It is a performances centric movie

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

For those of you who enjoy venturing deep into the nastier things the horror realm has to offer, I think you may enjoy this. A film with some ultra-violence, VJ stabbin, penae mutilation, rapeyraperape, cannibalism....it's got the "good" stuff. A film that revolves around themes of revenge and "staying true to oneself in rough times"....(what's a word for that?....perseverance?). The kicker is, there isn't a word spoken in the film, besides I think a couple "Nooooo!"s. No dialogue in the film. And to come across as powerful as it did, is pretty commendable.Personally, even though it's got everything I enjoy in horror I'm not going cuckoo over it. The acting, camera-work and length all bothered me. Basically because it is slightly amateurish. But overall and most importantly it's unique, and it'll be some time till I have difficulty remembering it. Definitely worth a view for the right viewer

I really wanted to like "Defenceless" but it's a movie that somehow isn't a sum of its parts. While the plot is relatively straightforward, the film's strength should come from its stylistic approach. This is a movie without dialogue - the powerful imagery conveys the tale, accompanied by a largely classical soundtrack.For gorehounds, there is some over-the-top violence. As with Savage's earlier "Marauders", some of this is taboo breaking but thankfully the more controversial deaths are off-screen.The beautiful Susanne Hausschmid is excellent as the lead, "The Woman". Without going into too much detail, this is a character who has to undergo a fair amount of torment, both physical and mental, during the course of the film. Hausschmid conveys what's going on in her mind brilliantly.Yet, despite its strengths, I was left feeling a tad empty after watching "Defenceless". I've not been able to warm to Savage's style.7 out of 10. Missing a certain something but an interesting exercise in cinema.

A woman(Susanne Hausschmid)refuses to sell the property at any price to the land developers.Her ex-business partners turn her lifo into pure hell.Her husband is beaten to death,her lesbian lover is raped and murdered,her son is also killed and she herself suffers a brutal rape/murder at the hands of her tormentors,before she is resurrected and exacts her bloody revenge in the tradition of "I Spit on Your Grave"."Defenceless" is a brutal and evil film.There is truly sickening knife rape scene that may certainly upset some unprepared viewers.Also the rapist is castrated and has the genitals stuffed in its mouth in graphic detail.Susanne Hausschmid's performance is stunning and the cinematography by Mark Savage is beautiful.So if you are a fan of transgressive horror you can't miss this brutal assault on the viewer's senses.My highest recommendation.

This "silent" feature (there is an amazing soundtrack, but there is not one word of dialogue) from director Savage (who also co-produced, wrote, photographed and edited) is a huge surprise and clearly his most personal, uncompromising work.Though it's a revenge yarn, there's not a single other movie I can compare it to.It's beautifully photographed (by Savage himself) and walks a very delicate line between art-house, exploitation and humanistic drama. The combination, which shouldn't work on paper, works beautifully here because of the director's sheer forcefulness of vision. Susanne Hauscchmid is The Woman, a mother and environmental campaigner whose life is destroyed by the brutal actions of property developers. Her performance, virtually mute, is certainly one of the year's best and it's interesting to know that Hausschmid also produced the film with Savage and a tiny crew.Child actor Bethany Fisher also delivers a superb performance as a young girl who befriends the battered Woman in a portion of the film that feels unlike anything the director has attempted before. It must be said that the director's obsession with the ocean, cemeteries and broken dolls is amped right up in this confronting but highly satisfying fantasy. Also amped up is the director's take-no-prisoners approach to the staging of grotesque but cinematic ally justified sexual violence. Additionally, one scene of self-mutilation involving breast slicing will be quite beyond the pale for most viewers.The film won Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Actress at the recent Melbourne Underground Film Festival. It's a remarkable achievement for sustaining its dialogue-free structure over ninety-eight minutes and re-inventing a long-lost cinematic tradition. But be warned: Its staggering beauty is contrasted with equally staggering brutality and horror.Savage's best so far.