Naked Vengeance / Vendetta Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Naked Vengeance / Vendetta Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 22, 2018

Cirio Santiago's "Naked Vengeance" (1985) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory. The only bonus feature on the disc is a reel of vintage trailers for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

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Naked Vengeance is cheesy and nasty, just like they used to make them in the early ‘80s. Its star, Deborah Tranelli, even recorded one of those catchy tunes that made half the atmosphere in these types of genre films.

After celebrating their anniversary at a quiet restaurant somewhere in downtown LA, Carla Harris (Tranelli) and her boyfriend witness how an angry loon attacks a young woman. When Carla’s boyfriend attempts to get the loon disarmed, he empties his gun in his chest.

Some days later, the heartbroken Carla relocates back to the small town of Silver Lake where she grew up to recollect her thoughts and figure out what to do next. Even before Carla reaches her parents’ home, however, she becomes an obvious target for some of the area’s hot-blooded males.

When Carla’s parents decide to leave town for a few days she ends up at a local bar and meets some of her old high-school friends, but they too disappoint her and she promptly concludes that it would be best to just spend her free time in front of her parents’ TV set. However, the town’s rowdy drunks realize that Carla is alone and soon after break into her parents’ home. Then they gang-rape her, and when her parents unexpectedly reappear execute both right before her. The macho leader of the drunks then kills the youngest member of the group because he dares to criticize his buddies.

The official police report that is filed later on describes an entirely different event, which is why Carla decides that she has to take justice in her own hands. So while pretending that she is recovering from a severe shock in a nearby hospital, she quietly begins eliminating her attackers. But Sheriff John Cates (Bill McLaughlin) puts two and two together.

A long time ago Vestron Video International released Naked Vengeance on VHS, so if you are unfamiliar with it this should give you a pretty good idea what type of entertainment to expect from it. The plot really is as straightforward as described above and basically once Carla returns to her home town it is only the cheap thrills that prevent the film from completely falling apart.

However, the film’s transparent intentions also provide it with a character that could be somewhat attractive. For example, a few of the killings are so over-the-top that they look borderline grotesque and this is the type of ‘80s material that carries a certain nostalgia value. Then there is the repeated use of Tranelli’s tune, “Still Got a Love”, which further enhances it.

Naked Vengeance was directed by Filipino producer/director Cirio Santiago, who left quite a legacy of similar genre films. Some of the more entertaining ones are Death Force (1978), Fircracker (1981), Caged Fury (1983), Stryker (1983), Silk (1986), and Equalizer 2000 (1987).

*This new release from Scream Factory also includes Bruce Logan’s directorial debut, Vendetta (1986).

Naked Vengeance / Vendetta Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Cirio Santiago's Naked Vengeance arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory.

The release is sourced from a very nice new 2K remaster. Because of the way in which a couple of segments were shot there are small clarity fluctuations that occasional pop up, but overall definition and fluidity are very strong. Depth also does not disappoint, especially when there is plenty of natural light (see screencaptures #3 and 9). There are absolutely no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. The encoding could have been a tad better, but it is already very good. The color grading is convincing as well. The primaries appear stable and healthy, plus there are wonderful ranges of equally healthy nicely balanced nuances. Image stability is excellent. Finally, there are no large cuts, damage marks, or torn frames to report. There is no doubt that this is the best that this film has ever looked on home video. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Naked Vengeance / Vendetta Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is clear and stable. However, there are a few segments where it sounds a bit 'thin' and I am unsure if the original audio mix is entirely responsible for it. But this is an extremely small complaint as the rest is perfectly fine. There are no audio dropouts or purely digital distortions to report in our review.

Naked Vengeance / Vendetta Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - vintage trailers for Naked Vengeance. (4 min).

• Cover - double-sided cover.

Naked Vengeance / Vendetta Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I had a VHS release of Naked Vengeance once, but when Scream Factory announced their Blu-ray release I could only recall Deborah Tranelli's song. So now I have seen the film again and my memories are recovered. If you are wondering whether Naked Vengeance is worth owning, take a look at the other Cirio Santiago films from the '80s as they pretty much offer the exact same type of entertainment. Plenty of them are already out on Blu-ray. If you have seen a few and enjoyed them, there is an excellent chance that you will also like Naked Vengeance. Scream Factory's new release is sourced from a very strong 2K remaster of the film. It also includes Bruce Logan's directorial debut, Vendetta, which is reviewed here. RECOMMENDED.