Thursday, October 29, 2015

31 Nights of Terror 2015 #26 - Savaged (2013)


Savaged (2013) aka Avenged
Director: Michael S Ojeda
Starring: Amanda Adrienne Smith, Tom Ardavany, Ronnie Gene Blevins
Format: AVI


Plot: A deaf girl is brutalized by a murderous gang who are then hunted by her when the bloodthirsty spirit of an Apache warrior inhabits her lifeless body.

Rape revenge movies are a regular staple of the horror/exploitation market, with movies like Last House on the Left and I Spit on Your Grave the most well-known of them. With this lower-budget offering, director Ojeda takes that familiar theme, adds a supernatural Native American element and produces a pretty damn good little watch. Think of it as a mix of The Crow and I Spit on Your Grave.

Amanda Adrienne Smith plays the raped girl and does a great job playing both the victim and then subsequently the avenger. Because her character is deaf she doesn't talk much except for in the beginning, but her expressions get the job done. In some ways she has a Marilyn Burns from TCM vibe about her.

The acting is one of the biggest assets of this movie. Along with Smith, the acting is great from the rest of the cast, which is mainly made up of scumbag rapists. Too often in low budget movies the "bad guys" aren't convincing, but these guys sure are. Trust me, by the end of proceedings you'll be cheering as they get their nasty comeuppance.

And nasty it is. Ojeda and company don't skimp on the gore, which I appreciate. They also do a good job with the many fight scenes, which isn't surprising given Ojeda's background in choreographing battle re-enactments in historical documentaries.

Savaged is a nice little spin on the rape revenge sub-genre. If that's not your thing give it a miss, but otherwise I recommend it.

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