RapeSquad

Rape Squad (aka. Act of Vengeance) (1974)

There is a lunatic who attacks women and rapes them while wearing a hockey mask and making them sing Jingle Bells. His 5th victim is Linda and after we see her attacked and then mistreated by the police it is time for some payback. She and the man’s other victims create a Rape Squad where women can call them for help when they have been attacked. Soon the ladies are learning self-defense and making men pay for the scumbags they are! This eventually leads them to their hockey-masked assailant for a big showdown.

I had heard a lot about this movie and was interested to check it out. I ask you does anything quite say exploitation like the title Rape Squad? When I eventually heard that this was available on Netflix streaming I added it to my queue and checked it out as soon as I got home. It was about what I would expect it to be. Other then a couple of attacks early on the movie is pretty tame. You see the women talking about getting back at the men who look at them as sacks of meat, while they are naked in a hot tub (irony no?). They chat, learn some karate, get yelled at by the cops that didn’t help them, and then start beating people up. This is exactly how I would expect a movie like this to handle the subject matter. When we finally get to the big finale it makes a couple of big stretches (would they really split up?) until Linda finally gets her revenge and the credits roll.

Like I’ve already said this is about what I expected. Rape Squad isn’t a terrible movie, but it also doesn’t rise to the level of the really effective rape revenge movies of the ‘70s. It isn’t often that I want to watch something with the expectation of being a bit put off by it, but this isn’t it. Here it all seems a bit watered down, which robs the movie of any power that it might have had. Other then the nudity and a couple of “F” bombs this feels like a made for TV flick. So while it has the killer title it doesn’t earn it.

There are a couple of other things that I wanted to mention. The performances are uninspired, but not terrible. Basically the cast is bland and utterly forgettable. I did think the look of the rapist was interesting with his hockey mask and jump suit (something familiar about that…) but the actor playing him was chewing so much scenery that he comes off more as a joke then scary or crazy. Camera work, lighting, and sound are all decent which is what I expected when I saw the AIP logo before the opening title card.

If I had to pick one word to describe Rape Squad it would be mediocre. If you have a Netflix account it might be worth streaming once to check it out. But I can’t recommend a purchase. I know I’ll never take the time to watch it again and I can’t imagine other drive-in/exploitation fans would either.

2 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer