Cycle Psycho

I have for years now, been looking for that one film. That special film. The one that killed the "Biker Film" genre. Ladies and Gentleman and bikers everywhere. I have found it! It goes by the happy little title of "Savage Abduction" But let me tell you, my leather and denim clad buddies, there is nothing savage in or about this film. The only savages where the writer, director and producers who decided to release this and charge patrons for it's viewing.

Very little to do with bikers, biker gangs and the "Ride Free, Ride hard" attitude. There are no 1% riders here. What we are left with is mostly a bad psychological mess with a wealthy homicidal maniac, with an Oedipus complex who likes to torture and kill young, pretty women. They should have just turned this into a slasher film, and taken the whole notion of bikers out of it. It would have worked better that way.

Whe are given 3 tough hombres who are supposed to be a "Biker Gang". These guys would not be allowed in tricycle, little less less REAL motorcycle gang. They huff and puff and try to act as if they were the real deal. They're dirty, bearded and have poor manners. That is supposed to convey a biker to the general public. But the closes they have ever been to a real biker gang is when they all sat together and saw a documentary on the Hell's Angels on TV. they could'not punch their way out of a wet paper bag.

The abducted girls are your typical dumb, cute and sexy 17 year old critters that always seem to either be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or just make stupid choices in life. Like try to hitchhike and accept a ride from two derelict's who pull up on choppers. Where do they think they will be taken to? Starbucks for a latte? A church ice cream social? No you stupid bimbo's. To their lair for a bit of fun at your expense. But even this is sad. There is no fun at the pen.

There is nothing here. No Biker bar Fights, No sexual assault of the two nubile birds, No Nudity, No drunken orgies, No terrorizing of the towns folk, No cool bad Rock music in the background. Nothing from the stereotypical biker films of the past that we have all come to not only enjoy, but expect. Nothing at all.

We are all left with fairly good acting wasted on very poor lighting, bad writing, and none of the joys of rebelling against the man. What a waste of celluloid. I can see why after 1972 only a handful of biker films where made. All dying after 1975.

Only nudity and drunkenness would and could have saved this film. Even a second audio commentary by Joe Bob Briggs would have saved this DVD. But we get nothing at all. Why they are missing is anyones guess. They would have savagely helped this turkey.

Attorney Richard Ridelander (Tom Drake) gets rich sicko Harry (Joe Turkel) to murder his unfaithful wife. Excited by the thrill of the kill, Harry blackmails Richard into procuring new victims for his perverted pleasure. Dick turns to a gang of renegade motor-cyclists for help, who agree to abduct two girls in exchange for $10,000, a sum that Harry is only too happy to pay.

As wonderfully sleazy as it sounds, Savage Abduction is far less exploitative than many a '70s drive-in movie, the film offering up only a modicum of those core ingredients, sex and violence. The not-so-savage abduction of 17-year-old hitch-hikers Jenny and Faye (Tanis Gallik and Kitty Vallacher) involves the girls being locked in a closet, forced to smoke pot, and made to strip to their underwear, before being bound and gagged and handed over to Harry.

Harry clearly has bad things in store for the poor girls, judging by the bag of sharp implements he has brought with him, but he is unable to carry out his evil deeds thanks to the timely intervention of biker Romeo (Sean Kenney), who has been struggling with his conscience. All of this 'mild peril' is bound to disappoint fans of gritty low budget trash, who quite rightly expect more from a psycho killer/biker movie with such a lurid title.

Not really so much a harrowing experience and glimpse into the dark depravity of humanity as the movie promotes itself but certainly a laughable cheapie drive in schlocker from 1972. A gang of bikers kidnapp two girls and hold them hostage in exchange for $10,000 from a sex crazed psycho who wants to kill the girls for his own private pleasures. The extremities are very limited , the worst thing the biker gang does to the girls is force them to disrobe only to their underwear and force them to smoke pot. Not really a shocking movie , and actually a pretty funny historical relic of the days of cheap drive-in fare , but worth a look at for some early sleaze

8/10

Before I get into the review, here are my ratings for the movie.

The story gets a 0.25 out of 2: The Direction a 0.50: The Pacing receives a 0.25: While the Acting gets 1.00: And my Enjoyment level earns a 0.25 out of 2: Bringing the total to 2.25 out of 10.

Oh, deary me. What a snoozefest this turned out to be. The only saving grace to this movie is the acting, and that's average. Regretfully, the story and the direction are woefully lacking. It may stem from the writer and director being the same person; John Lawrence.

As I'm finding out by doing these reviews, there are a lot of stories that sound great when you read the synopsis. However, due to one reason or another - most commonly it the writers lack of imagination or weakness in story structure - the story never meets the viewers' expectations. Savage Abduction is one of these stories.

Lawyer Dick Ridelander wants to be rid of his wife and so makes a deal with a rich businessman. The man is to kill the wife, giving Ridelander an alibi. The killing of the woman is the man's stress point. He starts to remember his troubled past and realises he likes tormenting, torturing, and killing women. He then proceeds to use the crime to blackmail Ridelander into procuring him a couple of girls for his new perverted pleasure. Ridelander, in turn, enlists the help of a biker gang to kidnap the girls and to hold them until the man is ready to play.

Now, you can see the numerous possibilities in this outline. But Lawrence evidently couldn't. Instead, what he gives the audience is a step-by-step telling of the outline. He doesn't add any characterisations. Everybody is interchangeable. The psychopath isn't psycho. The biker gang aren't so rough and tumble as they keep telling the viewers they are. There are two wonderfully awful scenes where this is shown. The leader of the gang is telling his woman they'll make so much on this job that they'll be able to move and form a bigger and stronger biker gang. Which wouldn't be too hard since there are only two other bikers in this gang! I'm not sure you can even call it a gang. They're more like biker pals... who don't have many friends. The other scene is when the biker boss spouts off that it's not his fault the cops have made him public enemy number one. Yeah, public enemy number one? This guy lives in a ramshackle house in the middle of nowhere. The man never commits any crimes. He gets his two pals to kidnap the girls. And, their abduction isn't even savage. The girls are all too willing to hop on the bikers back seats.

The story is so basic it becomes boring very quickly after the girls are kidnapped, and it wasn't too great before.

What doesn't help is Lawrence being as skilled a director as he is a writer. Set the scene, shoot the scene, print the scene - repeat until end. He could have avoided some tediousness if he'd employed a smidgen of imagination.

The real shame is because of the story and direction the cast are wasted. They try to do their best, but by the end of this travesty, they appear as bored as the rest of us. Lawrence even had a decent cast for this picture. Tom Drake, who was a veteran of many TV and Film roles, plays Dick Ridelander. Joe Turkel, who is best known for his role as the bartender in The Shining, plays the businessman, Harry. As well as a couple of actors you may have seen in old telly programmes. Hell, even Stafford Repp makes an appearance.

Savage Abduction could have been such a different movie. However, as it stands, I couldn't recommend this to anyone.

Stay Away from this drivel. It's not worth wasting any time on.

That said, now hop on your hogs and blaze across to my The Game Is Afoot and Killer Thriller Chillers to see where this Z-Movie fell asleep in my ratings... and to find something way better to watch.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Savage Abduction is another cheesy 70's classic in the vein of 'Last House on the Left'. It's now bee bought up by Troma and is distributed as one of their movies. Really though, it's not all that bad. My wife and I had a few laughs at it's expense, and were very entertained.

One of Troma's cream of the crop as far as I'm concerned. There's actually a movie here (albeit not the greatest)!

6 out of 10 (fun)