This film has been called a feminist fantasy; feminism was in its second wave when it was released, the misnamed women's liberation. The fact that it came from the sick mind of a man tends to refute this claim, nor is it a rape revenge fantasy like the slightly earlier "I Spit On Your Grave" because murdering innocent people, even men, is not revenge but psychopathy.
Our doomed angel is a young, attractive mute named Thana. She lives alone, which is strange, because a woman who is both attractive and alluringly silent would surely be snapped up by a local alpha male in short order. The nightmare begins when she is attacked on the way home and raped. When she recovers, she goes home; the sensible thing would be to go to the nearest police station or better still hospital as there is no point in her dialling 9-1-1. When she arrives home, she is raped again, by a burglar. Please, no allusions to that famous Oscar Wilde quote, both rapes were real.
The first rapist had a gun, so did the second one. Unfortunately for him, Thana had a blunt instrument, and after whacking him with it, she picked up a flat iron (from her work) and caved in his skull with it. Now please girl, get someone to dial 9-1-1, no one who matters will think ill of you when the truth comes out. Alas...
She drags the body into the bathroom and begins dismembering it. She also goes out with the burglar's gun and begins shooting men, not at random, but any who come on to her, which in view of her being young and so alluring, is many. Okay lady, you are no longer a victim, the abyss has long been starring back at you.
This slightly off-beat cult rubbish may titillate some, but the true story of the female lead is far more interesting, and tragic. Zoë Tamerlis, the future Zoë Lund, was only seventeen, and this was her first film. Although a college drop-out, she was a multi-talented individual, composing and writing music. She was also sadly a heroin addict; she died in 1999, aged just 37, but was such a fascinating creature that her estranged husband Robert set up a website about her which is maintained to this day.
Our doomed angel is a young, attractive mute named Thana. She lives alone, which is strange, because a woman who is both attractive and alluringly silent would surely be snapped up by a local alpha male in short order. The nightmare begins when she is attacked on the way home and raped. When she recovers, she goes home; the sensible thing would be to go to the nearest police station or better still hospital as there is no point in her dialling 9-1-1. When she arrives home, she is raped again, by a burglar. Please, no allusions to that famous Oscar Wilde quote, both rapes were real.
The first rapist had a gun, so did the second one. Unfortunately for him, Thana had a blunt instrument, and after whacking him with it, she picked up a flat iron (from her work) and caved in his skull with it. Now please girl, get someone to dial 9-1-1, no one who matters will think ill of you when the truth comes out. Alas...
She drags the body into the bathroom and begins dismembering it. She also goes out with the burglar's gun and begins shooting men, not at random, but any who come on to her, which in view of her being young and so alluring, is many. Okay lady, you are no longer a victim, the abyss has long been starring back at you.
This slightly off-beat cult rubbish may titillate some, but the true story of the female lead is far more interesting, and tragic. Zoë Tamerlis, the future Zoë Lund, was only seventeen, and this was her first film. Although a college drop-out, she was a multi-talented individual, composing and writing music. She was also sadly a heroin addict; she died in 1999, aged just 37, but was such a fascinating creature that her estranged husband Robert set up a website about her which is maintained to this day.