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[Sundance Review] ‘Revenge’ Is a Bloodbath Heavy On Social Commentary

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Spoilers.

Coralie Fargeat‘s aptly-titled Revenge helicopters to a desert canyon in which Rings star Matilda Lutz must fight for her life against three wealthy, middle-aged CEOs. Poetically timed for release this year, the film is an allegory for workplace harassment, abuse, and how it’s handled. While strong on social commentary, it’s also harrowing, thrilling, and immensely entertaining.

Revenge opens with a helicopter arriving in the middle of nowhere. Richard (Kevin Janssens), a presumably successful CEO, steps out with his young mistress, Jennifer (Lutz), a sexy Lolita who is painted as a floozy. They waste no time getting hot and heavy until they’re interrupted by a phone call – the man’s wife and kids. Dick — er, I mean Richard, exclaims, “Everything would be so simple if the kids weren’t there.” It’s an important moment because it announces that Jen is fully aware that this is an affair, which gives her a much-needed character flaw. Jen may not be perfect, but that doesn’t mean she deserves what is coming…

Richard’s two friends arrive and are startled by Jen’s beauty. It becomes a flirtatious dance into the night as they party with booze and drugs. When Richard refuses to dance with Jen, she seductively slithers around one of his friends, Stan (Vincent Colombe), until the sexual tension nearly pops. Richard can’t take it anymore and whisks her away back to their room for the evening.

The next morning, Jen finds herself at a breakfast table with Stan, who explains that Richard will be back in a bit. He corners her in the bedroom, blaming her for his forthcoming acts of sexual violence: “Now, suddenly, I’m not your type? Yesterday you were dying for it.” Jen is raped. When she confronts Richard, he hits her and calls her a whore. She’s chased into the desert where she stands backed to the edge of a cliff. Richard pushes her off. She lays pinned to a rock and left for dead.

While Revenge carries inspiration from predecessors like The Crow and the criminally underseen Avenged, it forges its own path as a realistic and grounded revenge thriller more in tune with Wolf Creek, I Spit On Your Grave or Irréversible. The highlight of the movie comes when Jen must remove a sharp tree branch from her stomach. In a sequence for the ages, she takes a heavy dose of peyote. Echoing the desert scene in Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers and going full Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, Jen hallucinates a rebirth that’s fueled by hellish visions and several perfectly timed scares. Still wounded, she now becomes the hunter and will stop at nothing to get her revenge.

[Related] All Sundance Reviews, Interviews, and News

In a complete reversal, Fargeat ratchets up the tension in what will become one of the most violent and bloody films of the year. While there isn’t a whole lot of death, the injuries are gruesome. Fargeat (dangerously) pushes the camera in and holds on a series of grotesque moments, making it impossible not to cringe.

Jen becomes death incarnate. The friends took the bite of the forbidden fruit and now they will be punished. The final act becomes a different kind of dance, a brutally rigid fight to the death that plays out like a chase sequence in “Scooby-Doo”, only with blood spraying all over the place. Fargeat’s camerawork is superb and takes the intensity to another level. In fact, Revenge reaches such heights that, when the end credits smash on screen, it will leave most viewers sitting in silent reflection for several minutes. Social commentary aside, Revenge is fucking hardcore. It’s beyond a shadow of a doubt the first great horror film of 2018.

Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

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SCREAMBOX Investigates UFOs and Extraterrestrials: Several Documentaries Streaming Right Now!

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As someone who is obsessed with UFOS (or more recently known as UAPs) and the concept of extraterrestrials, I love a good documentary. Sightings have been on the rise since the 1940s, with the atomic bomb seemingly acting as a catalyst for new visitors. But what are these UFOs/UAPs? Is there an explanation or are they simply beyond our explanation? Why are they here? Who are they? How much do our governments know? The questions are endless and so are the documentaries that attempt to uncover the secrets behind decades of sightings and alleged confrontations.

Whether you’re a seasoned viewer or new to the rabbit hole, there’s always a handful of interesting documentaries to get your neurons firing and leave you with sleepless nights. SCREAMBOX is investigating with the addition of several docs, all streaming now on the Bloody Disgusting-powered service. Here’s the breakdown:

Aliens (2021): Beam into this unidentified streaming documentary for a glimpse into Extraterrestrial life. Aliens are hypothetical life forms that may occur outside Earth or that did not originate on Earth.

Aliens Uncovered: Origins (2021): Before Area 51, hidden deep in the desert, the military discovered a hidden gem that helped them create Project Bluebook.

Aliens Uncovered: ET or Man-Made (2022): The crash of Roswell wasn’t meant for New Mexico. In 1947, a neighboring state had 3 major sightings that were swept under the rug.

Aliens Uncovered: The Golden Record (2023): In the late 70s, the US government launched a message to our distant neighbors.

Roswell (2021): This high-flying documentary examines the July 1947 crash of a United States Army Air Forces balloon at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. Theories claim the crash was actually that of a flying saucer, but what is the truth?

Also check out:

The British UFO Files (2004): Since the 1940’s the British Government has been investigating the Flying Saucer phenomenon. High-ranking military and government personnel, speak out for the first time, offering unique eyewitness accounts and inside information.

Alien Abductions and Paranormal Sightings (2016): Amazing Footage and stories from real people as they reveal their personal encounters of being abducted by Aliens.

And do not miss Hellier (2019): A crew of paranormal researchers find themselves in a dying coal town, where a series of strange coincidences lead them to a decades-old mystery.

These documentaries join SCREAMBOX’s growing library of unique horror content, including Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, Here for Blood, Terrifier 2, RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop, Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, The Outwaters, Living with Chucky, Project Wolf Hunting, and Pennywise: The Story of IT.

Start screaming now with SCREAMBOX on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Prime Video, Roku, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox, and Screambox.com.

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