Vengeance

This was a very fun film to do, and I agree, this is one of Cirio's better films. We shot the film in parts of Baguio City, and at Lake Kaliraya in Laguna Province. We filmed this right after we had finished "The Devestators", which was also another fun one to do.

I played Arnie, one of the five rapists of the female lead played by Deborah Tranelli. Naked Vengeance was one of the early "Chick Vengeance" genre films.

Doing a rape scene was very difficult as the mood on the set is very tense, especially from the women on set. Anyone familiar with film production knows that it is a surreal atmosphere but standing around with nothing on but a jockstrap became almost natural by the end of the long night. Deborah was a real professional, detaching herself from direct contact friendly conversation. Before and after the "rape scene" she was friendly but she got "into character" during the very intense, violent, demeaning, dehumanizing sequence.

I think any woman seeing this movie would be deeply moved, emotionally and stunned by the brutality of the sequence. The entire production crew did a great professional job, though it was a long time before some of the female staff would even talk to me. It was that realistic and graphic. I never understood the horror of rape until I "took part" in trying to reproduce the crime in "ReeL life".

In the vein of those aggressively seedy, but stock-like revenge thrillers; "Naked Vengeance" is a considerably cut-rate, but amusingly rowdy and efficiently catered b-grade imitation of "I Spit on Your Grave". Carla's life is shattered when she witnesses her husband murdered, so she retreats back to the town she grew up in and stays with her parents at their lakeside cottage. But the nightmare continues for her when some drunken locals break into her home. There they would terrorise her, until her parents walked in on them to only be killed. Abused and left for dead, the law just won't cut it. Revenge… cold-hearted revenge is what she seeks. Her own justice with pain driving it. The men that caused the act, leaving this women's descent into madness (or that's what we are to believe); simply are portrayed as perverts, drooling low-lives and thugs. Even the clueless, narrow minded local Sheriff isn't painted that fancily.

While unimaginatively clichéd, it packs fury (some intensity makes its way into some set-pieces) and instinctively lays out many horrid encounters as she toys around with her initial victims knocking them off one at a time. Jack-cheap exploitation film-maker Cirio H. Santiago provides serviceable direction, as it doesn't waste much time and never does it outstay its welcome. The writing / dialogues might seem rough, but it's simple and formidably to-the-point. Deborah Tranelli (of "Dallas" fame) provides a grippingly strong performance as the traumatised Carla.

The plot is great as well as the presentation of it. I could not believe the rape scene to be anything but REAL. The movie as a whole is really worth viewing and is really enjoyable with all the suspense and tension in it. I think it is a classic, and you will never forget it. Actually, I viewed it for the first time in the cinema, and I find myself looking for it on the internet 15 yrs later. I could not find it yet, but i will continue my digging. In the mean time, I encourage anyone who have a copy to make it available for others as I hate to see such a great movie be forgotten. Deborah Tarnelli was really great on this film and I think this movie had contributed a lot to her later success.

This is the best film out of Santiago's production. All others were crap. Good actions, spontaneous, and actually make some sense! This one will keep you awake for some time. The girl in the movie actually doing a good job in acting and the bloody scenes looked quite gruesome and believable. I like it.