Balls deep in the Watchatoomy Valley, nature photog Harper (Annabelle Dexter-Jones) feasts her putrid peepers on a sight she was never supposed to see; namely the beating of a man by the psycho Ravener (Robert Longstreet) and his crazy crew.
After documenting the violence on hand, our heroine bolts… and after a murder attempt she reports the ghoulish goings-on to the local authorities. This does nothing to deter her fate of becoming a barnyard captive of those murderous yokel locals more than ready to stride revenge’s road… but Harper has a few ideas as to vengeance of her own!
The greatest strength of Ravage is the prowess of it’s heroine. Writer/director Teddy Grennan fashions his muse as a true creature of nature; scrappy, capable, and able to survive in the wilderness…
This of course leads to the same Shakespeare by way of the “Me” generation’s “Battle of the Sexes” that seemed to define ’70s grindhouse cinema ; and was evident in pictures such as They Call Her One Eye and I Spit on Your Grave… as well as focusing on that decade’s environmental concerns (though here that is a tad more metaphorical).
This is all heady material, and while relevant today as it was in the time of it’s inspiration, it could have been better served by a bit more breathing room (the film runs a scant seventy-seven minutes)… but goddamn does this fright flick speed along, narrative be damned!
On the downside, if you don’t dig on the torture porn aesthetic pioneered by the aforementioned motion pictures, parts of Ravage will doubtlessly leave you cold, as Harper suffers her fair share of indignities.
Ravage is equal parts violent, vicious, and satisfying… as well as a dark drive down Revenge Road, just be prepared for one hell of a rough journey!
