DEADLY DAPHNE'S REVENGE (1987) Halfway to Black Friday Limited Blu-ray/DVD Combo
Director: Richard Gardner
Vinegar Syndrome

Troma's mis-marketed rape-revenge film DEADLY DAPHNE'S REVENGE has its virtue restored by Vinegar Syndrome's limited edition Blu-ray/DVD combo.

Committed to an insane asylum after beating to death the four-year-old son of trucking company honcho Charlie Johnson (Anthony Holt), Daphne Wood (Candy Castillo, THE RETURN) has escaped and just happens to be lurking in the woods around Charlie's lodge when he arrives for a weekend hunting trip with insurance salesman Bruce, trucker Bobo, and his stepbrother Steve (director Richard Gardner) who has reservations about Charlie picking up seventeen-year-old hitchhiker Cindy (Laurie Tait Partridge) and plying her with liquor and dope. Put off by Charlie's racism and sexism, Cindy turns to Steve to protect her when Charlie does not take no for an answer. Taking her to one of the bedrooms with the most honorable intentions, Steve ends up making love to Cindy and leaves when she falls asleep, believing her to be safe from the other who have passed out drunk. Steve himself is asleep when Charlie and Bobo creep into Cindy's room and rape her, and has only Charlie's word that nothing happened when he discovers Cindy missing the next morning. When she tries to file charges against Charlie, district attorney Starke tells Cindy that he cannot go ahead unless he charges all four of them since her willing sexual encounter with Steve could taint her allegations against Charlie and Bobo. When Charlie and Bobo are arrested, and the story makes the papers, the lives of all four men are sent into a tailspin. Charlie foots the bill for the defense of all four of them and his lawyer tries to negotiate the charges down from rape to illegal intercourse with the possibility of a suspended sentence, but Starke is playing hardball. When the weakest link cracks under the pressure and kills himself, Cindy feels guilty for his death and Steve losing his job as a high school coach and wants to drop the charges even if Charlie and Bobo will get away. Worried that Bobo and Steve may turn against him, Charlie arranges with gangster Joey to have Cindy killed only to then learn from his lawyer that the charges have been dropped. Charlie's lawyer warns him that Starke will come after him if he finds evidence that Cindy has been coerced or threatened but he cannot so easily cancel he hit since he has no idea who the hitman is as the success of Joey's operations depend on anonymity. Steve spirits Cindy back to the lodge to protect her, but the hitman is not the only one lurking in the surrounding woods to strike.

A rape-revenge film originally titled THE HUNTING SEASON but mis-marketed as a horror film with the spoilersome title under which it is better known, DEADLY DAPHNE'S REVENGE addresses the victim-blaming and double-standards aspects of rape cases more deftly than some more mainstream film and TV examples; however, it does so under a barrage of bad acting ranging from blandly low-key to loudly bombastic, with the Daphne character so incidental to the story that she disappears after the opening credits and does not show up again until nearly an hour in and only fleetingly until the ending. Holt's performance is far more one-note than the character, and one is uncertain whether the filmmakers were trying for mere complexity in characterization or actually trying to redeem him somewhat in giving him a motivation for his simultaneous adaption of sexism and racism, but his comeuppance is somehow unsatisfying even after he has shot a defenseless dog. One wonders what Troma's devoted fans must have thought when they picked his one up off the video rental shelf and got an overwrought melodrama. FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR's James Avery appears as a detective.

Picked up and retitled by Troma, DEADLY DAPHNE'S REVENGE was released to tape by Action International Pictures and then on DVD from Brentwood as part of TROMA'S TRIPLE TERROR VOLUME 1 with DEMENTED DEATH FARM MASSACRE and CURSE OF THE CANNIBAL CONFEDERATES. Vinegar Syndrome has restored the original THE HUNTING SEASON title card to their 2K restoration of the original 35mm camera negative, although the ending copyright notice suggests that the title had already been changed to DEADLY DAPHNE'S REVENGE. The materials are remarkably well-preserved for a Troma pickup, and the flatly lit film looks striking just by adequately conveying the colors and textures of the sets and costumes with only some underexposed grain popping up in a couple night exteriors. The DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono track is in good condition, delivering the very basic sound design and dialogue proficiently. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided. The score by composer John Banning is also provided as an isolated audio option in Dolby Digital 1.0.

Aside from the alternate DEADLY DAPHNE'S REVENGE opening title sequence (1:00) – which is not just a replacement title card but a condensing of the opening credits over the opening scenes with a decorative title card – and an archival still gallery (2:14), the only other video extra is “Answering the Call” (11:37), an interview with actress Jody Jaress (LOVE AT FIRST BITE) who plays Charlie's harried secretary. Having only recently seen the film, she notes that some of her scenes were cut but her opinion is generally favorable apart from preferring a bit more polish in the performances (particularly Gardner as director and co-star) and in the editing. The disc comes with reversible artwork and a slipcover designed by Earl Kessler Jr. DEADLY DAPHNE'S REVENGE is limited both in disc and slipcover, so there will apparently not be a standard edition. (Eric Cotenas)

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