DIRECTED BY: Anthony Matthews
REVIEWED BY: Mario Dominick
Junkie couple Kat and Dolph (Lissa Brennan and Michael Todd Schneider) are desperate for money. Kat works as a prostitute and is on a physical downhill slide. The two decide to go after black drug dealing pimp Mutton Chop (Douglas Bell), kill him and make off with the loot. Thinking he’s dead and with Kat now pregnant, the two plan to put the money to good use, only it turns out they didn’t kill him and he and his sadistic henchmen retaliate against them. Kat is brutally raped by his goons. After awakening in a hospital to being questioned by police and being unable to provide them with any helpful information, Kat sets out to one up Mutton Chop’s sadistic ways by exacting extreme blood-soaked revenge on him and all his buddies. An ultra violent vengeance spree ensues with rapist scum meeting gruesome ends via gunshot, stabbing and much more.
Revenge Is Her Middle Name is an ambitious and entertaining debut feature from New Zealander Anthony Matthews, who got his start in film in Pittsburgh doing crew work for Toe Tag. Revenge is a very inspired first effort for him that pays tribute to classic rape/revenge films (most notably Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45) and vigilante movies. Lissa Brennan does a brilliant job in the leading role and the film is loaded with all sorts of sleazy characters, brutal gore (including some genital violence), and a very good ending. The make-up effects by Toe Tag’s Jerami Cruise (who also co-produced and has a small acting role) are excellent as is the production design with its creation of a very gritty, sleazy environment.
Revenge just had its premiere in Pittsburgh in July and has just (as of this writing) screened at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear. Look for more screenings of the film at the Horror Realm convention in Pittsburgh in September and at Cinema Wasteland in Ohio in October. Keep your eyes on the movie’s site at www.revengeishermiddlename.com for further updates.
