Savage Instinct
Savage Instinct
R | 01 January 1989 (USA)
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A young widow on a trip to the backwoods stumbles upon the operation of a gang of drug smugglers. They attempt to kill her in order to keep their operation a secret, but she turns out to be more resourceful than they thought, and starts to turn the tables on them.

Reviews
Hulkeasexo

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

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Sanjeev Waters

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

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Lela

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

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Kimball

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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Comeuppance Reviews

Susan Morris (Sweaney) is a mild-mannered woman whose husband was recently killed in a car accident. Seeking to fulfill their dream of having a nice house out in the country, she attempts to move to rural Loma County, California. But while driving out to the property, Susan and real estate agent Cecil (Ringuette) run afoul of a sinister gang of drug dealers. Led by the hulking brute Mongo (Brian Oldfield in what is criminally his only screen role to date), the gang of baddies seeks to make one last big score before disbanding their criminal enterprise. But since Susan has stumbled upon it, they must kill her. So they chase her all over the woods, but Susan decides she's had enough of her Mongo-based ordeal and decides to fight back. It's now time for revenge, Susan Morris style! What follows you must see! Ridiculous. Silly. Funny. Enjoyable. There are some words for you. But all these words - and so many more I'm leaving out - perfectly describe the wonderful Savage Instinct. You will have a smile on your face for most of this movie's running time (provided you have an inkling of a sense of humor - some people out there don't, it seems). Everything from the clothing choices of the goons, to the acting, to the effects, to the plot points and pretty much everything is totally winning, and the icing on the cake are some priceless bits of dialogue, none of which we'll spoil for you here. This movie is just a great take on the revenge movie, showing it can be done in a less-than-serious fashion. Take Mongo and his illegal barn of drugs. He looks like a cross between Richard Moll and Jesse Ventura. And when he really gets mad, he has some special headgear that will inspire some major fear.Troma released this movie as They Call Me Macho Woman, and then AIP re-released it as Savage Instinct. Judging by the box art and typeface font, they certainly weren't trying to capitalize on Basic Instinct. No sirree. But I'll take this movie any day of the week. Debra Sweaney deserves the fame Sharon Stone has. Life's not fair I tell ya. (It should be noted that the woman on the box is not Sweaney, but a cover model that has nothing whatsoever to do with the movie). But Savage Instinct is just further proof that writer/producer/director Patrick Donahue is an underrated genius. His first movie, Kill Squad (1982) is a Comeuppance Reviews favorite and is totally great. Savage Instinct is his second movie - although there was a nine year gap in between them. These two titles as your first two movies is impressive, but it seems his output after that is hard to get ahold of. We just want to tell the world we're fans of his work, at least his first two films. His son Sean has been involved in his father's work from the beginning, as well as many other productions (including Omega Cop, 1990) - but here, as Terk, the guy with the open-necked ballerina-like shirt and the classic Rachel Bolan-style earring-connected-to-nose-ring-by-a-chain, he really shines.Savage Instinct represents the goofier end of the action/revenge movie. We recommend it.For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

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udar55

City girl Susan Morris (Debra Sweaney) and her Realtor head down a country road to check out some property, but run afoul of Mongo (Brian Oldfield) and his drug peddling gang. Like any good movie villain, Mongo can't let them live and Susan endures a long series of chases, captures and escapes before she puts her foot down and fights back RAMBO-style. Wielding two axes, a whip and some nine inch nails, our heroine takes out the crew of 80s looking thugs.If I whisper "Joseph needs you" in your ear and it gets you all excited, then you need to see SAVAGE INSTINCT. Director Patrick Donahue delivered the bad-yet-amazing actioner KILL SQUAD in 1982 and this was his sophomore feature, which is just as goofy. Sweaney is a terrible actress and her transformation is about as convincing as Olivia Newton-John's in GREASE. There are some good stunt bits (the Donahues always deliver in that arena as co-star son Sean is also the stunt coordinator) but they are almost always undermined by some seriously wonky staging. Look for the scene where Susan escapes by running on top of the heads (!) of the gang and then adds insult to injury by flicking them off and grabbing her crotch. On top of this is some seriously priceless dialog. For example, Susan is saved by three partying dudes who don't heed her warning about the killers after her. Sure enough, the gang members kill the dudes and, while viewing their corpses, Susan says, "I bet you never listened to your mothers either." What?

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movieman_kev

Susan inadvertently stumbles onto a drug smuggling ring while her realtor gets a flat tire while driving her to see a house. The leader of said drug ring, Mongo (whom only has one week until retirement) thinking she knows much more than this bubbly blond actually does seeks to make sure she won't tell anyone anything and thus begins one of the more bone headed films that I've sat through.All the actors in this film can't really act in the least. Susan makes a pretty ineffectual hero for most of the movie (she'd never escape multiple times if not for the fact that seemingly every one in the movie wants to have sex with her) and she doesn't take the offensive until the last 20 minutes of the flick. When she does she spouts some generic "I have had enough" line, preach on sister, that very thought ran through my mind multiple times when I was watching this My Grade: D-

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supercygnus

I saw this on cable. Someone had to lose their job for greenlighting this one for air. Just because a movie is made does not mean it has to be shown! Savage Instinct should be shown in ALL film classes. It is the perfect template for how to not make a movie. The editing alone is so jumbled you'll think it was assembled by a team of trained (poorly) monkeys, traveling across unpaved canyon road in the back of a jeep, blindfolded and drunk. The audio is often not legible. Acting? I can't call anything I saw here acting. Reciting? Hmmm. Can't call it that either. Failing? That works. All that being said...IT IS HILARIOUS! I cannot stress enough that there is not one redeemable factor in this "film" other than the hilarity derived from it's own incredible ineptness. Fun, in a strictly masochistic sort of way. Watch it...if you dare.

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