Savaged - Blu-ray

Content: Deaf-mute Zoe (Amanda Adrienne) is overjoyed to finally find time to drive to her boyfriend Cody's house. She wants to enjoy the way to her great love to the fullest. So she decides to take a road trip across the California desert. When she sees a group of men hunting and brutally slaughtering two Indians, she wants to try to help - an attempt that has cruel consequences for the young woman. For not only can she not prevent the death of the two hunted. Now the perverted hillbillies have it in for her, too. They take Zoe captive, rape and torture her until every hint of life seems to have drained from her. Afterwards, the woman's violated body is buried in the desert, where a shaman finds the young woman. With a sacred ritual, he attempts to restore Zoe to life. But in the process, the spirit of an Apache warrior, once killed by the ancestors of Zoe's murderers, enters her body. Along the way, he finally wants to exact retribution and see the blood of his enemies flow. And so begins a bloody vendetta in which seemingly nothing and no one can stop the rapidly decomposing undead...

Savaged is a hard-hitting revenge thriller that mixes elements of works like I Spit on Your Grave with The Crow. The result is a bloody low budget thriller that is at times hard to stomach. It's generally not easy to watch movies where women in particular are tortured and humiliated, as it happens here in the most heinous way. That's also one of the reasons why such works generally have a hard time with the FSK and often end up on the index. Unabridged Savaged didn't make it through FSK inspection either. For the 18er release some of the most drastic scenes had to be cut. The uncut version, however, received the Spio JK seal, which certifies that here is no serious youth endangerment.

Uncut, the film has it really in itself. Not only the torture scenes are very crude and bloody. It's especially the revenge scene that follows, where the film mutates into a real slaughter platter. What director Michael S. Ojeda has created here with a low budget, can really be seen. Admittedly, some of the effects are a bit trashy. But when it really goes to the point, it shows once again that handmade effects can sometimes be more effective than expensive, elaborate computer effects.

The story is not exactly new, but is told exciting and provided with some quite original ideas. And also the actors are quite convincing. Especially newcomer Amanda Adrienne leaves a lasting impression as the merciless avenging angel. She embodies just as credibly the initially very friendly, tender side of Zoe, as the later possessed by the Indian spirit, bloodthirsty undead. It's also her acting that makes up for some of the slightly less successful moments.

Savaged may not really have the makings of a genre classic. But as a very intense, suspenseful and merciless horror shocker, the low budget production works quite well. Nothing for the faint-hearted, but for lovers of harder horror with some fantasy elements and lots of gore a very clear recommendation!

Picture + Sound: The Blu-ray's picture is dominated by a slightly artificial-looking color scheme in which earthy, dirty tones predominate. The fact that the image suddenly seems a bit blurry in some scenes is not due to a poor implementation of the image sharpness, but is a stylistic device deliberately used by the director and should therefore not be evaluated negatively. The occasionally slightly exaggerated contrasts, on the other hand, actually ensure that there are a few minor point deductions in terms of detail representation. Overall, the visuals capture the atmosphere of the film very well. And the sound is also convincing with some good surround moments and atmospheric ambient sounds. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, the Blu-ray has three cut or alternate scenes (approx. 10:25 min.) and four clips from the animated storyboard to offer in addition to a short but interesting making of (approx. 10:16 min.).

Conclusion: Savaged is a hard-hitting revenge thriller that, especially in the uncut version, can come up with some crude effects, but also with a decent story. It's not entirely new, but it has enough intense moments and potential for suspense to make up for some of the minor weaknesses caused by the low budget. The Blu-ray presents the film in atmospheric picture and sound quality, and the extras are brief but worth watching! Absolutely recommended for not too squeamish genre fans!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp