Review — Revenge 2017

“Revenge” is an awesome and truly empowering French horror film (though most of the dialogue is in English). This film comes to us from new (female!) director Coralie Fargeat, and it’s just incredible, and definitely one of the most graphically gory movies I have ever seen! I adored the repeated use of insect-close-ups, and the way the decaying apple is used to convey the shift in the film’s tone! It’s terrific little touches like these (and more) that made this movie so brilliant!
“Revenge” concerns Jen, a beautiful young woman who is having an affair with Richard, a wealthy, married man, and they are enjoying a romantic getaway at his isolated, but luxurious, home in the middle of the desert, before Richard’s annual hunting trip begins. Their dalliance is interrupted, however, when Richard’s hunting buddies arrive early, but they make the best of it, drinking and laughing and dancing the night away. The next morning however, when Richard goes out for a few hours, one of his friends decides Jen’s dancing and flirting the night before was not really so innocent, and he forces himself on her, the other friend witnesses everything and blatantly ignores it. Suffice to say, Richard doesn’t handle the situation right at all, and it quickly becomes very clear that he is just as monstrous as his ‘buddies’. Jen is left for dead but miraculously survives and escapes, and after she patches herself up (in truly one of the grisliest scenes ever!) she sets about exacting her revenge on the bastards who did this to her.
Clearly, I loved this movie, it’s just superbly done. Utterly ruthless, very inspiring and certainly satisfying, “Revenge” is an important entry into the horror genre — provided you have the stomach for it!