Savage Vengeance (1993)
1/2 (out of 4)
This might be the most notorious unknown movie ever made. Legend has it that originally it was meant to be a sequel to I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE as Camille Keaton returned playing a woman named Jennifer. Further legend has it that the entire production was one mess after another, which caused Keaton to quit the picture. Filmed in 1988 it wasn't released until five years later because there was some sort of legal issue that happened when I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE's director Meir Zarchi got involved somehow. After all these years Keaton refuses to discuss the film as the only time she was publicly asked about it she said she wasn't allowed to talk about it. Zarchi has only said a few things on it but said due to legal issues he can't comment further. Then you have director Donald Farmer who has yet to really speak about the film. It pretty much makes sense as the Jennifer character here is raped by four guys, not convicted by a jury and this would pretty much set up a sequel to the original film. Not to mention that Jennifer's last name is dubbed out of this picture.
The rest of the story pretty much has Jennifer and a friend going out to the woods for a vacation but the friend is gang raped and murdered. Jennifer goes to check on her and is raped as well but she then seeks her vengeance against the two creeps. No matter what truth there might be behind the making of this film, it's clear that the only ones who should bother with this thing are those fans of the original 1978 film who just want to see what this thing is about. The film was shot on video and seems to have a budget less than what it would take to buy a couple apples so you really shouldn't go into this thing expecting any type of professional looking film. The entire thing is pretty much a disaster as in its current state there are all sorts of things that happen but don't make sense including all the stuff dealing with Jennifer's previous rape and eventual trial. This is clearly meant to connect this film to the previous one but it just leaves more unanswered questions. There are three different rape scenes here and they have to be among the most pathetic ever shot because both the victims and the rapist keep their pants on the entire time. I understand the actors being camera shy but why not film it in a way where you can't tell that the men don't even have a zipper down? I was rather surprised to see Keaton topless here but you can tell she isn't too thrilled with anything here. I always found her performance in I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE to be brave and quite good but that's not the case here as this is just an embarrassing part. The supporting players aren't any better but the less said the better. The murder scenes are all extremely bad as just about everything else including the opening credits that misspell the title! The only reason I didn't give this thing a BOMB rating is simply because I've been wanting to see it for years now and I must admit that it kept me entertained simply because I kept hoping something good would eventually happen but of course it never did. SAVAGE VENGEANCE is a very bad movie all around and who knows what the original intent was meant to be but I doubt it would have been any better even without the legal trouble. Apparently there's a fan edit out there that adds clips from I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE but I've yet to see it. Again, it probably wouldn't help considering how poorly made this one is.
