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Naked Vengeance (1985)

Dir: Cirio H. Santiago

Carla Harris (Deborah "Dallas" Tranelli) is out with her Husband Mark (Terrence O'Hara) to celebrate their anniversary when they spot a woman being attacked.
Mark tries to intervene but is shot by the attacker
Later, the Police tell her that no witnesses came forward and that the woman is a known junkie and won't testify.

Carla decides to get away from it all and goes to stay with her Parents in their secluded cabin in her small hometown.
And what a town it is! To say it's full of slimebags is an understatement!
Almost every person she meets sexually harasses her, and even the Sheriff (Bill McLaughlin) is unpleasant when she dares to complain "I think you're old enough to take care of yourself"
In fact everyone's at it!
An ex boyfriend, Burke (Ed Crick) harasses her.
Her Parent's handyman leers at her
The local Butcher makes a play for her "Hey, don't forget, I've got the best beef in town"!
A barman makes a move on her.
A truck driver insults her.
Even an old friend's Husband openly leers at her (not that she's a very friendly friend anyway!)
Without doubt dear reader, we have just experienced the most unfriendly, sleazy and downright unpleasant town in America.

Burke and four other of these delightful individuals get together one night and go to Carla's cabin where they brutally gang rape her and shoot dead her Parents.
Pretending to be catatonic after the attack, as the Sheriff sniffs around the case, Carla plans her brutal revenge!...

 

As the awful soft rock ballad plays over the titles (sung by Tranelli and a great example of 80's musical lows) the signs would not seem to be good, but don't let this blemish put you off…there is much to enjoy here.

Filipino born Santiago is in line with those bandwagon jumping Italian directors we love so much, spewing out various 'Post Apocalyptic' efforts during the 80's when they were popular for example and here, in "Naked Vengeance", he goes for the ever popular 'lone avenger/vigilante' sub-genre.
Much of the advertising seems to go for a Female "Death Wish" angle, but this actually owes far more to the infamous "I Spit on Your Grave".
His direction is pretty lacklustre for the most part, but Santiago seems to wake up during the revenge sequences and crafts some meaty and satisfying scenes.
This may not have the realism or character study high points of the first "Death Wish" but Reilly Askew's script (and Anthony Maharajdoes's story) does what it sets out to do with aplomb.

Tranelli, despite carrying unfortunate "Dallas" baggage along with her, actually does a sterling job as the much-wronged Carla.
Willing to go through various sexual indignities and to briefly bare all she really comes into her own while dishing out cold hearted, hot blooded, vengeance.
When she utters, through clenched teeth, "burn bastard" or "drown bastard", you really get the feeling she means it!

The 'goons' are pretty much your normal token bad guys who hide behind semi-respectability, no actor or character stands out. The most complex character is actually the Sheriff.
Seemingly as bad as the guys he takes no action against he annoys the hell out of the viewer. But later there are some realistic switches to his attitude as suspicions about what happened at the cabin sink in.
But initially he is as unsympathetic as the attackers.
Let's have a little round-up of the helpful Sheriff's advice;
When Carla reports a peeping tom she gets "close your curtains".
When she reports she was attacked in the car park by the randy Butcher she gets "these guys are a little wild, but they're just having fun with you. Why don't you just relax a little bit? If anything they were trying to pay you a compliment"! What a guy!
Nice turn by McLaughlin.

The rape sequence is suitably unpleasant though it never reaches the heights of the aforementioned "I Spit".
The attack is shown as almost a montage as different assailants assault her in various positions. It's basically pure Exploitation, but is actually very serious in the way it portrays her ordeal. Little nudity is seen and the sequence relies more on the rough manhandling she goes through, her screaming face and pleading.

But it's in the revenge violence where the film really sparkles.
Carla dishes out some wonderfully sadistic demises. No quick and easy deaths here, these guys see it coming and they suffer when it gets there!
It's far bloodier than the "Death Wish" films or "I Spit on Your Grave". Very messy shotgun hits, cleaved, slashed, ripped flesh and general sadism are the order of the day here and Carla makes for a sympathetic yet crowd-pleasing vigilante.
The Exploitation highlights are the raging, blood soaked finale and a wonderfully exploitative bit of revenge seduction (that is straight out of "I Spit" and fans of that film will get a kick from the punishment dished out here and no mistake!) where Carla strips as she walks along a river bank, drawing in her would-be victim with cold and calculated manipulation.

At one point in the movie one of the doomed goons announces, after the deaths of some of his buddies, "A woman can't do that, it's gotta be a guy". Never have words sounded so foolish!
Go girl!