlson, Zack (2021). Bleeding Skull: A 1990s Trash-Horror Odyssey. Seattle: Fantagraphics. pp. 197–198. ISBN   978-1-68396-186-4 . Retrieved December 1, 2024– via Google Books.
  6. ↑ Tabor, Dan (August 13, 2014). "Pick of the Week: Savage Vengeance". Cinapse. Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.