So, I just saw Machete a few days ago, and I decided a good list to go along with it would be the best revenge flicks. Here are some of my favorites:
11. Death Sentence (2007)
Directed by: James Wan
Stars: Kevin Bacon, Garrett Hedlund, and Kelly Preston
Plot: Nick Hume is a mild-mannered executive with a perfect life, until one gruesome night he witnesses something that changes him forever. Transformed by grief, Hume eventually comes to the disturbing conclusion that no length is too great when protecting his family.
Useless trivia: Leigh Whannell has been involved in everyone of James Wan's films. This movie he plays Spink, one of the members of Billy Darley's gang. Leigh had also co-wrote and starred in Saw and co-wrote Dead Silence.
P.S. This movie is sometimes considered a remake. Actually, it’s based on a book, which was a sequel to Death Wish. Death Wish was a movie made in 1974 that starred Charles Bronson.
10. Four Brothers (2005)
Directed by: John Singleton
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, and Garrett Hedlund
Plot: Four adopted brothers come to avenge their mother's death in what appears to be a random killing in a grocery store robbery.
Useless trivia: During the shoot, temperatures never exceeded 24 degrees Fahrenheit.
P.S. This is one of those movies that wasn’t well received by critics, but has a 6.8 rating on IMDb. This is actually a really good rating, meaning most average people enjoyed this movie.
9. The Last House on the Left (2009)
Directed by: Dennis Iliadis
Stars: Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, and Aaron Paul
Plot: After kidnapping and brutally assaulting two young women, a gang led by a prison escapee unknowingly finds refuge at a vacation home belonging the parents of one of the victims -- a mother and father who devise an increasingly gruesome series of revenge tactics.
Useless trivia: In a March 12, 2009 Black Book interview, Sara Paxton revealed that the rape sequence took 17 hours to film.
P.S. This movie is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name. This movie will also make you scared of garbage disposals.
8. Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Stars: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, and Colm Meaney
Plot: A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.
Useless trivia: The movie was filmed in an actual prison that was still taking in inmates. During certain times of the day, the inmates would be transferring into the prison and looking confused as to why there was filming equipment all over the place. The film crew locked themselves behind the cells for safety.
P.S. I went into this movie not knowing anything about it, and boy was I surprised. It has about as much blood and gore as some horror movies. Just a warning.
7. A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Directed by: Samuel Bayer
Stars: Jackie Earl Haley, Kyle Gallner and Rooney Mara
Plot: In the dreams of his victims, a suspected child murderer stalks the children of the members of the lynch mob that killed him.
Useless trivia: This will be the first "Nightmare" movie that won't star Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger. Englund has played Freddy in every movie, including Freddy vs. Jason and the TV series "Freddy's Nightmares".
P.S. I don’t care what anyone says…the remake is better than the original. If you don’t believe me, watch them both back to back.
6. The Horseman (2008)
Directed by: Steven Kastrissios
Stars: Peter Marshall, Caroline Marohasey, and Brad McMurray
Plot: A tender drama unfolds between a grieving father and a troubled teenage girl as they drive northbound along the quiet outback roads of Australia. What she doesn't know is that between stops, he is leaving behind a bloody trail of bodies in a revenge motivated killing spree.
Useless trivia: To help raise finance for the production, a short film was shot of the opening scene. The short film went on to win Best Independent Drama (10-30mins) at the Queensland New Filmmaker Awards (2006) and aided the feature length version to move into production.
P.S. I actually saw this movie for the first time about 4 days ago. It was one of those “random streaming” Netflix movies. I don’t really know much about this movie since I just barely saw it, and it’s a little known movie so there’s not much online. Just go stream it, but make sure you’re watching “The Horseman” not “The Horsemen” (even though The Horsemen is a decent movie).
5. Taken (2008)
Directed by: Pierre Morel
Stars: Liam Neeson and Maggie Grace
Plot: A former spy relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been forced into the slave trade.
Useless trivia: The martial art style used by Liam Neeson is Nagasu Do. It's a hybrid martial art style that borrows from Judo, Aikido and Ju Jitsu.
P.S. There are actually three different versions of this movie. There’s the regular cut, the unrated cut (International Cut) and the UK Cut, which has a shorter torture scene with Neeson’s character attaching the clamps to the chair instead of the spikes stabbed into the man’s leg.
4. Edge of Darkness (2010)
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Stars: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, and Danny Houston
Plot: As homicide detective Thomas Craven investigates the death of his activist daughter, he uncovers not only her secret life, but a corporate cover-up and government collusion that attracts an agent tasked with cleaning up the evidence.
Useless trivia: Robert De Niro was originally cast as Darius Jedburgh, but dropped out due to 'creative differences' after a few days on the set.
P.S. Most people hate Mel Gibson for his ridiculous racist rants. I also hate him. But, my love for this movie will never die.
3. Memento (2000)
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Stars: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano
Plot: A man, suffering from short-term memory loss, uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife.
Useless trivia: The medical condition experienced by Leonard in this film is a real condition called Anterograde Amnesia - the inability to form new memories after damage to the hippocampus.
P.S. This movie is available to stream on Netflix. If you haven’t seen it yet, and have Netflix, see it.
2. Kill Bill (2003 & 2004)
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, and David Carradine
Plot: The Bride wakes up after a long coma. The baby that she carried before entering the coma is gone. The only thing on her mind is to have revenge on the assassination team that betrayed her - a team she was once part of.
Useless trivia: Approximately $60,000 of the movie's budget was used for producing swords and sword accessories.
P.S. In case you’re wondering about the dates, this movie was actually split into 2 volumes, since the entire movie together would have been about 4 hours and 10 minutes long.
1. Hard Candy (2005)
Directed by: David Slade
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh, Odessa Rae, and G.J. Echternkamp
Plot: A mature 14-year old girl meets a charming 32-year old photographer on the Internet. Suspecting that he is a pedophile, she goes to his home in an attempt to expose him.
Useless trivia: Patrick Wilson briefly passed out due to overexertion during filming of the intense surgery scene.
P.S. Ok, a few things. First, that cast list above, that’s it. Those 5 people are the only people in the entire movie, and other than Wilson and Page, the other 3 have about 30 seconds of screen time each. So, basically it’s the 2 of them the entire movie. Second, the one thing that makes this movie way more intense than normal is that there is very little score. Most of the soundtrack is ambient sounds and heavy breathing. Last, if this movie doesn’t make you want to cry, you are a woman.
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