Savage Vengeance

Apparently, Jennifer learned nothing from I Spit on Your Grave. One would think that after her last hellish vacation in the woods, she'd look to the city when she needs some respite from the stress of being recognized by her professor at the junior college. Small wonder she and the friend she drags with her get raped. Well, "raped" because through some apparently in the country, when you have consensual or non-consensual sex, you leave your clothes on. In all three rape scenes, the filmmaker doesn't even pretend to suggest sex. This is just one of the laughably lame aspects of this video. (Calling it a movie is like calling Kim Kardashian talented.)

How about this little exchange?

Sam: I'm carrying 18 credits this semester! I can't just up and leave! Jennifer: I'll buy the beer. Sam: O-o-o-o-OK

There's not a decent inch of tape in the whole proceedings. After Jennifer gets dry-humped, Tommy takes out a knife and cuts into her chest with a bargain basement blood knife which may actually be plastic. Jennifer gets left for dead (I think...it's not clear). When Jennifer resurrects, GOD BE PRAISED, she's completely healed! PRAISE HIM!

The soundtrack (give me a minute to bang my head against broken glass....thanks) sounds like it's improvised by a six year old who just got a synthesizer. "Oh! Look! This button turns on the flange! On! Off! On! Off!" The keyboardist can't even keep time and occasionally resorts to just banging on the keyboard.

Originally billed as I Spit on Your Grave 2, the resemblance ends at the name. The power of I Spit on Your Grave sprung from its realism and brutality. This one is the wrong kind of cringe-worthy.

Let me start by saying that this movie was HIDEOUSLY awful! Everything about it was terrible! Recently, I attended a horror movie convention and Camille Keaton, star of the original "I Spit on Your Grave" was in attendance. I asked Miss Keaton a direct question about whether or not she truly was in this film and her response was "I'm very sorry but I can't talk about that!". She then went on to tell me about another sequel that was written by Meir Zarchi (director of the original)which she was supposed to also star in but never came to fruition. There was also a recent interview with Miss Keaton published in "Ultra Violent" magazine which makes mention of the fact that there is one film that Miss Keaton "is believed to have appeared in under an alias but cannot speak about". I can't say that I blame Miss Keaton for not wanting to discuss this film or for using another name while appearing in this film, I would never admit to such a thing either! The writers, directors, and producers of this film should truly be ashamed of themselves for making such a piece of worthless garbage. A kindergärtner with a camcorder could make more compelling cinema!

Savage Vengeance, or whatever you want to call it (given the plethora of names designed to trap unwary B movie hounds into making a duplicate purchase), is a pretty awful film, but it's not entirely without entertainment value--that is, as long as you and your friends are prone to creating your own MST3K-styled sarcastic commentary.

Many people mistakenly call remakes and sequels "rip offs" of their predecessors. However, this is a case where "rip off" is probably the right term. Savage Vengeance is something of an "unofficial sequel" to I Spit on Your Grave (aka Day of the Woman) (1978). The only factor making it a gray issue is the fact that Camille Keaton plays the protagonist of both films--here under the pseudonym of "Vickie Kehl". Without Keaton's presence, there would be little doubt that this is strictly a rip off.

The film suffers from problems typical of microbudget horror. Jack-of-all-trades Donald Farmer hardly bothered to write a script. There's not much of a story here. The cinematography is horrible. The lighting is worse. The editing could just as well have been randomly determined. The effects are pitiful. No one turns in a performance worthy of even a Razzie. The film is full of padding, and even with that, it still barely clocks in at 65 minutes.

Yet . . . yet, I found Savage Vengeance somewhat entertaining on my second viewing. This is more likely to happen on a second viewing than a first, because during the first you're more likely to feel annoyed at rapidly disappearing hopes of a decent film, and perhaps even anger at wasting time or money on this turkey. On a second viewing (I know the prospect is maybe inherently masochistic, but I wouldn't deny being something of a nutball), you have zero expectations about seeing a quality film, and you can focus on the absurdities and shoddiness. Some of these features have been pointed out already in other reviews, but they're worth noting again. Here's a list of some of the amusing content to be on the lookout for:

* In the opening rape scene, all parties keep their pants on and secure. I guess this is a non-consensual dry hump. Still prosecutable, but it doesn't say much for the depravity and/or intelligence of the perpetrators.

* One of the initial rapists looks remarkably like Robert Plant. Given the setting, I was expecting him to break into "The Rain Song".

* Don't we all usually take long drives to head out to hiking trails in street clothes just to read a newspaper or magazine?

* There's a throat-slashing scene that Farmer lingers on way too long. It's obvious that he was thrilled with finally getting the blood-spurting effect to work, so he milks it for as long as he can, completely ruining the pacing of the film. Alright, I agree that "pacing" is a joke when talking about this film.

* In the convenience store, it takes Jennifer's (Keaton) friend only about two minutes to invite a sleazy redneck to their cabin later.

* The whole "pork-belly pie" bit was ridiculous enough to be hilarious.

* There are two scenes of bands playing that are more tortuous to sit through than the film overall. How quickly would you be out of either one of those bars?

* Note the carefully arranged shirt (without sufficient dramatic justification), planned so that just enough of Keaton will fall out of it periodically to keep us looking at the screen.

* A character suffers a serious knife wound that mysteriously disappears in the next scene.

* A character who is supposed to be dead keeps very conspicuously blinking and flinching. I guess it had something to do with the fact that the character didn't bleed at all, despite being killed by knife wounds.

* A chainsaw used as a weapon is completely unsynced to the chainsaw on the soundtrack.

* Doesn't every small town have police that do suspicious, random spot checks on residents going about their business just to make sure that "they're not getting into any trouble"?

* And this is my favorite--the incidental score. It's difficult to tell if Perry Monroe sincerely believed that he and his buddies were channeling Pink Floyd, but the results are more often unintentionally hilarious than not. The music is really just overbearing noodling (on a synthesizer, bass and drums), seemingly made up on the fly. I've actually produced stuff like that with friends during long overnight sessions when we were really wasted and goofing around, I'm embarrassed to say. The difference is that I wouldn't release it as a soundtrack to a film.

Savage Vengeance (1993)

1/2 (out of 4)

This might be the most notorious unknown movie ever made. Legend has it that originally it was meant to be a sequel to I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE as Camille Keaton returned playing a woman named Jennifer. Further legend has it that the entire production was one mess after another, which caused Keaton to quit the picture. Filmed in 1988 it wasn't released until five years later because there was some sort of legal issue that happened when I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE's director Meir Zarchi got involved somehow. After all these years Keaton refuses to discuss the film as the only time she was publicly asked about it she said she wasn't allowed to talk about it. Zarchi has only said a few things on it but said due to legal issues he can't comment further. Then you have director Donald Farmer who has yet to really speak about the film. It pretty much makes sense as the Jennifer character here is raped by four guys, not convicted by a jury and this would pretty much set up a sequel to the original film. Not to mention that Jennifer's last name is dubbed out of this picture.

The rest of the story pretty much has Jennifer and a friend going out to the woods for a vacation but the friend is gang raped and murdered. Jennifer goes to check on her and is raped as well but she then seeks her vengeance against the two creeps. No matter what truth there might be behind the making of this film, it's clear that the only ones who should bother with this thing are those fans of the original 1978 film who just want to see what this thing is about. The film was shot on video and seems to have a budget less than what it would take to buy a couple apples so you really shouldn't go into this thing expecting any type of professional looking film. The entire thing is pretty much a disaster as in its current state there are all sorts of things that happen but don't make sense including all the stuff dealing with Jennifer's previous rape and eventual trial. This is clearly meant to connect this film to the previous one but it just leaves more unanswered questions. There are three different rape scenes here and they have to be among the most pathetic ever shot because both the victims and the rapist keep their pants on the entire time. I understand the actors being camera shy but why not film it in a way where you can't tell that the men don't even have a zipper down? I was rather surprised to see Keaton topless here but you can tell she isn't too thrilled with anything here. I always found her performance in I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE to be brave and quite good but that's not the case here as this is just an embarrassing part. The supporting players aren't any better but the less said the better. The murder scenes are all extremely bad as just about everything else including the opening credits that misspell the title! The only reason I didn't give this thing a BOMB rating is simply because I've been wanting to see it for years now and I must admit that it kept me entertained simply because I kept hoping something good would eventually happen but of course it never did. SAVAGE VENGEANCE is a very bad movie all around and who knows what the original intent was meant to be but I doubt it would have been any better even without the legal trouble. Apparently there's a fan edit out there that adds clips from I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE but I've yet to see it. Again, it probably wouldn't help considering how poorly made this one is.

I would like to have given this "movie" a zero rating. We filmed better movies in high school!!

This is the worst thing I have seen. The acting is horrible. Scenes where there is blood look so fake.

The only thing that stands out is the very colorful background of trees.

They must have filmed this at a park when all the crowds went home.

The budget on this must have been under $100

I thought it was odd right from the start when 4 men "rape" a woman who has her pants on the whole time. (A theme repeated throughout the movie)

Make sure your fast forward button is working on your remote or better yet, forget this movie and enjoy a day outside!!