In the good olde days of silent films, the moustache-twirling villain would kidnap the damsel, carry her off with much oomph and flailing of arms, then tie her to a railroad track from which she would be rescued in the nick of time by the hero, the villain would be vanquished, and the couple would live happily ever after. In the 1970s, things were a little different; in this particular offering, the damsel is grabbed by a masked sicko who rapes her while she sings "Jingle Bells" for his amusement. As with most bona fide rapes, the damsel defends her honour as best she can which results in her being stripped naked and slapped around. This guy is big though, and he warns her that if she puts too much effort into it, she won't live to tell. She does the math, and survives without too much collateral damage. At the police station she is informed she is the latest victim of a serial rapist with a bizarre "modus operandi".While at this time the police did not handle rape cases with the same discretion they do today, it is difficult to believe they were quite this insensitive even in the 1970s. Clearly this film had a political motive as much as any other...entertainment?It is here that it begins to lose its way, the victims meet up and form a group to track him down, taking martial arts classes into the bargain, but while the second wave of feminism would undoubtedly have approved of this, they would most definitely not have approved of the accompanying gratuitous nudity. Happily, the bad guy is eventually vanquished and they all live happily ever after. Apart from the two he murders, that is.

Treated insensitively by the police after a harrowing attack by a vicious rapist known as 'Jingle Bells' (named after the song he likes his victims to sing while he does the deed), sexy lunch van lady Linda (Jo Ann Harris) convinces four other rape victims to form a 'rape squad', initially intended to help women in a similar situation, but soon acting as a vigilante squad meting out rough justice to sex pests everywhere.It's shot like a made-for-TV movie, but the script has a gritty mean streak more typical of a sleazy grindhouse flick. It's got a girl-power plot designed to appeal to feminist sensitivities, and yet it panders to the misogynistic male by featuring non stop female nudity from a group of hot women. It's also got gratuitous karate scenes, an awesome pimp by the name of Percy (Jay Fletcher), and a rapist thug who looks like a member of Slipknot (his choice of attire possibly influencing two of horror's most iconic killers) and who forces his victims to thank him for choosing them.For these reasons, Act of Vengeance (AKA The Rape Squad AKA The Violator) is recommended viewing to anyone who gets their kicks from trashy flicks. 7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

This is an interesting movie. On one hand, it is a completely earnest. TV-movie style flick about a group of women who have all been victimized by the "Jingle Bell rapist" and ban together to fight against piggish male behavior in general and eventually take on their hockey-masked, Christmas-caroling assailant. Of course, the women are also sexy as hell, frequently undressed, and ALWAYS under-dressed, which supposedly compromises the feminist message. Why? I'd reckon 100 percent of heterosexual men like to see sexy, undressed women, while maybe 2 percent (a lot of whom are already in prison) really want to see ANY woman violently raped (and I'm not talking about one of those ridiculous Japanese "rape" scenarios here). So for 98 percent of men there is no contradiction here. Many present-day filmmakers feel they need bow down to the altar of man-hating "feminists" like Andrea Dworkin who conflate any expression of male heterosexuality with rape, but I thank god 70's filmmakers didn't. And as for female viewers, are they only allowed to relate to rape victims if they are unattractive, butch lesbians who dress like Lizzie Borden on a cold day? There are some ridiculous scenes (I know I always meet with MY vigilante gang while sitting naked in a hot tub). The end where the gang goes to a deserted zoo to confront the "Jingle Bell rapist" without the one woman who knows karate is pretty dumb. But this movie is also much more believable than most rape-revenge films in that the women don't immediately and easily turn into remorseless fighting/killing machines. Nothing is less believable than the modern-day "butt-kicking babe" stereotype where a 105lb. fashion model takes on guys three times her size just because she knows karate (and, of course, these big guys never do).The gang here is led by Joanne Harris, who played the young girl who successfully seduces Clint Eastwood in "The Beguiled". I've seen Filipino actress Jennifer Lee in various films. Perennial cheesecake actresses Connie Strickland and Anneka DiLorenzo were both in the similar (but more misogynistic) "The Centerfold Girls". This movie is basically a much more naked and violent version of "Charlie's Angels". But, hey, there's nothing wrong with that. . .

How about that. My first movie with the word "Rape" in the title and it's not Japanese! Unfortunately the Japanese are still the winners when it comes down to movies with the "Rape" in the title. But hell, this was still a nice effort.Story focuses on a group of women who refer to themselves as The Rape Squad. Guess what they all have in common? Wrong! They've all been raped by the same guy! Jeez, how can you be so off? They all love the black guy from the Mod Squad....? Wow, awful guess. Anyways, they've all been raped by the same Hockey Mask, Orange Jumpsuit wearing rapist who loves the song Jingle Bells. Now they've joined forces and they're about to show these pushy men what real women can do! Rape Squad was a decent enough flick. There are many rape and revenge flicks out there that are much better, but this is definitely one to check out if you're a big fan of the genre. Checking out the Rapist alone is reason enough. It's tough to beat a confident, smooth talking rapist who dresses up like Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees combined. And the coolest thing is, this predates both of those movies by a couple years. Oh and he sings Jingle Bells. Whoever was writing this flick had their creative juices flowing big time. The movie suffers from a few lulls when the girls are just chit-chatting....but you gotta admit, it's realistic. And I was hoping for the movie to be a little more graphic, especially the ending, but hell, the movie entertained me enough. So yeah, if you're into rape/revenge films, give this baby a shot. 6.5 outta 10.