Violation: Review

27th March 2021

Miriam (Madeleine Sims-Fewer) is visiting her sister, Greta (Anna Maguire) and her brother-in-law Dylan (Jesse LaVercombe). It’s been a while since the sisters saw each other and Miriam becomes concerned that Dylan’s influence over her sister may not be good for her.

However, Miriam tries to make the best of things despite Greta’s attitude towards her and she gets to know Dylan. They seem to get on well and Miriam starts to relax around him, but later that night Dylan does something unspeakable to Miriam and it sets her mind on revenge.

Violation is a horror film written and co-directed by Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer. A different take on rape revenge films, Violation doesn’t set up the premise for the film until much later, giving time for the audience to settle in and get to know the characters before the film turns to the grislier horror aspects.

The problem is that the way that Violation decides to tells Miriam’s story inadvertently makes Miriam an unsympathetic character to support. Sims-Fewer does give a great performance throughout and the film does set up the characters, and the dialogue and chemistry between the cast all feels very natural. It’s just a little troubling as Miriam’s violent actions seem to come out of nowhere.

Add to this the way in which she enacts her revenge and the audience may start to think that Miriam may be carrying it out a bit too easily.

Saying this though, the scenes where Miriam gets her revenge are done quite differently from the usual scenes in this subgenre of horror. The audience is perhaps meant to feel uncomfortable and it’s certainly effective where in other films it would be all about the glamorisation of blood and gore.

Also, thankfully the film does pull away from the gory revenge aspect that other films would revel in, instead showing Miriam’s reactions to what she’s done and perhaps to make the audience think about what she’s done. One violation for another may not be what we consider to be fair, but it’s up to the audience to decide what’s worse.

Facebook

Google

Twitter

We hope you're enjoying BRWC. You should check us out on our social channels, subscribe to our newsletter, and tell your friends. BRWC is short for battleroyalewithcheese.