Red Ridge is an extremely hard film to objectively review.
The script is a mixed bag. On one hand, you have clunky, clichéd plot devices like Mentally Handicapped Guy (played really badly I might add) To The Rescue and Impossibly Stupid Female Victim Who You Can't Help But Yell At When She Does All the Wrong Things at the Wrong Times, and of course, the Hero With a Drinking Problem (who also plays an almost identical character in this director's other feature "Pineapple"...WTF?)
Most of the "good" characters have underwritten parts and turn in performances that are barely TV-worthy. And this IS an exploitation movie, don't doubt that in any way. But it's no more trashy and lurid than any film that lingers on the suffering of the victims and the ghastly delight of their torturers....so if that makes it cheap and trashy, it has good mainstream company in films like Hostel. Unfortunately, the combination of mediocre acting and poor character development on the part of the heroes doesn't do much to increase our empathy with them. When a film has content that's this nasty, if it doesn't really win you over to the side of the hero, it rapidly becomes a bit of a freak show. And this does.
On the plus side, the script, although it takes the long way home most of the time, occasionally surprises you with some neat twists and turns. The characters of the bad guys all come across realistically enough. It's important in an exploitation film for the villains to not ham it up too much (the genre itself is already overblown), and they don't here. A shout-out here to Cliff Stephens, who plays the main heavy, Mr. Avery. He looks like a cross between one of your drinking buddies in the suburbs and a plausible middle-tier player in the White Slavery trade. The relish he takes in enjoying Cuban cigars and Cognac before putting two of his newest purchases in agony is convincingly played and unnerving.
All the vague statistics and "based on true events" brouhaha of the title cards notwithstanding, the events depicted in "Red Ridge" don't seem REALLY that far-fetched, and the ending is grim, but not over-the-top.
What this film does, it does very well for its genre. It's a pity you can't degrade the quality of the film stock on this one....that's all it's really missing.
The script is a mixed bag. On one hand, you have clunky, clichéd plot devices like Mentally Handicapped Guy (played really badly I might add) To The Rescue and Impossibly Stupid Female Victim Who You Can't Help But Yell At When She Does All the Wrong Things at the Wrong Times, and of course, the Hero With a Drinking Problem (who also plays an almost identical character in this director's other feature "Pineapple"...WTF?)
Most of the "good" characters have underwritten parts and turn in performances that are barely TV-worthy. And this IS an exploitation movie, don't doubt that in any way. But it's no more trashy and lurid than any film that lingers on the suffering of the victims and the ghastly delight of their torturers....so if that makes it cheap and trashy, it has good mainstream company in films like Hostel. Unfortunately, the combination of mediocre acting and poor character development on the part of the heroes doesn't do much to increase our empathy with them. When a film has content that's this nasty, if it doesn't really win you over to the side of the hero, it rapidly becomes a bit of a freak show. And this does.
On the plus side, the script, although it takes the long way home most of the time, occasionally surprises you with some neat twists and turns. The characters of the bad guys all come across realistically enough. It's important in an exploitation film for the villains to not ham it up too much (the genre itself is already overblown), and they don't here. A shout-out here to Cliff Stephens, who plays the main heavy, Mr. Avery. He looks like a cross between one of your drinking buddies in the suburbs and a plausible middle-tier player in the White Slavery trade. The relish he takes in enjoying Cuban cigars and Cognac before putting two of his newest purchases in agony is convincingly played and unnerving.
All the vague statistics and "based on true events" brouhaha of the title cards notwithstanding, the events depicted in "Red Ridge" don't seem REALLY that far-fetched, and the ending is grim, but not over-the-top.
What this film does, it does very well for its genre. It's a pity you can't degrade the quality of the film stock on this one....that's all it's really missing.