Avenged (2015)
Starring Amanda Adrienne, Tom Ardavany, Ronnie Gene Blevins
Directed by Michael S. Ojeda
Distributed by Uncork’d Entertainment
Like a runaway freight train bound to demolish whatever it hits, Michael Ojeda’s revenge-fueled Avenged delivers a direct smack to your cranium with a ferocity that hasn’t been seen in a woman’s payback film since the I Spit on Your Grave remake.
The story follows deaf beauty Zoe (Adrienne) as she readies herself to make the multi-state drive to move in with her boyfriend (Marc Anthony Samuel), and while Zoe’s mom isn’t all too enthused with the massive change she will be making in her life, she lets her baby go and therefore gives the audience a peek at a heartfelt character journey in the hearing-impaired lead actress. You feel for her, and you wish her all the best as she starts a new chapter… however, we wouldn’t be all over this movie if it were a feel-good romantic jaunt, now would we?
It’s not long before our beloved Zoe runs into a band of angry, racist hillbillies with a serious grudge against the local Indian population – she is attacked, raped and beaten within an inch of her life. While bound to a dirty mattress at the hands and feet with barbed wire, her life is left to chance in a card game between two of the hillbillies’ more angrier members, and after the winner is chosen, Zoe’s life is seemingly ended, and she’s tossed in a shallow grave. When her lifeless body is discovered by a local medicine man (Joseph Runningfox), a resurrection ritual is performed, and her body returns in a form that can only be described as “pissed-off Apache warrior.”
Complete with war paint and the ability to withstand any further pain (this chick actually removes some of her guts, replaces them with the soil of the earth, and duct tapes the wounds closed), she has a new focus in her brand-new afterlife: to make the men pay who did this to her, no matter how much blood is shed. Zoe’s boyfriend waits impatiently for her arrival, unknowing of the reasoning for her delay, but don’t fret, fans of the lovelorn, as these two will reunite one way or the other.
Okay, hot details are now over so let me break down the particulars: With violence at a high-velocity level in this movie, I’m sure that the gorehounds will enjoy the mass quantities of blood and guts (LOTS of guts) that will be spilled here, and the performances aren’t too shabby either, with both Adrienne and her multiple detractors giving off memorable screen time. As far as the negatives go, there are more than a few slow spots, which seems odd for a movie that runs a little over 90 minutes, but don’t focus too heavily on the lag-time, as you’ll be wiping the intestinal fluids off of your shirt before you know it. Ojeda makes no apologies for the in-your-face style of shooting here, with multiple race-frames of action that will give you the feeling that you’re checking out a heavy metal video on speed, complete with ample crimson showers to go around.
Overall, Avenged can be looked at as a love-lost, ass-kicking, blood-soaked, “day-of reckoning” type of film, and if you are a woman scorned, you just might appreciate it a little more than the fellas will.
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Film
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