Savage Streets

Starring: Linda Blair, Linnea Quigley, John Vernon, Robert Dryer

Synopsis:

During a night out cruising around Hollywood Boulevard, tough-talking high schooler Brenda (Blair) and her gang of sassy girlfriends, The Satins, cross paths with a bunch of local low life thugs calling themselves The Scars. When their advances on the girls are spurned in no uncertain terms and their prized convertible ends up dumped full of garbage, The Scars suffer a severe blow to their combined ego that demands a response.

Their barbaric retaliation takes the form of a violent sexual assault on Brenda’s deaf-mute little sister, Heather (Quigley), that leaves the young girl fighting for her life. Determined to avenge her sister, Brenda tools up with an unlikely assortment of deadly weapons and takes to the streets in search of those responsible and for whom she is unwilling to show any mercy.

Review:

Savage Streets is a bizarre slice of sordid entertainment from the 80’s: part Grease, part The Warriors and Part I Spit on Your Grave. Linda Blair is Brenda, the tough, sassy leader of The Satins, an all-girl gang, who come across about as menacing as The Pink Ladies in Grease.

The Scars, Meanwhile, are a nastier proposition, but there’s only four of them, barely making them a gang at all. Led by the nasty looking Jake, they dress like typical 80’s gang members – leather jackets and red bandanas mixed with a slight punk look (Jake’s razorblade earrings are hilarious).

When Brenda gets into a catfight in the changing rooms after a gym class and then hauled to the principal’s office, the Scars grab Heather and each brutally rape her. Heather is a deaf-mute, which makes her situation all the more pitiful because she can’t scream. It’s a pretty nasty scene which focuses on Quigley’s performance rather than the rapes (although the scene also hinges on Heather’s rape represents Vince losing his virginity). The discovery of Heather by one of Brenda’s friends is well-handled, as is a touching scene between Brenda and her mother in the hospital, showing Brenda’s softer side.

Of course, the girls have no idea that The Scars are responsible, and head to their regular night-spot to drown their sorrows. This nightclub setting is quite amusing. The band playing look very sincere even with their stupid face-paint. In order for the dialogue scenes to be coherent, the music isn’t loud enough to mask the sound of all the people dancing stomping around. When The Scars come they’re supposed to be out of sight of Brenda and her friends, but there seems to be only about 4 tables in the whole club.

More tragedies await The Satins, but eventually Brenda finds out who raped her sister and...takes a bath, where she mulls over her options while the camera mulls over her assets. At the beginning of the film, the girls took a look in the window of a gun shop which had a special on bear-traps and cross-bows (..only in LA...). Of course, this is where Brenda decides to tool up. We get the classic Rambo/Commando moment as Brenda pulls on her best vigilante outfit (lots of close-ups of zips being pulled up) before heading out.

Brenda’s vengeance is visceral and cathartic –by now the audience wants The Scars’ blood as much as she does. By the time Jake arrives, his two buddies have been strung up for him to see. However he’s able to give a good fight and puts the inevitable climax into jeopardy – who will come out on top?

The performances in Savage Streets is mixed to say the least. At the top of the pile is John Vernon as the Principal. John Vernon was the principal in Animal House, and it’s easy to imagine that he ended up running this run-down, lawless school as a direct result of what had happened in that previous film! The principal is quite a sympathetic character, a hard man doing a hard job – until he commiserates Brenda about her sister, and adds “she shouldn’t have been here in the first place”.

Linda Blair and Linnea Quigley both do a good job in their scenes together, and the expression on Linnea’s face during the rape scene really helps to sell the horrific situation. The only thing that grates about Linda Blair’s performance is the dreadful cackling laugh she uses at the end.

Robert Dryer gives a suitably cartoonish menacing performance. His ego is being fed by a fellow tough, a sycophant and a high-schooler taking a walk on the wild side and acting out. In a real gang he’d be nothing more than a foot-soldier.

Verdict:

Savage Streets is a real nostalgia trip back to the 80’s. The seediness of the Strip, the music by John Farham, the clothes and the high level of violence. The acting and some of the production values are ropey at times, but it still manages to be a fun exploitation flick.

7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

As this is an Arrow release, Savage Streets comes laden with extras. Expect your disc to contain:

Brand new transfer of the film, uncut for the first time in the UK; audio commentary by stars Sal Landi, Robert Dryer and Director of Photography Stephen Posey; audio commentary by director Danny Steinmann; audio commentary by producer John Strong and stars Robert Dryer and Johnny Venocur; interviews with Linda Blair, Linnea Quigley, Robert Dryer and John Strong; collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on Savage Streets by Kier-la Janisse, author of “A Violent Professional: The Films of Luciano Rossi” and “House of Psychotic Women”; original trailer; reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork; double-sided fold-out poster; original mono audio.

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