SAVAGE STREETS (1984) REVIEW

Here's a review for a sleaze-tastic slice of 80s rape/revenge movie making. The film in question is 1984's SAVAGE STREETS starring Linda Blair off of the Exorcist. But did I enjoy it?

Read more to find out....

There's something about the 80s that for me stands out more than any decade for movies. I don't know why, I grew up in the 80s but was to young to watch most of the movies I love now. Most of my own DVD collection is made up of 80s sci-fi, horror and action. So what is that draws me to the films of this decade?...

It's a nostalgia thing I guess, especially with the sci-fi and kids film, but what about the films aimed at an older audience, why do I find them so more entertaining than modern flicks? I don't know, it could be the fact that they're shot on film rather than digital which gives it this grainy look, or maybe 80s movie soundtrack, I really don't know, but it's always great to discover new hidden 80s treasures...

One hidden gem of an 80s film is the Rape/Revenge thriller Savage Streets, a film highly regarded by cult film fans as it's combination of Sleaze and Cheese, is incredibly entertaining. The other aspect of affection comes in the form of The Exorcist actress Linda Blair.

The film has you're usual Rape/Revenge plot, deaf sister gets raped by gang of 80s punks and tough as nails sister seeks revenge. So far so average, but the film is very different to you're average revenge flick. You see Savage Streets doesn't commence with the revenge until the final 20 minutes or so, but it's the build up that for me was the most appealing part of the film. There are two gangs, The Pink Ladies and The T-Birds, sorry I meant to say The Satins and The Scars. The Satins are made up of a bunch of quite slutty high school girls who all look way to old to be in high school and the Scars are a bunch of older drug dealers. After a run-in with each other, the next day The Scars gang rape (of sorts) the leader of the Satins (Brenda) sister. There's cause for revenge right there.

The Film has this very in your face 80s style and is very much a product of it's time. Where as the usual rape/revenger is dark and dirty and pretty fucking gritty, the 80s style of Savage Streets gives the film a more colourful look. Red neon lights up the scene's in the night club, the multi-coloured fashion stands out and even night scenes are colourful which is usually an avoidance point these kind of films.

If I was to describe Savage Streets to someone I would have to say it was a cross between Class Of 1984, Grease, Death Wish and I Spit On Your Grave, a list of films that should not go together but strangely with this they go together brilliantly.

Little Reagan McNeill off of The Exorcist, Linda Blair, plays Brenda, leader of The Satins and eventual avenger. Her performance is good, although at times she does seem to struggle with some of the lines of dialogue due to them being poorly written. When she does hit them correctly, she stands out as a complete badass. There's always a character in films that is a complete bitch and very anti-authority and Brenda is probably the most in your face of these female characters. My only gripe with the film is that when she does become an avenging angel, she spends the last 20 minutes dressed and looking like Cilla Black, the only thing missing is the piercing scouse accent. She has a great body too.

The rest of the cast are pretty good and in a role with absolutely no words is genre veteran Linnea Quigley as Heather, Brenda's deaf sister who looks about 12 but was actually 26 at the time and only a year later did the infamous naked graveyard dance scene in Return Of The Living Dead. Well loved actor John Vernon (Dirty Harry) also appears as a sleazy principle of the high school.

Now to the sleaze....and there is a lot. The film lingers on nudity as if it was the first time the cameraman had ever seen a pair of tits. From a ridiculously gratuitous shower scene, in which almost all the cast members are but naked lasts almost 7 minutes long and ends with a fight in a running shower. The scene can be compared to the opening of Brian DePalmer's Carrie, in which the first scene is a slow motion tracking shot of naked women in the shower but that is not referred to exploitative. The same can't be said for the shower scene In Road Trip, which is indeed exploitative and not in the least bit artistic. The other ridiculously gratuitous scene in Savage Streets involves Linda Blair, butt neck'ed in a bath tub and the camera slowly zooms into to her. Now im not saying there's anything wrong with that, the film doesn't proclaim to be an Oscar winner by any stretch of the imagination and wears it's sleaze badge on it's arm with pride. Then there's the rape scene in which Quigley's character is dragged into the bathroom and sadistically raped by 2 of the Scars. This scene, like most rape scene's is a very brutal scene, but after all these movie rape scenes, for me the most brutal comes not from films like I Spit On Your Grave or Thriller: A Cruel Picture but from more critically acclaimed films such as The Accused (Jodie Foster gang raped on a pinball machine) and Irreversible (a 9 minute static camera rape scene in a public tunnel) are far more sadistic and fucked up than the 'euro sleaze' stuff that was produced in the 70s.

The music is fucking rocking too, I have this deep love of epic, early to mid 80s rock music soundtracks. This probably comes from Rocky 4 being in my top 5 films of all time, as I believe it has one of the best soundtracks of all time, along also with Streets Of Fire and Karate Kid. Most of the songs come from Australian musician John Farnham and each of his tracks has a sort of pump your fist in the air quality to them.

So what's my verdict on SAVAGE STREETS?

Well I absolutely loved it, sure it was cheesy and exceptionally sleazy but it entertained the fuck out of me for it's entire run time. It's the Lure of 80s genre cinema that I find difficult to avoid and their rocking soundtracks that film most of my movie viewing experiences. But with Savage Streets, it's endlessly enjoyable and just a (should I say fun?) fun exploitation flick.

For U.K reader's of this website, Arrow Video will be releasing this in June 2011 with all new artwork...