STREETS OF VENGEANCE (2017)
Label: Olive Films
Region Code: Region-FREE
Duration: 101 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 with optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Paul Ragsdale, Angelica De AlbaCast: Delawna McKinney, Ginger Lynn Allen, Joanna Angel, Alexis Amore, Sophie Dee, Bryan Hurd, Daniel James Moody
A few years back Paul Ragsdale and Angelica De Alba brought us the Chicano holiday themed slasher Cinco De Mayo (2013), it was very low-budget but had a lot of heart. Now the duo have teamed-up to bring us a throwback to the gritty 80's revenge exploitation films with Streets of Vengeance (2017), which like their last film opens with the 'All Nite Long with Stacy Monroe' framing device, putting the movie on a TV show that's an homage to the USA Networks' Up All Night with Rhonda Shear, which I totally loved as a kid, so it warmed my nostalgic heart to see this open the film, the movie is later intercut with station breaks and faux-trailers for future episodes of the program
The film proper begins with a an erotic dancer leaving the club only to be attacked and slashed across the throat by a serial killer who is the face of a misogynist cult known as The Sword, in reality a group of sad incels who are mad about not getting laid on the reg, they seem to be out to kill women in the sex industry for inspiring lustful thoughts in these sad, pathetic, and lonely men.
Enter porn superstar Mila (Delawna McKinney, Cinco De Mayo) who is at the top of the porn-game but looking to get out, much to the chagrin of her long time manager/producer Ivan Dark (Bryan Hurd). After appearing on a news program that asks the question "does porn cause men to rape" opposite a jerk named Garret (Daniel James Moody) she becomes the serial killers next target, but she manages to survive the encounter and ends up bashing her would-be killer's head in with a bat. Afterward she goes on the offensive, gathering a group of like-minded sex workers and friends who band together to go after the misogynist cult to end their spree of terror.
The film is a lot of fun, it has the flavor of an 80's revenger complete with some questionable dialogue and spotty acting, but it succeeds what it sets out to do, assemble a group of bad-ass women doing bad things to bad men in a stylish way with over-lit red, blue and green lighting, loads of loud fashion/make-up choices and a bevy of hot women looking super bad-ass.
Themes of misogyny, rape culture and victim blaming are touched on but I don't wanna say this is a super message driven film, it's there but it's not the focus, Ragsdale and crew just wanted to make a bad-ass revenge film and that's what it is. There are some drawbacks though, as mentioned before there's some spotty acting, but the biggest drawback for me was the overlong run time at 101-minutes, this thing is way long in the tooth for what it is, the momentum is stalled by some slow scenes, bit I'm torn about the All Night Long framing device, it pads the film for sure but I love it a bunch and would hate to see it go, but there's plenty of other filler here that could have been excised I think without much fuss.
What the cast lack in thespian skills is made up for by the cool-looking ladies and pure badassery though, I can forgive that stuff, the film does a lot with $4K budget, it's stylish with a some cool garish lighting, and the blood-letting is pretty sweet. It's not overkill with the gore but we do get a nice array of stabbings, throat slashing, head-bashing and cock-shredding, but not real gory. Shout out to the sweet Tenebre (1982) homage they put in here, lifting the scene of the lesbian lovers who are murdered in Argento's film, you'll see it in the stills I pulled from the disc somewhere in this review. Also be on the lookout for 80's porn star Ginger Lynn Allen as Mila's mentor, Allen's adult film New Wave Hookers (1985) was a big style influence on this film according to the extras, and there's a few other adult entertainers among the cast, which might explain the much-enjoyed gratuitous nudity seen throughout.
Audio/Video: Streets of Vengeance (2017) arrives on Blu-ray from Olive Films as part of the Slasher//Video imprint, presented in 1080p HD and framed in 1.78:1 widescreen. The film was shot on digital so theres no grain or celluloid imperfections to contend with, the colors are nicely saturated and vibrant. The English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo audio sounds good, some of the dialogue levels fluctuate a degree or sound echoey but nothing too egregious, optional English subtitles are provided as well. The awesome synth score from Vestron Vulture is quite good, plus Salacious Wizard Cult who have several songs on the soundtrack, including the infectious "Make Disciples", by far the catchiest tune in the film.
This is the most stacked disc I have ever seen from Olive Films, beginning with an audio commentary from writer/director Paul Ragsdale, producer Angelica De Alba and cinematographer Dan Zampa, this is more geared towards how to make a low-budget film, so if you've ever wondered what it takes to make a micro-budgeted film this walks you through it. There's also a feature-length making of doc, cast and crew interviews, behind the scenes footage, outtakes, bloopers, and a brief interview with cinematographer who walks us through the equipment he used on the film.
Additionally theres galleries, a pair of trailers for the film, soundtrack promo, a Salacious Wizard Cult music video for "Make Disciples", and real trailers for the fake film "Slasherlorette Party" and "Tough Guys" which were featured on the All Nite Long framing device. All the extras add up to over three hours of stuff, the making of featurettes and behind-the-scenes stuff is fun, you can tell everybody had a great time making the movie.
The single-disc release comes housed in a standar Blu-ray keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork, the sleeve adorned with the typical Slasher//Video VHS-style rental stickers.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary with writer/director Paul Ragsdale, producer Angelica De Alba and cinematographer Dan Zampa
- Making of “Streets of Vengeance” featurette (78 min) HD
- Cast and crew interviews (19 min) HD
- Onset Footage and Outtakes (15 min) HD
- Bloopers (7 min) HD
- Camerawork with Cinematographer Dan Zampra (3 min) HD
- Jesus Vs.Vestron Vulture II (22 min) HD
- Streets of Vengeance Behind-The-Scenes Photo Gallery (24 min) HD
- Streets of Vengeance Production Stills and Promo Art Gallery (16 min) HD
- Salacious Wizard Cult Music Video (2 min) HD
- Streets of Vengeance Soundtrack Promo (2 min) HD
- Streets of Vengeance Critics Trailer (1 min) HD
- Streets of Vengeance Film Trailer (2 min) HD
- “Slashlorette Party” Trailer (3 min) HD
- “Tough Guys” Trailer (2 min)
Streets of Vengeance (1982) is a pretty sweet low-budget throwback to the 80's revegers like Savage Streets (1984) and Ms.45 (1981), if you like that sort of thing there's a lot here to love. It's good to see Ragsdale and De Alba progressing as filmmakers, this is a much better looking and assembed film, they're growing into the promise they showed with Cinco De Mayo, looking forward to what comes next.
