Death Angel December: Vengeance Kill

Revenge

Chemical Burn Entertainment

R1 DVD

As a young girl December witnessed the rape and murder of her mother at the hands of a brutal gang, and the murder of her brother after his eyes were gouged out. Although scarred mentally December manages to carry on with her life. After her boyfriend rapes her she turns violent herself. She masters the arts of self defence, shooting and swordplay then goes on the hunt at night dressed as a prostitute, looking for wrongdoers and doling out her terminal version of justice.

Inevitably she comes across the gang who murdered her mother. They are now richer and more powerful than before. They have a cute habit of going to a town then murdering the residents of an isolated house. For sport one of the survivors may be kept alive long enough to provide a quarry for the men to hunt down in the woods. Has December’s training been enough to prepare her for this? Just as inevitably she is found out and there is a final bloody showdown.

We’ve seen all this before in films like Kill Bill and Charles Bronson’s Death Wish aka The Vigilante. . The theme of women empowering themselves to take revenge is not a new one, so what is it about this film that lifts it above the mundane? Good acting, mostly. While it is really just a good old fashioned blood and gore fest there are some brilliant characterisations. Leena Kusishingal does a good job as December, but the show-stealer is the older and thoroughly evil-looking Fisk, the one who likes hunting girls in the woods.

Unfortunately the technical quality isn’t up to the acting. The sound particularly was often swamped by a good if overloud background track, making it hard to follow the plot. The cinematography often degenerates to mobile phone quality – this may be an “artistic effect” but it’s unnecessary and rather annoying. So are the constant changes from colour to monochrome.

You must expect some minor deficiencies in an Indie film. With the sort of budget that these films are made on they do well to get as far as they do. Sound, however, is one area where there can be no compromise – it works or it doesn’t.

Otherwise the film is good entertainment. It’s gory and the final showdown scene is extended and brutal. If you feel like a reasonable blood-and-guts thriller, try this one.

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