ACT OF VENGEANCE (1974) Blu-ray
Director: Bob Kelljan
Scorpion Releasing/Ronin Flix

When a hockey-masked rapist terrorizes the students of a California college, his victims form a “rape squad” and set out to “redecorate” his ass in AIP’s ACT OF VENGEANCE, out on Blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing.

When student/sandwich truck vendor Linda (Jo Ann Harris, THE BEGUILED) is raped in a barn one night by a verbose hockey-masked rapist who forces her to sing “Jingle Bells” (to emphasize the point that he is going to ring her bell), Linda becomes the fourth victim of this singular assailant. After making a report to the police, answering humiliating questions that try to determine her culpability in the assault, and undergoing a humiliating medical exam by Dr. Schetman (John Pickard, TRUE GRIT), Linda is frustrated with the police’s ineffectual and degrading procedure. Her boyfriend Tony (Steve Kanaly, MY NAME IS NOBODY) does not understand why she’s so “uptight” about her trauma, so Linda joins the other three victims Angie (Patricia Estrin, AMERICA FIRST), Nancy (Jennifer Lee Pryor, THE BELIEVERS), and Teresa (Connie Strickland, THE ROOMATES) – and subsequently fifth victim Karen (Lisa Moore, SLAUGHTER’S BIG RIP-OFF) – for a futile perp line-up in which Sergeant Long (Ross Elliot, THE TOWERING INFERNO) points out that they probably could not identify him correctly even if they did catch him since his voice could be easily disguised. Linda convinces the other victims to form a squad that would take reports of rape and accompany victims to the police to make sure that they are not humiliated and start taking self-defense classes from a black-belt named Tiny (Lada Edmund Jr., SAVAGE!). Their mission takes a more vigilante turn when they go after club owner Bud (Tony Long, CHARRO!) who he got off because the defense attacked his victim's credibility, an obscene caller Bernie (Stanley Adams, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S) who has been harassing columnist Gloria (Joan McCall, DEVIL TIMES FIVE), and an abusive pimp (Jay Fletcher, FOXY BROWN). When Diane (Ginger Mason), a girl who had taken an interest in their cause, fights back and is accidentally strangled by the rapist, Sgt. Long implores the women to let the police handle the investigation but Linda is determined more than ever to find the rapist. Meanwhile, dry cleaner Chris (Anneka di Lorenzo, CALIGULA) has been noticing a guy with a camera following her daily and contacts the police, who can do nothing since she did not see his face. When the rapist sees them escorting Chris to safety, he decides to change the game and let them hunt him, luring them to an abandoned zoo where he plans to hunt them down one by one.

Director Bob Kelljan had already had the AIP pick-up COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE and its AIP-produced sequel THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA as well as SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM under his belt, and ACT OF VENGEANCE is the type of R-rated title that AIP could only have made in its later period when it was moving away from drive-in fare. The rape scenes are difficult to watch, and the film is mostly played straight – although Tiny’s black belt prowess, the Pimping Percy beat down, and the humiliation of obscene phone caller Bernie bits seem to have been added for laughs – with the behavior of the male characters seeming exaggerated (Linda's boyfriend says she is behaving like a "diesel dyke" with her proactive rape squad) but probably not too far off real life based on seventies attitudes towards rape, some of which are still widely held. It is still exploitation and the actress’ serious performances would probably have been better served by a TV movie than an R-rated flick was also released theatrically as RAPE SQUAD. Composer/Yorga veteran Bill Marx’s brassy and occasionally funky score undermines the rape scenes, particularly that of Karen, which is underscored with sleazy sax. It is not really a spoiler to identify the rapist as Jack (TV western actor Peter Brown, CHROME AND HOT LEATHER). The camera keeps his face out of the frame or averted from the lens throughout much of the film, and the women determine that the rapist must be someone who knows them to know so much about them, it is no startling revelation for the camera to finally reveal his face late in the film since he is never seen interacting with his victims or after the rape scenes. It is treated as a big revelation when Jack rips off his mask in frustration while arguing with Linda during the climax, but we have already seen his face and none of the women are shown to know him or recognize him. His tape-recorded “Diary of a Champ” is just script ammunition for us the audience to hate him even more. Although Brown plays him with conviction, the “Jingle Bell Rapist” himself is hardly a memorable movie villain. Actress McCall’s brief but memorable career in front of the cameras also included DEVIL TIMES FIVE and GRIZZLY but she continued working behind the scenes as a staff writer on several popular soaps. Although he is not credited in the film, her husband David Sheldon (GRIZZLY) pitched the project to American International when he was working for the studio in between collaborations with William Girdler (McCall would pen the shot but unreleased GRIZZLY II). Penthouse Pet di Lorenzo also made her debut in THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS and followed it up with MAMA’S DIRTY GIRLS, but would go on to infamy with her role in Bob Guccione’s notorious production of CALIGULA (also appearing in the softcore MESSALINA, MESSALINA shot on Danilo Donati’s still-standing sets).

ACT OF VENGEANCE was first released in the U.S. on tape by Thorn-EMI. Although the cover showed a real still from the film of the hockey-masked rapist tussling with a female victim, it probably looked like a slasher movie to most video store lurkers. MGM’s subsequent made-on-demand DVD featured a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that is clean and colorful, although probably not from the negative given the hole-punched reel changes (minus the usual scratching so it may have been an archival source). The same master was used for a Region 4 limited edition Australian release which featured a commentary by Australian film historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and a thirty-minute interview with actress Pryor. Scorpion Releasing's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen transfer from a new 2K scan looks flat and grainy during the opening title sequence but colors, depth, and texture quickly pick up after the opening opticals with the well-lit areas of night exteriors imparting a chilly sense of vulnerability while the garish wardrobe colors and 1970s décor pop. The English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track has no issues whether containing the brassiest passages of Marx's score or Harris' screaming outrage. Optional English SDH subtitles are included.

Actress Pryor appears in a brand new interview (12:38) in which she recalls her feelings about her performance in spite of the good review it got from Janet Maslin, bonding with her co-stars, having a crush on Brown, and acting in skimpy clothing during the cold night scenes at the abandoned Los Angeles City Zoo in Griffith Park. The disc also includes the alternate RAPE SQUAD title sequence (0:30), the film's theatrical trailer (1:59), and trailers for CYCLE SAVAGES, NIGHT VISITOR, 3:15, YOUNGBLOOD and CALIFORNIA DREAMING. Available from Ronin Flix. (Eric Cotenas)

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