Women Taking Revenge
Inside (2007) d: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury
Prevenge (2016) d: Alice Lowe
Revenge* (2017) d: Coralie Fargeat
Lady Vengeance (2005) d: Park Chan-wook
The Queen of Black Magic (1983) d: Lilik Sudjio
We’re not easing into these movies, we’re starting with an all-out assault, New French Extremity staple, Inside. Unique in this list because it’s woman-on-woman revenge. This is probably the bloodiest movie I’ve ever seen (if we’re only counting realistic gore), and it is convincing. It’s an unrelenting home invasion thriller about a conflicted pregnant widow fending off a psychotically determined assailant, and it takes full advantage of the audience’s fear for her belly. If you’re at all squeamish, I highly advise you to skip this entry.
Our next movie is also about a pregnant widow, but has a vastly different tone. Prevenge is a black comedy written by, directed by, and starring Alice Lowe (who was really pregnant during filming, what a superwoman). It’s a refreshing flip on fridging - after her husband dies in a rock climbing accident, Ruth goes on the hunt for those she holds responsible. The kicker? Her unborn fetus is calling the shots.
So. Now that we’re halfway through this list about lady revenge, I bet you’re wondering where the rape-revenge films are. The rule I’ve developed for myself over time is that I’m simply uninterested in ever seeing another cis-man’s take on it, but I’ll give other directors a chance. So I watched Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge, and I don’t want to be hyperbolic, but it feels like a fiery reclamation of the whole subgenre. It is ferocious and violent, it takes the male gaze and gauges its eyes out.
Lady Vengeance is a beautiful, elegantly bloody movie reminiscent of the aesthetic of Lady Snowblood, but it’s a significantly more challenging watch (we wouldn’t expect anything else from an entry in Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy). The film tells the story of a young woman’s long-simmering revenge after being convicted of a murder she did not commit. I came into this expecting a bad-ass lady executing a satisfying action plan – and it is that – but Chan-wook characteristically eschews easy catharsis. Be warned, there is some very disturbing child abuse depicted in this one.
Murni is the titular Queen of Black Magic but she starts off neither royal nor magical – a shady dude promises to marry her to get in her pants (ugh, typical), leaves her for another bride, convinces the town she’s a witch, then throws her off a cliff. Genuinely the only reasonable response is to become a witch for real and get some revenge. Murni becomes a powerful witch, but only by training with a master practitioner who happens to be just another flavor of manipulative toxic masculinity, and she needs to find yet more revenge. I’d love to tell you this is a straightforward tale of empowerment, but it is unfortunately a bit muddled in its messaging, which makes the ending just a tad less satisfying than you hope. But this is a wonderful movie with some super fun special effects, it’s really a delight.