Good, Bad & Ugly Review: Savaged


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Rotten Tomatoes Rating: NA (Critics) / 75% (Audience)
Directed By: Michael S. Ojeda
Written By: Michael S. Ojeda
Starring: Amanda Adrienne, Tom Ardavany, Ronnie Gene Blevins and Marc Anthony Samuel
Studio: Raven Banner Entertainment

Synopsis:A deaf girl is brutalized by a murderous gang who are then hunted by her when the bloodthirsty spirit of an Apache warrior inhabits her lifeless body. – (Source)

The Good:
I loved the look of this film. It is likely that it cost about $32.67 to make but it looked a lot better than it’s budget. It was like the whole movie was shot using Instagram filters and somehow it worked. The effects were pretty decent too and the fact that it doesn’t shy away from gruesome imagery is one of the things I look for in my supernatural revenge horror. A lot of kudos should go to writer/director Michael S. Ojeda especially considering the majority of his directing experience is doing re-enactments for television docu-series.

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The Bad:
The Native American mysticism was like a narrative anchor around the throat of this film and made little sense to be honest. It was like the writer just needed some way to give the female lead super-powers and went with the most cornball method he could think of.
There were also some really subpar acting performances in this film which is to be expected in this type of movie but still some of it was glaringly bad.

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The Ugly
There was some seriously casual racism in this movie.

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Final Verdict: A modern day grindhouse revenge horror tale that does more with less and creates a visually appealing addition to the annals of horror films. Sure some of the acting leaves a lot to be desired and the storyline gets bogged down in sappy true love flashbacks and hokie Native American mysticism, but the grittiness of the horror/revenge parts of the film are more than enjoyable enough.

Grade: C+

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