Best movie of this year hands down!

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

An Exercise In Nonsense

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Slightly more than a decade after she depicted the legendary possessed teenager Regan, who spun her head 360 degrees and vomited green pea soup in one of the horror genre's greatest historical classics, Linda Blair didn't star in elite and sophisticated movies like "The Exorcist" at all anymore! But that isn't necessarily bad news for the avid cult/exploitation fanatics, because lovely Linda grew out to become one most popular and desirable cult wenches on earth! The unwritten rule states: if you like horror, you love Linda Blair. Nah, just kidding, personally I love Linda because she's an unpretentious and not-at-all-prudish natural babe who stars in some of the silliest and trashiest, but simultaneously most entertaining B-movies of the eighties! After the unsurpassable "Chained Heat" – as far as I'm concerned still the Holy Grail of exploitation cinema – this "Savage Streets" is definitely her finest show piece. This vile and nasty hybrid between vigilante thriller and high-school punk gang literally oozes with unmistakable early 80s trademarks, like raw atmosphere, awful music and even worse clothing styles, misogynic violence, gratuitous nudity and loads of uncompromising violence! Set in less glamorous streets of Hollywood, Blair portrays Brenda, the leader of an all-girl high school gang. Brenda is tough and relentless about pretty much everything except for her vulnerable deaf-mute younger sister Heather, whom she protects and defends with her life. Her gang runs into conflict with The Scars, a violent male gang led by the dangerously disturbed Jake. While Brenda is cat-fighting in the shower and receiving morality speeches in the principal's office, the Scars rape her little sister Heather and kill her pregnant friend Francine. So what's a girl to do? She takes a long bath, dresses up in a tight leather outfit and goes out to extract her vengeance! I could probably write two entire pages filled with the flaws and illogicalities that feature in "Savage Streets", but where's the fun in that? Instead, I'll just shamelessly admit that the film provides non-stop trashy entertainment (well, except maybe during the long & unpleasant gang- rape) and glorious sleaze. The overload of nudity mostly comes from nameless extras; you know the type of girls that are extendedly filmed in the shower before the camera pans to the actual dressing room where the main actresses are having a conversation. But don't worry, as Linda goes topless as well, and so does the beautiful Rebecca Perle whose top is ripped off during a wrestling game in class! Blair and Perle have perhaps the nicest pairs of boobs of the entire decade. But in all honesty, "Savage Streets" also contains a handful of notably tense sequences and truly scary and badass male villains. Particularly Robert Dryer (as Jake) and Sal Landi (as Fargo) are terrifically menacing thugs. The climax is a fantastic – but sadly too short – piece of vigilante action that would even make Charles Bronson proud! The forever underrated John Vernon appears as school principal, but his role is fairly insignificant this time.

"Savage Streets" is a Grindhouse/Action movie from 1984, directed by Danny Steinmann.Basic plot: A group of tough girls, lead by Brenda (Linda Blair), are walking out in slutty-looking clothes at night, when Brenda's deaf-and-mute sister Heather gets hit by a car driven by the Scars (a gang of bad boys). Heather is okay, but the other girls get mad at the boys.In one fine school day, Heather gets gang raped by the Scars, and badly hurt. Later on one of the boys throws Brenda's best friend Francine off a bridge and kill her. And Brenda is soon to get to know the truth.This film is no doubt one of the best Grindhouse action movies of the 80s I've seen. The film really seems to have taken inspirations from some other revenge-flicks like Eastwood-, Bronson, or Pam Grier-movies of the 70s, the film is just a little bit more brutal. Here Linda Blair really kicks ass as the girl gang leader Brenda, especially during the climatic revenge sequence. The soundtrack is somewhat cool as well. But the gang rape scene is somewhat graphic and might be disturbing to some viewer. Oh, let's not forget there are several scenes of full female nudity as well.The Danish DVD version I have is completely uncut and runs for 93 full minutes. Thankfully I was in Copenhagen on vacation and bought this film. Recommended if you like Grindhouse action movies with revenge as the theme on the film. I give this film a well deserved 10/10.An another Grindhouse classic from the 80s to be honorable mentioned includes Mark Lester's "Class of 1984".

As part of my "revenge-movie-catch-up," I knew that I HAD to see SAVAGE STREETS. Not only did this have glowing reviews from exploitation fans, but it looked totally amazing as well! Brenda is the toughest girl in her high school who usually goes out with her posse and her sweet, deaf younger sister for some fun. One night, they decide to get back at a gang called the Scars (whom have been hassling them) by jacking their car and then filling it with garbage. The Scars respond by gang-raping Brenda's sister and throwing her pregnant and bride-to-be best friend off a bridge. Brenda decides it's time to adopt the principle of "an eye for an eye," loads up her crossbow, and goes out for some payback.SAVAGE STREETS is classic exploitation at its finest. It has the standard formula (first hour is building on characters, last half hour is payback) and does it very well. This was during Linda Blair's "exploitation days," where it seemed this Oscar-nominated actress would take just about any role as long as the pay was good. I think she did a great job with the role, which surprised me because of how innocent she usually looks (one of my complaints about HELL NIGHT (1981) was that she looked "too Cherubian"). John Vernon makes an appearance as the tough as nails and completely AWESOME principal and spews the classic line about what the gang should do with an iceberg. The actors who play the gang are all over-the-top, but they do come across as despicable people and that's really all that matters.However, my problem here is my problem with most revenge movies: they just wait too long to get to the payback (and awesome) part. But trust me; considering how great that last half hour was, the wait was worth it. A lot of people complain about how a lot of that hour is high school drama where the boyfriend of the head cheerleader keeps hitting on Brenda, but I thought that was all really entertaining (the head cheerleader is just as despicable as the gang members, in my opinion).It's no surprise this was directed by Danny Steinmann, a porn director, because of the abundance of female nudity in it. It was completely unnecessary, yet thankfully, it doesn't really make the film drag like in other movies (THE INVISIBLE MANIAC). The film also features Marcia Karr in a role before she played Rhonda in the phenomenal KILLER WORKOUT (1987) as one of Brenda's friends, as well as everyone's favorite eighties scream queen, Linnea Quigley, as Heather.Even the soundtrack to this movie kicks all sorts of butt, with loads of classic eighties tunes, including the unforgettable "Justice for One." The protagonists are all likable and I really didn't want any of them to die, and as previously stated, the antagonists were all very unlikable and just itching to get an arrow through the throat.SAVAGE STREETS isn't perfect (it skims the surface of being that, though), but there's no arguing that this is a great exploitation movie. Loaded with over-the-top violence, gratuitous nudity, entertaining characters (John Vernon, baby!), likable characters, good suspense, a fast pace, and a great soundtrack. Yes sir, they just don't make 'em like they used to.Essential viewing for everyone.

A gang of drug-dealing scumbags, real despicable bastards, known as the "Scars", make the mistake of raping the innocent deaf mute sister of Brenda(Linda Blair)incurring her wrath once she discovers they were responsible. When gang leader Jake hurls her best friend Francine off a bridge, this fuels her rage even further escalating into a major climax of violent revenge.I think SAVAGE STREETS is an example of a film about high school run amok, in the vein of CLASS OF 1984, where the students have become unruly, hard to control, where the faculty attempting to teach them have lost their power. We witness teachers(..and especially the principal, played by a very disgruntled John Vernon)swear at their students in an effort to silence them, often still unable to get a grip on their kids. Linda Blair sheds her wholesome image(..Reagan she's not!)and really gets into her role as a strong-willed, "take no crap from anybody" leader of a group of gals known as The Satins, lighting up a cigarette in the principal's office(..or whenever she feels like it), ripping apart a rival student's shirt(..also engaging in a silly shower room catfight with Cindy, played by the voluptuous Rebecca Perle)during a fight in class, or telling a boy who wants a piece to f-off. Seeing Blair as a high schooler is a bit of a stretch in credibility, but when she "suits up", ready to make those cretin Scars bleed, it's certainly radical(..to use an 80's term). All that hair, wearing a scowl, ready to tear some vermin to pieces for harming her beloved sister, Blair delivers the goods and then some. Gotta love her.The Scars are a real piece of work. You couldn't develop a nastier, loathsome, truly repulsive brood than these vulgar heathens..I'm sure many will be in anticipation(..with bated breath) to see how Blair wreaks vengeance on them. Robert Dryer(..ferocious gang leader Jake, with a venomous smile, always antagonistic), Sal Landi(..Jake's muscle, a real thug who enjoys humiliating and tormenting females), and Scott Mayer(..as the unhinged Red, a real thrill-seeker who enjoys causing disturbance)embrace their roles as the troublesome Scars. Johnny Venocur has the role of Vince, the kid who made the unfortunate mistake of aligning himself with this pack of wolves, eventually squealing about their actions against Brenda's sister. Linnea Quigley is the adorable tragic victim of the Scars, who endures a really harsh rape, undeserved of her brutal treatment at their hands. It's quite a startling contrast seeing Quigley and Blair in direct reversals of the characters they normally portray. I could very well see Quigley in the role of Brenda and Blair as the victim. But, Quigley(..always abused as nothing more than that extra willing to expose her breasts), impresses as an uncorrupted and pure "victim of circumstance", unable to evade her attackers..it had to be a difficult scene, dragged into a room, her clothes ripped away, as this band of brutes just grope away while they giggle in celebration.The film will be recognized for it's hideous fashion statements of that time(..it's also undeniably quite dated which worked for me, to tell you the truth), loaded with profane dialogue(..delivered with gusto by all involved) but has a bitchin' rock soundtrack and the conclusion where Blair gets even delivers. Really a film for fans of base and unsavory exploitation. A relic of the 80's that fans of trash cinema owe it to themselves to see.