Act of Vengeance (1974)

So much average

Purely Joyful Movie!

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Act of Vengeance (1974) ** (out of 4) Linda (Jo Ann Harris) is raped by a masked maniac who also forces her to sing Jingle Bells while he attacks her. She goes to the police but they're less than helpful and she eventually meets four other victims of the Jingle Bells rapist. The women decide to form a support group for rape victims and soon their attacker wants some more of them.ACT OF VENGEANCE comes from AIP and it's not nearly as good as its reputation would have you believe. I had heard a lot of good things about this film but I honestly found it to be pretty boring and without too many interesting things going on. The film might want to take a serious subject like rape and so something decent with it but instead this is basically just an exploitation at heart.I say that because these type of movies often want to give the idea that they support women standing up but this is more of a gimmick than anything else. The film has pretty much everything you'd expect in an exploitation movie from some silly kung fu battles between creeps and a female karate instructor and there's also loads of nudity. There's not only nudity in the rape scenes but there's also a shower sequence, which as fans of exploitation knows is a must for the genre.The performances are decent for what they are but no one really stands out with a great performance. The cinematography and score aren't all that impressive as both are victims of the "B" movie feel. The biggest problem with ACT OF VENGEANCE is that it just really doesn't try to be anything good or even special. It's just a cheap exploitation film that has a trashy vibe.

Quite involving, entertaining 70's era trash that, like some other movies of its kind, actually successfully combines both exploitation and empowerment of women. A quintet of very angry women have something in common: they've all been raped by the same orange jump suit and hockey mask wearing lowlife whose greatest thrill is forcing them to sing "Jingle Bells". He clearly thinks of himself as some irresistible stud; to them, he's just a monster that needs to be stopped, and NOW, before more women can be hurt. They learn that depending on the police to do their job won't be of any use. One can't fail to notice the often very dim view that this screenplay (by David Kidd (billed as 'Betty Conklin'!) and H.R. Christian) takes of men: they're either scum or they're inept. Even the boyfriend of one of our vengeance crazed ladies doesn't feel much sympathy for her. Now, personally speaking, when I see a rape- revenge movie, it's the revenge portion that should really make it sing for me, and the revenge is worth waiting for, if a long time coming. Along the way, though, we do get treated to the sight of two red herrings getting humiliated in blatantly comedic sequences. Our merry rapist is quite the character, putting a lot of effort into his stalking and even taking the trouble to record his thoughts on tape! When he gets wind of the ladies' activities, he does an amusing job of messing with them and getting them to head where he wants them to go. For those who are demanding the requisite amount of female flesh, they can note the amount of breasts that are put on display. But it's really the main characters that keep the whole thing very watchable; they're easy enough to root for. The cast includes a bunch of lovely ladies, including Jo Ann Harris as our spunky lead, and a number of other familiar faces from 70's cinema: Peter Brown, Connie Strickland, Tony Young, Joan McCall, Penthouse Pet Anneka Di Lorenzo, and Marie O'Henry, as well as future 'Dallas' actor Steve Kanaly. The direction by Bob Kelljan (whose other work for A.I.P. includes "Scream Blacula Scream" and the two "Count Yorga" movies) keeps things moving along nicely. Only the finale, in which the ladies rather senselessly just head right into danger, and allow themselves to be separated (as well as the somewhat contrived way to get the rapist to remove his hockey mask and therefore make himself identifiable), detracts a little from the enjoyment. But overall trash fans are certain to have themselves a good time watching this. Eight out of 10.

I worked at the company that made this. Actually, many years later I went through the files after the company was bought by MGM. The funny thing is the director had a really Jewish name so he used an alias. (Tells you something about the MPAA that they let him do that.) I haven't seen it myself but when it was made some women working on it complained so they knew they had a problem. It wasn't intentional. AIP made all sorts of terrible films or sometimes bought them. In the files there were notes on the screening from Sam Arkoff like "the dubbing on this is terrible but we can make some money". Back then porno wasn't so easy to get so this type of movie was a substitute.

I found this movie so incredibly silly and stupid it made me laugh. It wasn't meant to be stupid though or funny I think that's what made it even more funny. What seemed so out of place was the whole way the movie was presented. I mean there was so much nudity that totally contradicted the supposed message of the film. I mean not only in the rapescenes, you see a scene where the girls meet up in a bath-house and chatting and they are all totally nude and they show everything. What is the point of showing that? I think the real message was to make guys horny but since it wanted to gain some recognition it pretended to be a "decent" picture. God it was awful but I laughed at it. SOme of the dialogue was so stupid too like it was supposed to dig into the minds of a raped woman, in one scene two of the raped girls are at a disco and they talk and a girl just said no to a guy that wanted to dance with her and afterwards they talk "I'm really horny but after that thing I'm not myself anymore". WEll I've already spent too many lines on that movie I'm not gonna bother writing anymore about it, I'm very curious to read more reviews about it tho.