Sedução e Vingança

A shy and mute seamstress (Zoe Lund) goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day, in which she takes to the streets of New York after dark and randomly kills men with a .45 caliber gun.

The director, Abel Ferrara, who would go on to make other genre films, with this one featuring a cast of people you likely never heard of performing just as well as "real" stars would. Ferrara himself appears under another name as a rapist, and Steve Dash also appears under another name, though Dash is hardly a notable figure.

The eerie music is reminiscent of Italian horror, which struck me as beautiful and perfect for such a film. Really, this is a very slick production and a much more enjoyable film than "I Spit on Your Grave". While "Grave" is the best known of the revenge films, and the one that really started the subgenre, this one just looks better. With all due respect to Meir Zarchi and Camille Keaton, this one should get more praise than it does.

I love that the insult "get bent" is used... its employment is not nearly often enough these days. I also appreciated the free advertising for the P. Chimento trucking company of Patchogue, New York. This, more than anything else, really shows that the film was made in New York City, as anyone from outside the area will have no idea what it is.

The name of Zoë Lund's character, Thana, is reminiscent of the Greek god of death, "Thanatos". Sigmund Freud used the word to refer to the human "death instinct", which leads people to take risks, seek thrills or behave destructively in ways that could lead to death. Was this intentional? I have no idea. But it is fitting.