Act of Vengeance

Rating Breakdown: Story - 1.25 :: Direction - 1.25 :: Pacing - 1.00 :: Performances - 1.25 :: Entertainment - 1.25 :::: TOTAL - 6/10

If you only judged Acts of Vengeance by its alternate titles - The Violator and Rape Squad - you'd expect the kind of grimy, bottom-shelf exploitation that makes you want to shower afterwards. But surprise! This little revenge thriller has more righteous fury and narrative heft than its schlocky marketing suggests.

The plot? Simple but effective: an orange Jumpsuit hockey-mask-wearing rapist is on the loose, and the police are about as useful as a chocolate teapot. When the system fails them, a group of survivors, led by the ferociously compelling Jo Ann Harris as Linda Shoemaker, decide to take matters (and self-defence weapons) into their own hands. Think Death Wish, but with feminist rage and flared jeans.

The script is better than you'd expect from the genre, giving the women distinct personalities and making their camaraderie feel real. Where it falls short is in its reluctance to dig deeper into the emotional trauma of the victims, or the twisted psychology of the predator. It scratches at these themes but never quite commits.

Bob Kelljan's direction is stylish for the genre, delivering some well-composed shots and a moody '70s aesthetic. Sure, the pacing lags in places, but the film never fully loses its momentum. And let's talk about the cast: Harris is an absolute scene-stealer, her performance brimming with grit and defiance. The rest of the women hold their own, giving their characters enough personality to make you root for them.

Then there's Peter Brown as the villain, who is about as intimidating as an Ikea chair. His wooden performance undercuts what should have been a nail-biting final showdown, making him the weak link in an otherwise strong cast.

Despite its flaws, Acts of Vengeance delivers a surprisingly effective tale of empowerment, revenge, and '70s street justice. Not quite I Spit on Your Grave, but more than just sleazy fluff, it's a grindhouse gem worth unearthing.

When Linda (Jo Ann Harris) is beaten and raped by a jumpsuit-wearing, goalie-masked maniac (Hmmm, this villain seems familiar somehow), she goes to the police only to be further humiliated and infuriated.

If Linda hasn't suffered enough, her idiot boyfriend proves just how little he understands or cares about her situation.

Meanwhile, the rapist strikes again, along with his odd signature of forcing his victims to sing Jingle Bells (!!) during the attack.

Eventually, Linda's had enough. She gathers the other victims together and forms the group implied by the title. They set out to "take out the trash". With some recently-learned karate skills, Linda and company cause great bodily harm and massive property damage.

Oh no!

Goalie mask man is back, and he's not happy!

ACT OF VENGEANCE (RAPE SQUAD) is an average 1970's exploitation / thriller custom made for the drive-in crowd of its day.

BEST SCENE: Linda and her squad unleash their karate on a local pimp. Hilarious!...

This film is most notorious for the portrayal of its rapist. He wears a janitor-like jumpsuit like Michael Meyers in Halloween (except it's bright orange) and wears a hockey mask like Jason in Friday the 13th 3-9. Did this nasty little flick influence both of those horror classics? The most bizarre part is that the rapist makes his victims sing Jingle Bells as they are raped. The actresses play their parts well considering the material, but I would have preferred to see more scenes of the women turning the table on male scum like when they beat up a pimp. Not recommended for first dates.

With a totally clueless police force unable to catch a serial rapist, five victims decide on a vigilante solution. Their "rape squad" takes on the hockey masked perpetrator and any other men behaving badly. All the men in "Act of Vengeance" are portrayed as insensitive creeps, including cops, hustlers, pimps, and even boyfriends. While the middle part of the film deals with these various male annoyances, the conclusion in an abandoned zoo, is totally about the "jingle bell rapist". The films greatest weakness, besides some marginal acting, is that very little is revealed about the orange clad hockey man. In the end however, it is what it is, an above average female revenge flick. - MERK

"Rape Squad" is a really bad movie; plain and simple. I only wanted to watch this movie because I am a BIG fan of actress Lada Edmund Jr., but even she did next to nothing to perk-up this movie for me.

I agree with other comments made, that this movie is disturbing in many ways. Although the dialogue is hokey and atrocious, the rape scenes just seem too realistic and unsettling at times. When the menacing Foul-Mouth attacks his victims, he tortures them by making them sing "Jingle-Bells" while he rapes them. The idea of that alone is horrifying to consider. He brutalizes the women too, with many vicious punches during his attack. To be honest, I fast-forwarded through some of these scenes, because I had no desire to watch them.

But as for the acting ability and skills used in "Rape Squad", they are really quite pitiful. The dialogue is annoying and foolish often times. Not that she's a terrific actress, but even my favorite Lada Edmund Jr. had some of the WORST lines in this movie. I mean c'mon, she plays a 5'4 martial-arts instructor named "Tiny", with super-short cropped hair; I guess bad lines are to be expected. Although she's a favorite actress of mine, she only added to the obsurdity of this film.

Truthfully, I cannot give anyone good enough reason to watch "Rape Squad". The rape scenes are too much to stomach for most people, and would possibly make you push the "fast-forward" button too. Take-out the rape scenes though, and you're left with one of the most terribly directed and acted movies out there. My advice: don't watch this movie if you can help it. You won't be in right mind-set for a few weeks afterwards.