SavageStreets

Savage Streets (1984)

Brenda is a badass chick with a heart of gold. She has a great group of friends and a deaf/mute sister named Heather that she loves. But when she and her friends cross a group of drug dealers things go bad, real bad. First the gang grabs and gang rapes Heather, then they kill Brenda’s best friend. After taking a bath she puts on lots of leather, buys bear traps and a crossbow. Brenda takes her revenge on the gang members and delivers one-liners until no one is left standing.

This is one of those movies that I just don’t get. It has such a great reputation and so many people were excited about it being released on DVD. When you movie is supposed to be a revenge flick and no revenge happens until after 70 minutes of the 90-minute runtime has gone by there is something wrong. I found the movie to be kind of slow and boring until the end. Now I’ll admit that the last 20 minutes is worth watching and is a lot of fun. But for a movie to be this highly regarded I expected so much more. I had also heard about how incredibly powerful and difficult the rape scene was. Again I don’t think so. When you compare it to an exploitation movie like I Spit on your Grave it doesn’t even compare. And I think this is a fair comparison because many people consider Savage Streets to be an 80s exploitation movie.

I also have to talk about the cast. Linda Blair is terrible in the lead role of Brenda. Her performance is awkward and over the top. Her idea of showing emotion is alternate between yelling and some of the most unconvincing crying ever! Linda Blair is also not an action star. I don’t buy her at all as she kills off the gang, and her attempts at delivering one-liners is terrible as well. But then again her performance does end up being so bad that there is some unintentional humor. Now I do really like a very young Linnea Quigley as Heather. Of course being a deaf/mute doesn’t give her character any lines, but she still gives a very good performance in the role. And while I mentioned that the rape scene wasn’t that shocking or powerful to me any weight it has comes entirely from Quigley’s performance. John Vernon gets to chew up some scenery in a small but memorable role as Brenda’s high school principal as well.

Effects wise Savage Streets doesn’t offer much. The onscreen deaths are fairly bloodless, including an arrow thru the throat that still manages to look cool. I did like the fiery end to the gang’s leader, but for the most part it is pretty tame. The movie does have a cool 80s vibe to it with the music, clothes, and the giant feathered hair. Dear god that is some big hair, which begs the question. How is it possible for Brenda to sneak up on anyone with that enormous hair?

All in all this isn’t a terrible movie, but it sure as heck doesn’t live up to the hype. I also don’t get the whole nostalgia angle either. I’m a child of the 80s and grew up watching stuff like this from the local mom and pop video store. There are so many movies that did this sort of revenge story that would scratch that itch so much better. Still I suppose that Savage Streets is worth a rental, if for nothing else to goof on Linda Blair’s acting.

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer