Shaza123
A man named Virgil is driving across the American desert, on his way to a long deserved holiday. He stops to pick up a young and pretty hitchhiker, who says she's been traveling from Chicago to meet up with her grandfather, a man she's never met. Our young little hitchhiker is named Rosalie. She's a teen who comes across as quite simple minded. Not only that, but strange as well. Little Rosalie claims she knows where her granddad lives because she saw it in a dream. Virgil pays no mind to this nonsense and humours her. And being the good Samaritan that he is, goes out of his way to drop off this peculiar stranger to her grandfather's shack, way out in the middle of no where. Now I know what you're thinking, Virgil might not be such a good Samaritan after all. We all know that tale. It is fortunate that Virgil's intentions happen to be pure in this instance, all he wants to do is make his flight to his holiday destination. Rosalie however, has other plans that aren't so pure. Virgil won't be making that flight of his. He won't be leaving that shack ever again. Sound familiar? I have to say, there is something about crazy chicks keeping males as captive, that I find so interesting. Usually, it's the other way around, guys keeping girls captive, so it's a nice change. Still, this story has been told a few times before. A few years ago, we had The loved Ones, a brutal display of torture and hilarity. Before that, Misery, which I feel Stephen King may have used this for inspiration. Misery had a crazy antagonist that succeeded in being a proper villain to the story. But here we have something far more interesting. I can't say for certain that Rosalie is actually the villain of this story. Naturally Rosalie isn't a good character, but it's hard to call her a bad character as well. Bonnie Bedelia plays Rosalie and she does such a fantastic job. At times she comes across as crazy, at other times, she is sympathetic, and at other times still, she's beyond annoying and vindictive. Many of her actions come across as calculated, as if she is toying with her victim, promising a doctor, a car pump, and never delivering etc. But Rosalie isn't a malicious character. She isn't out for revenge like Lola, she isn't obsessed with authors, like Annie, she just wants to love someone. Something I imagine we can all relate to. Sure Rosalie's actions are far beyond reprehensible, but at the heart of it, she's just a lonely girl desperately wanting to love someone, and be loved back. It's hard to hate her character, but at the same time, it's hard to completely sympathise as well. Rosalie might just be one of the most complicated characters I have ever seen. Then we have Virgil, our victim. When Rosalie asserts her dominance and breaks one of Virgils legs (with the back of an ax...cough...Misery...cough), his reaction isn't pleading for mercy to be let free. No, his reaction is to yell at her and belittle her like a child. Rosalie has an ax, but that won't stop Virgil being mean to her. Most of their dialogue is Virgil calling her names and belittling her time and time again. Now Virgil might have some right to be angry since she's keeping him captive and what not, but I started getting confused whether I should have been feeling sorry for him or not, in the same way I wasn't sure if I was siding with Rosalie or not. Ken Howard does a great job at being our helpless and nasty protagonist. We have one more character in the mixes here, by the name of Fry. If there is a villain in the movie, that would probably be Fry, who doesn't have any shred of sympathy from the audience. He is the pure bad guy that'll hurt both Rosalie and Virgil to get what he wants, which is gold that Rosalie supposedly has hidden away. I like how the dynamic between Rosalie and Virgil always changes whenever Fry is on screen. This movie runs for almost Two hours, and those three characters are the only actors in the movie. You'd think that would make things boring, but it doesn't. I was actually captivated the whole way through. The way the dialogue changed constantly between Rosalie and Virgil made them a very entertaining pair. Set in the desert, this movie feels isolated, lonely and cut off from life. It creates such an atmosphere to this movie, which I feel is helped more with its incredibly low budget look. This movie was hypnotic to watch. The ending is bound to divide audiences. I can see people hating the movie or loving it. I'm in the latter camp. To me, the actions of certain characters don't seem out of place, it makes this movie all the more memorable. If you enjoyed Misery, you'd love this flick too. But where Misery is an effective horror tale, this is an intense drama piece. There is no blood or gore, just fascinating dialogue and imagery. Characters that feel real, who are equally good and bad. All in all, this is just fantastic story telling. A must watch for all.
Coventry
Sometimes, regretfully seldom though, one single glimpse at the opening sequence is enough to know the film that the film you're about to watch will turn out everything you look for in obscure, neglected and ultra-gritty 70's cinema. In my case it also proves an incurable lunatic, of course, because "The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie" opens with a beautiful pan shot of a forsaken desert area. There are living chickens tied to a tree (!) and the titular character is digging a hole in the ground to dispose of a corpse. Truly magnificent opening and even though nothing else in the film lives up to the beauty of this intro, I'd still recommend the film if just for that! The few reviews I encountered on "The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie" accurately refer to the film as a predecessor of "Misery". I wouldn't go as far as calling Stephen King's story a rip-off, but there are certainly common themes and recognizable sequences to find in this film that came out nearly two full decades before King published his book. Bonnie Bedelia is best known for playing Bruce Willis' wife in "Die Hard" but this is an actual eye-catching and stellar performance! Her still under-aged character Rosalie lures the handsome Virgil to her remote cabin in the New Mexican desert, and she intends to keep him there even if that means physically disabling him. There's where the link with "Misery" becomes indisputable. Rosalie breaks the guy's leg, ties him to the bed and subsequently nurses him like she's a caring wife. The party of two then brutally gets interrupted by a biker looking for the gold that is reputedly hidden in the area somewhere. Rosalie may be young, but she's dangerously deranged enough to take on two adult men. "Strange" is definitely the term to use here, as it's a gritty and thoroughly unpredictable film that moodily unfolds with each minute that passes. The isolated setting is grim and the hopeless situation in which Virgil finds himself stuck in is more than a little disturbing. The interactions between Rosalie and her bed-ridden victim do become a little monotonous eventually and I wouldn't have mind if some of that footage ended up on the cutting floor. 107 minutes of running time is rather long for this type of film, but at least it comes with a crude and offbeat 70's end-shot and the obligatory uncanny "La La La" song. Stunning as it may sound, the script never reverts to being gratuitous exploitation, even though all the themes hint towards that direction. A beautiful and scantily dressed minor literally throws herself at this potent, thirty-something guy, yet he doesn't take advantage of her. Heck, even the sleazy biker doesn't make a move at raping her. It's really quite admirable how the film thrives on awkwardness, stellar performances and various depictions of human despair instead of on sex. "The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie" is a unique find for cult collectors and based on the acting skills illustrated here, it's a real shame Bedelia never become one of Hollywood's most wanted starlets.
Dii
Richard (Ken Howard) is very clean and white in comparison to a brown and dusty landscape filled with brown, dusty people. He stands out like a cultivated plant in a wild desert garden. Rosalie is the girl you, at times, feel sorry for and, at times, are just simply disgusted with. Bonnie Bedelia does a wonderful job of playing her with a very hard stubborn edge that can drive you crazy. You will leave this movie feeling bewildered and frustrated to all hell.
