Vendetta Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Vendetta Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 29, 2018

Bruce Logan's "Vendetta" (1986) 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".

The other sister

The amount and more importantly the type of work that Bruce Logan has done over the years is pretty incredible. He reportedly did photographic effects on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Spacey Odyssey, second unit photography/effects on the original Star Wars film, visual effects on Batman Forever, the cinematography on Big Bad Mama and TRON, and directed Madonna’s Borderline video for The Immaculate Collection. Then all the way back in 1986 he even secured funding to direct his first feature film, Vendetta, a trashy action drama about an angry stuntwoman trying to avenge the death of her sister. With such a resume, and the complete version of it actually has even more colorful material, one cannot but speculate that Logan is either an incredibly talented person or frequently low on cash. Whatever the case might be, one thing is crystal clear here: this man likes to work.

Karen Chase is Laurie Collins, a fearless stunt performer who is routinely hired to do some truly dangerous work. It is a tough gig for a woman, but Laurie loves the rush and always gives her all.

After an exhausting shoot for a high-octane action film Laurie heads to a popular bar to have a drink with a boyfriend and her younger sister, Bonnie (Michelle Newkirk), who is single. They have a good time, but when Bonnie steps out to get some fresh air a slightly drunk punk lures her to his truck and attempts to rape her. In the ensuing scuffle Bonnie accidentally fires off the punk’s gun and he drops dead. Some days later a local judge announces that even though he understands why Bonnie tried to protect herself she should not have taken the law in her hands and must spend two years in jail. Before the authorities take her away, Laurie asks Bonnie to stay strong and assures her that she will find the right attorney to get her out. But the ‘right’ attorney that Laurie hires fumbles Bonnie’s appeal and she begins serving her sentence.

In the overcrowded jail Bonnie quickly clashes with Kay Butler (Sandy Martin), an incredibly obnoxious bisexual bully who controls a gang of protected drug pushers, and at the right time she is terminated. The jail’s coroner then files an official report in which he describes Bonnie’s premature death as ‘suicide’, but Karen refuses to believe it and decides to find out what truly happen to her sister. Not long after that she intentionally gets herself in trouble and the same judge that sentenced Bonnie sends her straight into Kay’s arms.

Vendetta is a ‘80s genre film made on a budget, and it sure looks like one. It is based on an original story by Emil Farkas, who apparently did some minor stunt work on Sam Peckinpah’s The Killer Elite, and Laura Canestani, but the material pretty much replicates what was done for the overwhelming majority of these types of B-films while there was still a good market for them.

The acting is a bit rough, but in these films this is usually a bonus because it adds flavor to the ridiculous situations that they promoted. So for example when Martin’s bully does her best to look tough the dangerous situations that she is part of immediately acquire that campy vibe that made these films fun to watch. Then there is all the posturing and over-the-top cat-fighting that is done by attractive actresses that could have been modeling at the same time, so the contrasts really are appropriately wild.

There is some decent action, with the chase sequence where Laurie goes berserk with the judge’s stolen car actually looking great, but Logan was clearly trying to do the best that he could with the small budget that he had so the complete product is quite uneven. Folks that feel nostalgic about the ‘80s should be the only ones that will enjoy revisiting this film.

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, Bruce Logan's Vendetta arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory.

The release is sourced from a recent 2K remaster that is pretty much flawless. Indeed, there is only one issue with the technical presentation of Vendetta that I would like to highlight.. In the final third of the film I spotted a couple of examples where compression artifacts sneak in and erode the otherwise solid grain structure. So, this is a simple issue that could have been avoided with a better encoding. Everything else looks lovely. Delineation is very good while depth and clarity are as good they can be on a solid organic 2K remaster of an '80s film. The color grading is equally satisfying -- there are nice, stable and healthy primaries with equally strong ranges of healthy nuances. Image stability is outstanding. There are no large damage marks, cuts, debris, stains, or torn frames to report. (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).

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.

I did not detect any issues to report in our review. The audio is very clean, stable, and with excellent and consistent depth. Dynamic ranges are also rather impressive here, making the outdoor action footage for instance sound and look quite a bit more attractive than it really is. There are no audio dropouts, pops, background hiss, distortions, or other similar anomalies.

Vendetta Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - vintage trailers for Vendetta. (2 min).

• Cover - double-sided cover.

Vendetta Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bruce Logan's directorial debut, Vendetta, is one of two films that are included on this release from Scream Factory. I had seen the other film, Naked Vengeance, but not this film. It is good for late-night viewing on a night when you feel nostalgic about the '80s, but that's about it. In fact, if this is the exact type of B-films that your heart desires, I urge you to first spend some time with Scream Factory's releases of Paul Nicholas' The Naked Cage and Bill Milling's Caged Fury as both are better films. Vendetta is sourced from a top-notch 2K remaster, but the technical presentation could have been optimized better. Regardless, it is very nice to see that smaller '80s films like these are starting to come out on Blu-ray with such wonderful remasters. RECOMMENDED.