OOP Box Set
Life for Elizabeth Peace and her family was quiet until a small group of land developers set their sights on Elizabeth’s beachfront property. They’re interested in purchasing the property and building some beachfront condos on it but they’re missing one thing…Elizabeth’s signature.
After weighing the pros and cons, Elizabeth decides not to sign the agreement with the development group and keep her land. Obviously, this doesn’t make the guys happy so they do what any group of greedy, evil land developers would do…they use fear and intimidation to chase her off of the land!
When Elizabeth’s husband is murdered, she loses all hope and drops her son off with a family friend. There, in a field by her home, she swallows a handful of pills and lays down to die. Luckily, a kindhearted woman happens upon her, brings her back to her home and nurses Elizabeth back to health. As Elizabeth continues on the path of recovery she also finds herself on the path to discovery and before you know it she falls in love with her friend.
Their relationship blossoms into a union of beautiful innocence (TRANSLATION: kissing and boob touching) but the love is cut short by her lover’s murder at the hands of the developers. A horrifying “snuff” film is made of the torture, rape and murder and it’s then sent to Elizabeth with a warning, “Call the police and we’ll kill your son!” The severity of the issue really hits home for Elizabeth when a mysterious package shows up on her doorstep containing a grisly “surprise”.
Now, for some God-only-knows reason she retrieves her son from the family friend’s home and brings him back to their land where they decide, against all sanity, to head to the beach and have some mother and son fun. The fun quickly plunges into depravity though when Elizabeth is caught with her pants down (literally) behind some rocks. The three men begin brutally assaulting Elizabeth with wangs, metal batons and a huge bowie knife and cast her limp, bloodied body into the ocean. There’s nothing left to stand in their way of owning the land except for Elizabeth’s young son Billy. Elizabeth isn’t gone yet though and when she returns for her revenge…blood with spill!
I was skeptical when I heard Defenceless: A Blood Symphony would be 98 minutes of no dialogue. Would Mark Savage really be able to convey the kind of emotion films like Last House on the Left and I Spit On Your Grave did without using any dialogue? I figured he’d either pull it off and have an exploitation classic on his hands or I’d be slapping my own forehead in frustration.
Defenceless: A Blood Symphony is a tense, emotionally draining film that leaves you with a small ball of rage in the pit of your stomach. Unfortunately, the film is also seriously flawed and the end will leave you scratching your head in disbelief. The film was quite good right up until things began to lose all sense of logic. Your lover’s head is cut off for not signing away your land and what do you do? YOU GO GET YOUR SON AND BRING HIM BACK HOME TO FROLICK ON THE BEACH??!!
Another issue I had with the film was Elizabeth’s return, I mean after nine months she washes up on her own beach? NINE MONTHS? Okay, let’s assume for a minute that she was actually wandering about with amnesia all those months and not floating in the ocean…how in the hell did she survive the massive blood loss that results from brutal rapes and full on bowie knife stab wounds to her ‘gina?
Even if I were able to ignore some of that when she does finally return she’s no longer “all there”. Her head is constantly twitching like a curious bird, she shuffles her feet and even eats small bits of her “victims” bodies. NOW SHE’S A CANNIBAL? Perhaps I’m being too critical but I did enjoy the film right up until they dumped her body. After that the film just seemed to lose all sense of direction. The gore was quite good, the violence was disturbing and the big payback was all that and then some. The fact that there was no dialogue didn’t bother me one bit. Defenceless: A Blood Symphony was effective, yet a bit too uneven for me. What could have been a truly inspired entry into exploitation filmmaking ended up suffering at the hands of Savage’s wonky writing. I’d recommend you rent first.
