Revenge is the name of the game, well deserved revenge I might add. the vengeance oriented genre is a storied one, and this is one of its first (and best) offerings. Setting the stage for 30 some odd years of warranted brutality and murder.
The story is simple, young, single, semi attractive, New Yorker relocates to some backwards rural town and incites the lust of a group of local sexual predators, said predators then embark on a mission to rape and murder the unaware victim, succeed at their mission (several times within a few hours in fact, yeah there's a lot of rape in this one) and go about their business, unaware that their victim has survived...... Which should not have been all that surprising considering they sent the most 'innocent' (I use "innocent" in the most irreverent of ways due to the fact he was involved in the rape, but his childlike mannerisms made it seem to fit) and dopey of their group to finish her off, if you want something like murder done right, don't send the mental midget to get it done for you. After their discovery of her survival, victim becomes judge, jury and executioner, as is the way with these types of films.
There's something about film actors from the '70's that adds an extra ounce or two of creep factor to movies. I dunno what was in the water back then, but people in movies were just naturally scarier looking. I haven't been able to put a finger on what exactly it is about them that adds that element, but the creep factor they lend is palpable in flicks like this. The acting in this is as decent as you could expect from everyone involved, excluding the small minded grocery clerk who almost steals the show with his offerings to the film.... adding tons of hilarity with his ultra silly antics, dialogue and a brain damaged "Gilligan" look.
Now the gore and violence in this picture is less based on actual visuals and more on psychological impact, with long drawn out rape scenes that border on too much, but at the same time set up the revenge aspect very nicely. And once the revenge aspect comes around it is mild but not disappointing, manual erotic asphyxiation (I dunno if that's a thing, that's just what I thought it might be called when someone else does it for you), a good axing is present along with a scene where she liberates one of the perps members in a bubble bath, making for a red and frothy demise.
Once again, there is a lot of rape in this film so viewers beware. But, it is a classic film and definitely worth watching if you've got the constitution required.
7/10 tastelessness
5/10 gore
7/10 must-see-ness
