Director Katt Shea deserves a lot of credit for "Streets", a gritty, honest, heartfelt little movie that serves as more than mere exploitation, creating a hard hitting portrayal of runaway youth in Venice, California, personalizing the story by focusing on Dawn, played by TV star Christina Applegate in a wonderful, tour-de-force performance. Dawn is a heroin addicted, teenage prostitute attacked by a john, and who forms a friendship with a kid named Sy (David Mendenhall) who distracted the cop long enough for her to get away. The budding relationship between Dawn and Sy forms a solid basis for the rest of the movie, written by Shea and producer Andy Ruben, which devastatingly illustrates the kind of hard scrabble existence led by people like Dawn. Applegate delivers a performance that is alternately tough, feisty, sympathetic, kind, and vulnerable - but, most of all, it's believable. Mendenhall also does well as the nice guy who is new to the life being lived by Dawn and her contemporaries, who can't really identify with them as he is definitely not of their world. Enjoyable contributions are also made by Patrick Richwood as Bob, Aron Eisenberg as Roach, Mel Castelo as "Elf", and Alan Stock as Allen. This coming from Concorde, it's still exploitative enough for those watching who expect a certain degree of trash. Applegate does bare her breasts for a scene, but this particular scene is played for romance rather than just sex. And the ongoing subplot with the deranged john, a motorcycle cop named Lumley (played with convincing intensity by Eb Lottimer), is standard enough stuff, although the viewer may be taken aback by Lumley's home made weapon that metes out brutal punishment. The music score by Aaron Davis is supremely effective, as is the beautiful and haunting composition "Dawn's Theme" sung by Elizabeth "E.G." Daily. The use of the locations is excellent, and in general this is quite well made and stylish. Although mostly played (very) seriously, it's not without its humorous moments. Cameos are made by ladies who'd previously starred for director Shea: Kay Lenz ("Stripped to Kill") and Starr Andreeff ("Dance of the Damned"). This is genuinely potent stuff, right up to its riveting ending, and worth watching, both for Applegate fans interested in seeing her show off her dramatic chops earlier in her career and for exploitation film aficionados. It's too good to miss. Eight out of 10.

From the makers of the phenomenal, trend-setting "psycho murders peel artists" milestone "Stripped to Kill" and the outstanding offbeat existential vampire horror knockout "Dance of the Damned" comes this grim, tough, unflinchingly realistic down'n'dirty exploitation thriller about young, strung-out, totally on her own illiterate Venice Beach, Los Angeles prostitute Dawn (a strong, unglamorous, very endearing and somewhat startling performance by Christina Applegate; Kelly Bundy on "Married ... With Children"), a fiercely self-reliant teenager who turns tricks in order to eke out a meager existence and support her heroin habit. Dawn has a near-fatal run-in with brutish, sadomasochistic sleazy teen hooker killing cop Lumley (a cogent, creepy, live-wire portrayal of frighteningly deep-seated seething psychosis by Ed Lottimer), who relentlessly stalks Dawn and savagely picks off her scruffy homeless street people pals throughout the rest of the movie. David Mendenhall offers a solid and likable turn as the naive, slumming rich kid who develops a crush on Dawn and gets caught up in her tawdry and thankless day-to-day lifestyle."Streets" is something of a surprise: it's a gritty, gutsy little B picture (Roger Corman gets credited as the executive producer) that successfully manages to relate a compact, seamy, highly credible slasher narrative while simultaneously delivering a rich and vivid exploration of how unemployed folks at the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder somehow manage to barely squeak by and how people with real power and authority in our society can get away with cruelly preying on those hapless and helpless individuals whose utter powerlessness and political vulnerability make them easy targets for constant victimization. Katt Shea Ruben's sturdy, no-nonsense, unsentimental direction (Ruben also co-wrote the rough-edged, pungently insightful script), the garishly lit, evocative cinematography, a brooding melancholy score (the sad, haunting ballad that's beautifully sung by Elizabeth Daily which plays on the soundtrack during the opening and end credits is especially poignant and effective), the top-notch acting (besides the three excellent leads, both Kay Lenz and Starr Andreeff have nice cameos as lady police officers), an authentically grungy depiction of L.A.'s desolate beach-side milieu, and the uncompromisingly downbeat ending all give this shamefully overlooked and underrated scrappy gem a potent scroungy verisimilitude that's extremely compelling and powerful. A real sleeper.

A psychotic cop in Southern California is targeting prostitutes for execution; meanwhile, a pretty blonde urchin tries getting her life together. I rented this because I was very impressed with director Katt Shea's work on the underrated "Poison Ivy" and I was not disappointed. The psycho stuff doesn't really jell with the homeless kids angle, but it's a commendable attempt to mix genres, and Christina Applegate gives a superb, surprisingly serious lead performance (her final scene in a bus depot is riveting and heart-rending). Much better than I was expecting, "Streets" is a good, hearty try at both social drama and crime thriller. **1/2 from ****

A police officer is loose on the streets killing runaway teenagers who were forced into prostitution in Venice, California. His main target is a would be victim (Applegate) who escaped.Compelling look at homeless teenagers manages to blend in a thrilling suspense story also. Applegate is very good in the lead role, the situations are done realisticly and the direction is terrific. Very well made thriller is highly underrated.Rated R; Extreme Violence, Lanuage, Brief Nudity, and a Sexual Situation involving teenagers.