Monday, March 12, 2018

Angel of Vengeance (Ted V. Mikels and Ray Dennis Steckler, 1987)


Despite the pleading of Pierre (Pierre Agostino, credited as "Pierre D'Augustino"), who tells him the Major said to leave the local women alone, Manny Laconi (Macka Foley, who played the gym coach on two episodes of Parker Lewis Can't Lose) propositions newcomer Tina Davenport (Jannina Poynter), who has come to a small mountain town to write a book about her father, a Green Beret who died in Vietnam about 15 years ago. Taking to the rustic life like a fish to water, Tina nevertheless finds herself continually harassed by Manny, who eventually shows up at the cottage, only to be coldcocked and arrested. Major Hargrove (David O'Hara, whose credits include playing a cop in an episode of Santa Barbara and Ed Gein on Criminal Minds), the leader of the survivalist militia group in the mountains Manny and Pierre belong to, shows up to transport Manny back to their compound, Tina having chosen not to press charges. The Major and Manny, who once served six years for sexual assault, get into an altercation with some bikers, who follow them back to the compound. The Major and his merry band kill all of the bikers except for Linda (Linda Eden), whom the Major gives to Manny to do with as he pleases. Going into town to get supplies, Manny and Pierre run into Tina out jogging, and Manny decides to bring her with them. Meanwhile, two rednecks leave a gun store after robbing the place and shooting the owner. Tina gets thrown in the same cell as Linda, who she insists needs a doctor. The Major is not happy with Manny for bringing her to the compound. Tina is tied to a bed, and Manny rapes her (offscreen, thankfully). Meanwhile, the two random killers murder a farm family. Tina accuses the Major of cowardice and requests that his men hunt her, giving her a fair chance. The Major gives her two hours, believing an unarmed woman is easy prey, but he is very wrong...

Fans of cult cinema will appreciate the legendary names behind Angel of Vengeance. Ray Dennis Steckler was initially the director, but was sadly fired after three days by producer Jeffrey C. Hogue and replaced with Ted V. Mikels, the director of such infamous films as The Black Klansman (not to be confused with the upcoming Spike Lee movie of the same name), The Corpse Grinders (in which people being ground into violence-inducing cat food is simulated by placing the actors into cardboard boxes and pushing hamburger out the other end), and The Doll Squad, often cited as the likely inspiration for Charlie's Angels. Mikels lived in a California castle for many years with a bevy of beautiful women, so make of that what you will. Angel of Vengeance marks the sixth film I've seen by Mikels, and the most recent in terms of release date. It's probably the weakest of the six, but I would say it has a certain "guilty pleasure" quality to it if I believed in the idea of guilty pleasures. The plot is standard '80s action movie fare, although some of the performances are amusing. Jannina Poynter is certainly attractive, but not much to write home about as an actress. Her response to finding a dead body seems less to denote anger at the killer as annoyance. It's also hilarious how she comes into town wearing an incredibly demure dress, but once she settles in the cottage she switches to a headband, tank top, and short shorts. Macka Foley plays one of the hammiest psycho rapists ever caught on film. David O'Hara is pretty charismaless and unmemorable for a militia leader. Pierre Agostino is likely a holdover from when Steckler was still directing the film, as he played the title character of RDS' films The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher and Las Vegas Serial Killer. One wonders if the name on the bikers' jackets, "Thrill Killers, Inc.," is a in-joke nod to Steckler's film The Thrill Killers. The random killers, Zach (Jason Holt, who also directed six films, four of which he acted in) and his unnamed partner (Ed Walters) chew the scenery almost as much as Foley, and the ending will likely satisfy viewers who've come to hate these pieces of shit. Some of Tina's killings are memorable, as when she jabs two sharpened sticks through a guy's eyes, or when she catches another one in a snare and blows him up with a grenade, leaving only a leg. There's a mediocre country song over the end credits, "Take Me Home" by T. Craig Keller (also the associate producer), and Tina twice sings Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" (Because her methods are totally ones of which the erstwhile Robert Zimmerman would approve, right?) This isn't anywhere near the level of Mikels' '60s-'70s work, but it's worth at least one watch for completeness' sake. 

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