REVENGE (2017)
Region Code: B
Rating: Cert.18
Duration: 108 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 &a,p; 5.1 with Optional english Subtitles
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (2.40:1)
Director: Coralie Fargeat
Cast: Matilda Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe, Guillaume Bouchede
Wealthy Frenchman Richard (Kevin Janssens, The Room) invites his gorgeous lover Jen (Matilda Lutz, Rings) to his luxury desert retreat for a romantic getaway, away from his wife and kids, it's a sexy good time for both, until his "associates", Stan (Vincent Colombe) and Dimitri (Guillaume Bouchède), show up early for a planned hunting trip.
At night over drinks they have fun around the pool, Jen playfully dancing with and teasing her lover's associates, whose oggling of her make it clear that they are attracted to the young woman, especially the lustful Dimitri. The next day Richard leaves the house for a few hours, leaving Jen alone with his associates. It's during this window that sleaze-bag Dimitri moves in on her, confronting her about her flirting the night, forcing himself on her while his pal Stan turns a blind eye to the violence, simply turning the TV up to drown out her cries.
When Richard returns he learns of the events that have happened in his absence and attempts to smooth it over by offering her a large sum of money and a a modeling gig, but when she refuses and threatens to tell his wife about his cheating way he turns on her, culminating in a horrific fall of a cliff onto a tree stump, where she is left for dead.
Hours later the men return to the scene to hide the evidence and find that Jen has, not only survived the fall and impalement, but freed herself and fled on foot. Now the men must track her through the blistering desert and finish her off before she can report their crimes, but this young woman is gonna prove to be more difficult to kill than they might be expecting.
Revenge is an exploitation film along the lines of something like The Last House on the Left (1972) or I Spit On Your Grave (1978) by way of a survival thriller like The Hills Have Eyes (1977) without the killer mutants, but the men here are no less inhuman monsters. Let me tell you that this film is absolutely brutal and bloody as hell, the visual effects that bring to life the horrific wounds suffered in the film are amazing, we get a brutal tree impalement, a head explosion, a knife to the eyes, brains blown out, and maybe the worst of all, a jagged piece of glass that is plunged deep into bottom of someone's foot, I was actually biting my nails the whole time.
I don't think that the film does anything
new, other than the strong feminist undertones, it's still a gritty exploitation film of the rape-revenge variety. What sets it apart is the stylish lensing, this is such a great looking film, it is so well shot, all the unsavory scenes are lit up like candy-colored violence, it's rare to see such a brutal film looks so artful very stylized and doused with some surreal imagery, not unlike a visceral fairytale, visually this is a real treat, even when it's being unsavory. It also does a great job of building suspense and ratcheting up the tension, really other than some implausibility there's not a thing I did not love about this film.
Matilda Lutz is awesome, starting out as objectified eye-candy, flirtatiously dancing with her lover's associates, not realizing the powder keg she's ignited through no fault of her own. When she comes to realize the danger she's in it's far too late, the situation fast spirals out of control, resulting in her having to first get herself out of a logic defying situation, then embarking on a survival quest that will spill gallons of blood along the way. I think she was amazing, and hope to see her in more soon.
Audio/Video: Revenge (2017) arrives on region B locked Blu-ray from second Sight Films, framed in 2.40:1 widescreen in 1080p HD the image is absolutely stunning, razor sharp and crisp with fantastic clarity throughout The colors are pleasingly vivid and varied, a golden hue encompassing bold splashes of over-saturated color, it's a very stylish and eye-catching film. Fine detail is fantastic, there are close-ups of ants being splashed in blood and feeding on an open wound that are marvelous, another scene of one of the culprits chewing on chocolate and nougat that is stomach churning. The desert scenes have a baked-in grit that looks gorgeous, lots of turquoise tinted skies and oodles of deep red blood gushing throughout.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles. It's a robust track with clean dialogue and the pulsing electronic music score from French musician Rob Court (a.k.a. Rob, Maniac) sounds excellent. The surrounds get quite a workout on this one, atmospherics are well placed, offering both intense blasts of sounds and more nuanced discretion.
Second Sight Films offer plenty of extras on this release, beginning with an audio commentary by Kat Ellinger who is always a fantastic listen. we also get over 100 minutes of interview with Director Coralie Fargeat and Actor Matilda Lutz, Actor Guillaume Bouchede, Cinematographer Robrecht Heyvaert and Composer Robin Court (Rob). These interviews the into the genesis of the film, what it was like making it, dealing with nudity on set, how slippery the blood was during the finale, and the various influences on it, as well as crafting the synth score.
We were only sent a 'check disc' for the review from the distributor, but retail copies will also have a rigid slipcase, softcover book with writing on the film, as detailed below, but just based on the disc extras this is a big recommend.
Special Features
- Out for Blood: A new interview with Director Coralie Fargeat and Actor Matilda Lutz (43 min)
- The Coward: A new interview with Actor Guillaume Bouchede (14 min)
- Fairy Tale Violence: A new interview with Cinematographer Robrecht Heyvaert (24 min)
- Death Notes: A new interview with Composer Robin Court (Rob) (21 min)
- New audio commentary by Kat Ellinger, Author and Editor of Diabolique
Limited Edition Contents
- Rigid slipcase featuring new artwork by Adam Stothard
- Poster with new artwork
- Soft cover book with new writing by Mary Beth McAndrews and Elena Lazic
I first caught Revenge (2017) on the Shudder streaming service not knowing anything about it, I was floored for the duration of the film as it overpowered by startling color and style as well as it pummeling me with it's visceral acts violence, it's an exploitation lovers dream, full of sexy arthouse lensing that brought a smile to my face. I cannot sing it's praises enough, this is highly recommended and the limited edition Blu-ray release from Second Sight Films is a knock-out.
