Why so much hype?

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I am a 40+ year fan & connoisseur of exploitation movies. Call them whatever you like...schlock, trash-cinema, psychotronic films...it doesn't matter. I've literally watched thousands of these type movies, including nearly every notorious Italian cannibal film as well as plenty of rape-revenge flicks. Savage Streets is the rare exception in that I found it so genuinely distasteful that I regret watching it.In many superficial ways, Savage Streets is a typical 80s violent gang-action film. It's got some decent talent in front of the camera and a lead (Linda Blair) with a recognizable name. It's shot well enough for the B-movie that it is. But behind all the artifice of a generic violent movie, the screenwriter/director went out of his way to absolutely revel in sexual assault.Sexual assault was, unfortunately, a major trope in countless 70s & 80s exploitation films. It was not uncommon in major studio productions either. I've seen it plenty of times, and I admit, I don't like it. Generally speaking, most of these genre films use rape to amp up the sleaze and provide the protagonist some motivation. Personally, I think this was both distasteful and lazy...but hey, that's just me.Savage Streets, takes things to a different level. The rape scene is extremely drawn out, very cruel, and perpetrated against a character that is portrayed as very sheltered, vulnerable, and disabled (mute). And it's not even just a rape scene--it's a gang rape...and it goes on forever.Besides the rape, the film is replete with other instances of violence specifically targeted towards women including sexual assault and murder (of a pregnant woman). This is all done in service of setting up the "revenge" element of the movie.When I say that the "revenge" element is weak, I'm not lying. Whereas the rape scene was played out graphically, the ONE SCENE with Linda Blair getting "revenge" is shockingly tame (given that this is an exploitation film) and also brief. The film is very unbalanced in that the "revenge" seems a half-hearted afterthought that is only included in order to justify the gratuitous graphic depiction of violence towards women.I'm not Puritan by any stretch. I've watched plenty of sick stuff. But Savage Streets seems to really revel in glorifying violence towards women in a way that crosses a big boundary (for me). It doesn't do it because it's taboo, it really comes across as the writer/director really being a twisted person.

I saw this movie on the Horror channel in UK.I was never real going to watch but when I was reading the plot, sound good and it really intrigued me. so I gave it go!A teenage vigilante seeks revenge on a group of violent thugs, who raped her handicapped sister and killed her best friend.I was really shocked, that I enjoyed this, it had some descent plot.With some cheesiness adding as well, which worked really well with the rest of the movie.As I really enjoy it , good cheesy movie.There was some shocking moments as well well.The dose feel a little out dated now, who knows there could a remake of this movie just around the comer .(Don't get any idea Hollywood :)).This was really well and never got boring, there still thing they could have done better.I going to give this 5 out of 10

Savage Streets (1984) * 1/2 (out of 4) Linda Blair continued her road down exploitation street with this cheap knock off of DEATH WISH. In the film she plays a punk teenager who seeks vengeance on four thugs who gang rape her sister (Linnea Quigley) and kill her best friend. I think it goes without saying that this film was probably rushed into production after DEATH WISH II proved to be a big box office draw so they get the former Oscar winner to put on a black leather outfit and stalk the streets of L.A. looking for the punks. Director Steinmann is best known and probably most hated for his work on Friday THE 13TH V: A NEW BEGINNING and I can't say this film is any better. I'm a fan of that entry in the series because it's rather fresh and sleazy but none of that can be seen here. Instead we have one drawn out sequence after another and this film drags at every moment. The only saving graces are the mandatory shower sequence and Blair's nude scene, which I'm sure got a few headlines back in the day. The biggest problem is that there aren't any sympathetic characters. No matter how trashy or pathetic the DEATH WISH sequels got, we at least cared for Bronson and his character but Blair's character here is just as filthy as anyone else so it's hard for us to feel anything for her. Why they made her such a bad character is beyond me but the twist in the story doesn't work. It also doesn't help matters that part of the film seems like a spoof while the other half tries to be so serious. Nothing ever makes a bit a sense including the scene where the friend is killed in broad daylight with cars passing by. Blair sleepwalks through the role and delivers a rather bland performance. Quigley isn't given anything to do and we also have John Vernon cashing a paycheck and saying lines like "Go f**k an iceberg". Blair's trip down the exploitation market delivered this as well as CAGED HEAT and fans might get a kick out of her nudity in the two flicks but that's about all either one has to offer.

A gang of drug-dealing scumbags, real despicable bastards, known as the "Scars", make the mistake of raping the innocent deaf mute sister of Brenda(Linda Blair)incurring her wrath once she discovers they were responsible. When gang leader Jake hurls her best friend Francine off a bridge, this fuels her rage even further escalating into a major climax of violent revenge.I think SAVAGE STREETS is an example of a film about high school run amok, in the vein of CLASS OF 1984, where the students have become unruly, hard to control, where the faculty attempting to teach them have lost their power. We witness teachers(..and especially the principal, played by a very disgruntled John Vernon)swear at their students in an effort to silence them, often still unable to get a grip on their kids. Linda Blair sheds her wholesome image(..Reagan she's not!)and really gets into her role as a strong-willed, "take no crap from anybody" leader of a group of gals known as The Satins, lighting up a cigarette in the principal's office(..or whenever she feels like it), ripping apart a rival student's shirt(..also engaging in a silly shower room catfight with Cindy, played by the voluptuous Rebecca Perle)during a fight in class, or telling a boy who wants a piece to f-off. Seeing Blair as a high schooler is a bit of a stretch in credibility, but when she "suits up", ready to make those cretin Scars bleed, it's certainly radical(..to use an 80's term). All that hair, wearing a scowl, ready to tear some vermin to pieces for harming her beloved sister, Blair delivers the goods and then some. Gotta love her.The Scars are a real piece of work. You couldn't develop a nastier, loathsome, truly repulsive brood than these vulgar heathens..I'm sure many will be in anticipation(..with bated breath) to see how Blair wreaks vengeance on them. Robert Dryer(..ferocious gang leader Jake, with a venomous smile, always antagonistic), Sal Landi(..Jake's muscle, a real thug who enjoys humiliating and tormenting females), and Scott Mayer(..as the unhinged Red, a real thrill-seeker who enjoys causing disturbance)embrace their roles as the troublesome Scars. Johnny Venocur has the role of Vince, the kid who made the unfortunate mistake of aligning himself with this pack of wolves, eventually squealing about their actions against Brenda's sister. Linnea Quigley is the adorable tragic victim of the Scars, who endures a really harsh rape, undeserved of her brutal treatment at their hands. It's quite a startling contrast seeing Quigley and Blair in direct reversals of the characters they normally portray. I could very well see Quigley in the role of Brenda and Blair as the victim. But, Quigley(..always abused as nothing more than that extra willing to expose her breasts), impresses as an uncorrupted and pure "victim of circumstance", unable to evade her attackers..it had to be a difficult scene, dragged into a room, her clothes ripped away, as this band of brutes just grope away while they giggle in celebration.The film will be recognized for it's hideous fashion statements of that time(..it's also undeniably quite dated which worked for me, to tell you the truth), loaded with profane dialogue(..delivered with gusto by all involved) but has a bitchin' rock soundtrack and the conclusion where Blair gets even delivers. Really a film for fans of base and unsavory exploitation. A relic of the 80's that fans of trash cinema owe it to themselves to see.