Sam Panico If I were writing this review at any time other than 4:40 AM and had more than two hours sleep in the past two days, I wouldn't be full of hyperbole, pacing through my house, mumbling to myself things like, "Savage Streets is the greatest movie ever made!" and "Why did they make any more movies after this?"I often discuss movies with my dad and I often describe ones I love as "a piece of crap, but an entertaining piece of crap." Was I more lucid, that's probably how I'd describe this film. But seriously, this movie has everything you want to watch in the middle of the night. It is unapologetically 1980's exploitation filmmaking, a roughie that would never hit the scream today, small or large.Imagine if Pat Benetar's "Love is a Battlefield" lasted for 93 minutes. Also, imagine if Pat didn't use dance to defeat the rival gang, but instead had a crossbow. That is the best summation of this movie that I can give you.Brenda (Linda Blair, and if I have to tell you what other films Linda has been in, you can never read our site again) and her deaf-mute sister Heather (Linnea Quigley, the only scream queen I know who put out a workout tape) are wild in the streets with their gang the Satins, looking at Playgirl Magazine while dressed as only folks in the 80's could dress. They keep getting into scuffles with a gang called the Scars, ending with the girls stealing and trashing the gang's car. Jake, their leader, vows revenge after Brena goes even further by scratching his face.Well, he and the gang waste no time. While Brenda is fighting another girl in a locker room brouhaha, the gang isolates her sister and rapes her. You may notice that the gang seems to be more interested in touching one another than touching her sister. Two of them even embrace one another and kiss. These are the kinds of things that you will unexpectantly see in this film. It's one that rapidly switches tone, going for the darkness of man on woman crime to a wacky scene where the students put drawings of penises on a health room chart. It is a movie that will change that tone on a dime, ensuring that you are never ready for what happens next.The Scars up the ante by killing Brenda's soon to be married and pregnant friend Francine (Lisa Freeman, Back to the Future). There's a Pretty Woman like scene of the girl trying on her wedding dress while everyone watches and again, you aren't ready for the tonal 180 when the gang throws her off a viaduct.Meanwhile, policing all of this insanity at the high school is John Vernon as Principal Underwood. He seems like he is barely containing himself from killing every child that is in his educational system.Earlier in the film, Brenda and her girl gang notice bear traps are on sale. This seems like something that totally makes no sense. Not so. Because when Brenda hunts down the Scars, she uses one of those traps to kill one of the gang members by snapping it onto his neck. Then she takes a crossbow after the rest of the gang.Sure, Jake escapes. But he really should have stopped when he could have. Brenda douses him in paint and sets him ablaze, just in time for a cop to pull up and watch the guy die. What school do these girls go to?All of the girls visit Francine's grave and Brenda comments, "At least we set things right." Her friend Stevie earnestly looks at her and says, "No Brenda. You set things right." I almost set my couch on fire in pure joy.Danny Steinman has few movies on his resume but between Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, a film I described as "the scummiest, vilest Friday of them all," as well as The Unseen and this film. And now I'm sad, because I wish he made a hundred movies, ninety-nine of them being sequels to Savage Streets. It also has uncredited direction from Tom DeSimone, who crossed over from porn to make movies like Chatterbox, Hell Night (also with Linda Blair!), Reform School Girls and Angel III: The Final Chapter.There's also a subplot that doesn't matter much at all, with Brenda facing off with cheerleader Cindy over her boyfriend Fadden. Also - Faden owes Jake tons of money for coke.I really need to let you know how great Robert Dryer is as Jake. He's pure menace, bringing an edge to this film that shocks you with its brutality.Also - the dialogue! From the principal yelling, "Go f an iceberg!" to Jake intoning " I am going to cut your heart out and eat it!" and nearly everything Brenda says, this movie is packed with quotable quotables.This is the kind of movie that feels so good before the sun comes up. Go Brenda! Shoot those Scars up! Use the beartrap!

ObscureCinema101 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.

Paul Andrews Savage Streets is set in Los Angeles where Brenda (Linda Blair) & her mute deaf sister Heather (Linnea Quigley) are high-school students, Brenda is a tough member of a girl gang & they all decide to play a joke on a vicious gang of local drug dealers named the 'Scars' lead by psycho Jake (Robert Dryer). Brenda & her gang steal the Scars car & fill it with rubbish & find it very amusing but Jake & his boys are unimpressed & decide to take revenge, while at school Heather is forced into some toilets & gang raped by the Scars. Shortly after Brenda's best friend & fellow gang member Francine (Lisa Freeman) cuts Jake's face & as revenge he throws her off a very high bridge. Once Brenda finds out that the Scars were responsible for the brutal rape of her sister & the murder of her best friend she decides to take the law into her own hands & dish out some of her own brand of street justice...Co-written & directed by Danny Steinmann this is the type of sleazy, seedy exploitation flick with a very deliberate sense of humour that was made for people with a slight mental imbalance just like myself, damn how can anyone not find Savage Streets the gloriously entertaining & downright funny exploitation film that it was always mean to be? The pace is good with either some scuzzy sleazy scene or some hilarious camp scene happening, some of the dialogue in Savage Streets is priceless & the whole rape revenge plot is pure 100% grade A exploitation gold from start to finish. The funny high school politics between Brenda & cheerleader Cindy is amazing, the Scars who are just downright scum & seem to cause trouble wherever they go & various subplots that go absolutely nowhere like that guy who keeps trying to chap Brenda up make this unmissable for all cult film fans out there. The rape scene is uncomfortable viewing but it's intercut with a silly fight between two girls in a shower which is just genius on director's Steinmann's part, it really is. I would have liked a little more time given to the revenge part of the film towards the end which is over far too quickly & wouldn't Brenda get locked up for killing three people? How she's free to visit graves at the end is anyone's guess. Also we never discover what Brenda did with Vince, the fourth Scar member who develops a conscience. For those with a liking for these over the top vigilante films Savage Streets is a good one full of camp humour & brutal violence with plenty of female nudity as well, what more do you want? What, a cameo from John Vernon? No problem, that's here as well.I must admit I was a little disappointed with the violence levels here, there's a bit of blood but I would have liked to see slightly more satisfying death's for the Scar members. There's a fair bit of nudity with an obligatory girls school shower scene. The whole look of the film is very 80's with very dated looking clothes & hair & an absolutely terrible soundtrack full of awful rock songs. Apparently here in the UK Savage Streets had 12 minutes cut from it on video with the rape scene & scenes involving a crossbow being edited but I find this hard to believe as the rape only lasts a couple of minutes & Blair only uses her crossbow three times at the end so I really can't see it adding up to 12 minutes, I assume other footage was also cut & probably renders the film almost unwatchable.According to the IMDb this had a budget of about $1,200,000 & it looks quite good actually with some decent cinematography & production values. The acting is suitably silly with a twenty five year old Linda Blair trying to pass for a teenager, John Vernon is always a hoot while Linnea Quigley makes an early screen appearance.Savage Streets is an enjoyably trashy exploitation film with a camp feel at times which just works, sure it's dated & has no great artistic or social merit but it entertains & that's good enough for me. Just don't watch the UK video version.

movieman_kev Brenda (Linda Blair), along with her high school friends, feels its a good idea to steal some hoodlum's car & total it after her deaf/mute sister walks into the middle of the road and almost gets hit by them. This doesn't sit well for the decidedly homo-erotic gang of 'bad boys' lead with sadistic panache by Jake, so they decide to rape Brenda's sister which leads to her seeking vengeance in this 80's exploitation staple.Some might say that this film is simple-minded and while there's truth to that and it's a valid point, this film is also a pretty good piece of trash that wears it's exploitation badge on it's sleeve. I admire that and it's a fun enough seedy little ride that lets me excuse Blair's terribly campy acting throughout. Director Danny Stienmann does a bang-up job and if he'll just do another film of this caliber I promise i'll forgive him for "Friday the 13th: A New Beginning" Oh yeah, and I have to give props to John Vernon, as well, as his part, though rather small, is still greatness.Eye Candy: Linda Blair, Rebecca Perle, and Suzee Slater get topless; Linnea Quigley shows boobs and a hint of muff (but it's in a very unerotic scene); various extras show tits, ass & bush in the obligatory shower scene My Grade: B+ BCI's 2-disc set DVD Extras: Disc 1) Audio commentary by director Danny Steinmann; Second commentary by actors Robert Dryer and Sal Landi & director of photography Stephen Posey; & Third commentary by producer John Strong and actors Dryer and Johnny Venocur Disc 2) Interviews with Blair, Quigley, Venocur, Dryer, & Strong; Theatrical trailer for this film; and trailer for "Final Exam"