Act of Vengeance (1974)

Director: Bob Kelljan

Writers: David Kidd, H.R. Christian

Composer: Bill Marx

Starring: Jo Ann Haris, Peter Brown, Jennifer Lee, Lisa Moore, Connie Strickland, Patricia Estrin, Lada Edmund Jr., Tony Young, Steve Kanaly, Ross Elliott, John Pickard, Ninette Bravo, Stanley Adams

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The Story of The Rape Squad! They all had one thing in common. They had been violated in the same savage way... Now They're Out to Get Even!

Plot: Linda gets raped by a man in a hockey mask. She finds that a few other women have had the same treatment. Together they form a squad that starts looking for the man and also changes the mind of would-be rapists.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I thought that movie poster looked familiar...

It's a blatant rip off of the Superchick (1973) poster. 

Now here's the Friday the 13th movie I've been waiting for!

ACT (aka RAPE SQUAD) isn't that bad.  It's a rape revenge flick with a twist.  We follow Linda (Harris) from her rape, the cruel treatment she receives at the police station when she reports it and the aftermath of it, all in a male-dominated and chauvinistic world.  So she meets with other victims of rape and they form a gang to train in self defense and get their revenge.  Hopefully, along the way, they'll empower women and change the violent and sexist minds of men.  There's a lot of social commentary going on here and I dig the concerted effort to make this less exploitation-y and really hit the message home.  However, and fortunately, this isn't some cheesy after school special and they've got some violence and nudity to throw into the mix.  I liked how the camera dances around the identity of the killer so you don't get to see his face full on until near the end.  That was clever and effective.  A lot of this picture is by the numbers but it's also not without some entertainment value.  It's good enough to see once but that's about it.  Not a bad picture.