5 of the Best Vengeance Seeking Female Movie Characters

Revenge can come in all shapes, sizes and forms, but there is no form I love more than that of the vengeance seeking woman. Whether it be through sheer wit, extreme violence or a mixture of the two, there’s something so thrilling about watching a woman stick it to the man in a variety of ways. Especially when the proverbial man deserves such comeuppance.

For your consideration, I have compiled a list of five of the very best examples of vengeance seeking female characters.  

Sex and Fury (Furyô anego den: Inoshika Ochô)

A majority of vengeful characters start off as victims, but that would not be the case with Ochô Inoshika in 1973's Sex and Fury. Played by a very young Reiko Ike, Ochô is a low life criminal who has honed the ability to slice up mofos with her sword, making her more than capable of exacting her vengeance without any inclination of fear.

Sex and Fury is sleaze at it's best (the film also stars sleaze Queen Christina Lindberg!), but with as much sex and violence as the film has, it is beautifully made on all levels. In what is the movie's highlight, Ochô is attacked while bathing, which results in a fight scene for the ages. Quickly moving the fight outside, Ochô proceeds to take out each of her attackers one by one, in the snow, while being completely naked. During this scene, there is this wonderful shot where all that is seen is Ochô's legs as she dances around in the snowy exterior, with blood splatter and limbs hitting the snowy ground all around and her legs.

The scene is easily one of my all-time favorite fight scenes, and the music used to score it is just fantastic. Sex and Fury is exploitation done perfectly, as it takes an artistic approach to a film that is, for all intents and purposes, all about sex and violence.       

Ms. 45 aka Angel of Vengeance

1981's Ms. 45 is a rape revenge film starring Zoë Tamerlis Lund as Thana, a girl who is raped not once but twice in the same day. After she is able to fend off her second attacker by beating him to death with an iron, she takes her attackers weapon, a 45. caliber pistol, and keeps it for herself.

After these horrific events, Thana becomes fearful that any male she encounters is a violent rapist. Due to this fear, Thana goes on a killing spree, with the target's being men who, in her mind, would mean to do her harm. Thana takes this fear and uses it as a jumping off point to swap places and become the aggressor; the one with the upper hand. She uses her looks and sexuality to seduce (mostly) scummy men with the intent of setting them up so she can shoot them with her new 45. caliber pistol.

Director Abel Ferrara does what he does best, as he gets down and dirty in this New York set revenge film. Ms. 45 is a perfect example of how great the New York city aesthetic was for cinema during the ‘70s and ‘80s, and Ferrera encapsulates all the grit and grime of New York during this time period. The city works as a perfect backdrop for a woman who has become traumatized by fear, as any corner or dark alleyway could possibly contain her next attacker. Or in Thana’s case, her next victim.

Coffy

1973's Coffy is hands down one of my favorite Blaxploitation films. Written and directed by one of the greatest exploitation directors of all time, Jack Hill, Coffy is just one of many examples of the genre legend's fine work. The film stars the great Pam Grier in the titular role of Coffy, who promises to take out local drug pushers after her eleven-year-old sister is hospitalized after shooting up some bad heroin.

Coffy uses her sexuality to take her revenge – even pretending to be drugged up and looking for some action – as she lures unsuspecting scum to their deserving demise. There's plenty of sex mixed in with some great action via Coffy’s shotgun, but Coffy as a film is still played straight, opting to concentrate as much on the exploitation elements as it does the characters and story. This is a true testament to the respect Hill had for the movie he was making.

The character of Coffy is sexy, deadly, and smart, all the elements that make for a great revenge film character. Coffy is the film that put Grier on the exploitation map, and even though she's a little rough around the edge performance wise, she remains highly entertaining, especially in how well she delivers Hill’s fantastic dialogue.

(Sympathy for) Lady Vengeance (Chinjeolhan geumjassi)

In the third part of Chan-wook Park's near perfect Vengeance Trilogy, 2005's Lady Vengeance is a revenge tale by way of art house cinema. With each passing film in the Vengeance Trilogy, the visual prowess becomes more and more intense, and Lady Vengeance is the culmination of these efforts. Where the film stands out most, however, is with the character of Geum-ja Lee, as played flawlessly by Young-ae Lee.

Geum-ja spent 13 years of her life behind bars for a murder that she did not commit. Her tale of revenge is against the real murderer, a man who has, for far too long, gotten away with atrocities that would put fear into even the most jaded of hearts. Geum-ja is calculated, precise and very patient in how she goes about taking her revenge. She makes the right moves in prison by displaying maternal like qualities as she cares for her fellow inmates, even going as far as to donate an organ to someone who, in turn, will be forever indebted to Geum-ja. By the time she is released from prison, there are a number of paroled inmates who are more than willing to help Geum-ja, and she takes full advantage of their help to see that her vengeance is fulfilled.

Lady Vengeance is much like Geum-ja: calculated, precise and very patient. It slowly but strikingly burns, leading to an amazing final act and conclusion for the lead character.

Lady Snowblood (Shurayukihime)

In Toshiya Fujita's 1973 film Lady Snowblood, the beautiful Meiko Kaji portrays Yuki Kashima (aka Lady Snowblood), a character who is nothing more than an instrument created to avenge the injustices that her parents suffered.

Her father was murdered, her mother imprisoned and continuously raped, and it was this abuse that her mother went through that brought about Lady Snowblood. Yuki was purposely born for one reason and one reason only, and that is to seek vengeance for a family that she would never come to know and love. Nothing else. Revenge is her sole purpose in life and the reason for her existence. She's like a Terminator, but with far more style and grace.

Lady Snowblood is a brilliantly crafted film, filled with vibrant colors, beautiful cinematography and a fantastic score. It’s also extremely bloody and violent, and in a way that shows an immense amount of creativity.

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Thanks for digging into my list, and I very much encourage you to share your thoughts on my picks as well as share some of your favorite vengeance seeking female characters!

Rage (2010): Karma's a Bitch

Written and directed by Chris Witherspoon, Rage (2010) is a film that shows, in explicit detail, just how far someone will go for the sake of petty revenge. The $100,000 independent feature plays as two parts paranoid thriller and one part Slasher film, following a day (from hell) in the life of a man named Dennis (Rick Crawford). Dennis, who is happily married, or so it seems, has come to a point in his life where he only really thinks about one person: himself. Dennis has become so preoccupied with himself that he has completely allowed his better judgment fall by the wayside, and the once happily married man has found himself having an elicit affair with another woman.

Throughout the film, it's made quite clear that his wife is nothing short of wonderful, supportive and loving, something that makes it all the more apparent that Dennis is simply feeding his own selfish needs. This is further proven when Dennis breaks things off with the woman he's been seeing. Dennis has been stringing along his mistress in a whirlwind romance, only to dump her because he now suffers from a guilty conscience over what he has been doing behind his wife's back. While Dennis is trying to wipe his slate clean, his selfish ways have blinded him to the potential dangers that surround him. Soon after what seems to be a random encounter with a biker decked out in all black, Dennis finds himself being stalked by the stranger, whose advances become increasingly violent, until things go well beyond anything Dennis could have ever imagined. 

While the encounter is random at first thought, the woman who Dennis was having an affair with has an ex-boyfriend who is not only incredibly jealous, he was just released from prison. Is the biker who's been stalking Dennis her ex-boyfriend, or is it someone else altogether? Regardless of the answer, Dennis is forced to own up to his disrespectfully selfish ways in a fashion that no man could ever be prepared for.

At first glance, Rage is a movie that seems to have an identity complex on the surface, but in retrospect, the overall film gels together due to Dennis' character flaw driven plot. As I sat back and watched the film, I was a little confused at times as to what the movie was trying to be and where it was going, but there is a clear destination followed, which would be revealed to me upon deeper thought. As a result, the film that I found to be just okay, I now find to be much more enjoyable and possibly even worthy of a rewatch just to see how it plays out a second time around.

For a movie that costs only a $100,000 to make, Rage shows signs of a strong technical presence. There're moments where it feels and looks almost like a Hollywood made feature with a lot of skill brought to the table technically; however, there are moments where the independent feature flaws show up, things like cheap fade-ins and outs, for example. Regardless, as a whole, Rage is a well put together feature, with varied stylistic choices that seem to go hand in hand with what is unfolding on screen.

As far as the performances go, most of the acting is passable, but there's nothing too outstanding. Though, there is some lackluster and somewhat mellow dramatic dialogue to be found during certain moments in the film, something that I think hinders the impact of the performances at times. I would say the best performance does come from the silent stalker himself, the mysterious biker (who is actually played by the film's director), who, outside of a few minor cheesy hand acting moments, is an effectively intimidating presence in the film.

Overall, Rage is an interesting, if not slightly flawed, cautionary tale that should payoff for many fans of low-budget/independent horror cinema. The film often feels like a rollercoaster ride for the character and viewer alike, and while there are times where things get a little bumpy, the overall ride is satisfying enough to get back on again for another go around.

If you want to find out more about Chris Witherspoon's Rage, you can pop your head in over at the film's official site which I have conveniently highlighted just for you.

Freddy's Friday Night Dance Party!: NEEEEEERDS! Edition!

I think most men (and some women) within my age range (late teens-to-early twenties) grew up huge fans of Revenge of the Nerds. I used to watch the first two films like it was going out of style, and much of the appeal to a young male such as myself was definitely the T&A and the toilet humor. What more does one need. Actually, there is something that is needed when enjoying a juvenile comedy with a heart of gold, and that's a musical number!   

Now, I haven't seen any of the Nerd films in a long time, but if I remember correctly, it is this performance that wins the nerd crew the talent show portion of some contest they had where they faced off against the oppressive jocks. This is the performance that won them their freedom.

The first thing I notice when watching this clip, is how funny Poindexter is. Seriously, he is definitely the dork of the group, so nerdy that he can't even make spiky hair and an electronic violin seem cool. Even if any girls were to actually get wet from seeing this epic nerd performance, I bet they all passed by Poindexter for Booger. His hip motions weren't helping his case any either. Still, nowadays he might be able to pass himself off as a hipster, so maybe P-Dex was really just ahead of his time.

Of course, how can I talk about this off the chain performance without bringing up the true star of the show, which comes in the form of hip-hop legend, Lamar Latrell. Dude breaks it down with style and deserves some credit for the flavor he brings to this other wise nerd-centric stage show. He also deserves some cred for being as gay as he was and not hanging around with a better looking group of cats. Maybe he did so just so he could be the one with the most styles perhaps. It's kind of like the pretty girl that hangs with a bunch of busted looking chicks, just so she can be the prettiest.

Anyway, this is a classic scene that simply bleeds 80's cheese, and it is definitely quite entertaining seeing it again, especially because I probably thought it was cool at some point.

Faces Of Vengeance

While award memes are going around like warts, there is yet another fun little meme making the rounds, one that involves a little creativity. The point of this little art project is to take any certain theme of your choice and use screen shots from films to project that specific theme. For example, BJ-C from Day of the Women - the woman who kindly tagged me for this, went with images of smiling in horror films. I have decided to focus on film characters that are seeking and/or taking revenge on another character or characters, which I have dubbed, Faces Of Vengeance.

 

Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell

*

 

Ms. 45

*

Carrie

*

Sex &Fury

*

The Professional

*

 

The Last House On the Left

*

Cape Fear '91

*

Inglourious Basterds

*

 

Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance

*

 

I Spit On Your Grave

*

Death Wish

*

So now I am supposed to pass this thing along, and the blogs I picked I did so because I think that if they do decide to participate, they would do something rad. Yeah, I said rad.

 

Behind the Couch

The Death Rattle

From Beyond Depraved

Planet of Terror

The Cheap Bin

iZombie-Lover

Rolling Thunder: Welcome Home, Soldier Boy

Rolling Thunder is a 1977 revenge tale that focuses on Major Charles Rane (William Devane), a man who spent seven years of his life in a Vietnam POW camp but has finally found his way home. Everything appears great at first, as he comes back to a grand homecoming celebration with much of the community there to clap and celebrate in his honor. He is a war hero, a man that survived against all odds and is being recognized by all for his time served. 

When Rane and fellow POW, Johnny Vohden (Tommy Lee Jones), make their way back home - even through the gloss of celebration - they clearly have nothing to celebrate. You can see they are hallow men by the empty looks in their eyes, a blank stare caused by spending seven years in hell. Even the interactions Rane has with other people are off, as outside of the "glad you're homes" and the "you are a true heroes," people aren't even sure how to react to Rane, even his own wife.

Everyone thought Rane was most likely dead, and seven years is a lot of time for a women - who bore his child just before he left - to stay alone. She met another man and planned to marry him, and those plans are not changed by Rane coming back home after all these years. Now, Rane is a man that lost everything mentally in Nam, he sacrificed his life, went through horrors that no one should ever go though, and now he comes home only to find out he's lost everything there too. He has nothing…

What Rane does have, unfortunately, is what the lasting effects of his trauma have left on him. He becomes very solitude and while people aren't sure how to react to him, he isn't sure how to go back to normal, especially when normal is not as he left it. In one very telling and uncomfortable scene, Rane has an interaction with another character and decides to show him an example of one of the torture he faced everyday. He does so by acting it out, showing how he learned to deal with the pain he went though. Rane goes a little too far, far to the point where it is clear that he is not yet able to separate himself from what he spent doing for the last seven years. It's almost become a part of his being – it's what he knows.

There is a clear but calm rage in Rane, a rage brought forth by going through what he did, by losing his life and himself. He has no release for this rage, but his opportunity would come when he is even further destroyed. When his return home from Nam was celebrated, he was presented with a red Cadillac and 2,555 silver dollars - one for every day he was a prisoner. These gifts are of no value in comparison to what happened to him and the loss he has faced. However, these gifts have plenty value to men that are less than honorable and carry absolutely no value.

Rane is attacked at home by a group of gun totting men who saw all the shiny silver dollars that he received on TV. They want his more than hard earned wealth, but Rane - being as strong as he is due to his recent past - will not give it up too easily. Even when they torture him, it is for not, and while Rane might not want to give up what is his because of sternness, he also may want to be tortured, because that is all he now knows. Rane's soon to be ex-wife and son come home right as all of this is happening, and afraid for his father's life, his son tells them where the silver dollars are.

Unfortunately, when the thieves get the money, they kill his wife, his son and shoot Rane, but he doesn't die. Rane, who essentially had nothing, did at least have one thing, a chance to become the father to his son. Now that chance is gone, and while they left Rane for dead, he isn't, and now this is his opportunity to get out all the rage that is built up inside of him. Rane can exorcise all of his demons, and these demons are on a collision course with a group of men that made the biggest mistake of their lives, wronging the devil.

It's incredibly bleak with how Rane gets this almost meaningless payment for his time served, or, for his pain served - I should say. Sadly, it is this payment for pain that would only serve to cost him even more heartache. The only way to get this heartache out is to go after the men who did this to him, to take out all of his suffering that he has endured for the past seven plus years, and all of it is going to come down on them.

He now has a purpose again and a reason to live, which is to kill those that took the very last thing he had. All of that emptiness, all of that anger and all of the pain will be projected onto taking revenge on these men. He's a dead man with a goal, and at one point, he even says to a female that he befriends: "My eyes are open, I'm looking at you, but I'm dead." That line alone is very telling of this character and where he is in his life, or lack thereof.

Directed by John Flynn, with a screenplay by Paul Schrader and Heywood Gould, Rolling Thunder is a revenge film, yes, but not one that is exploitative like many of it's time. It is more a deep character study, one that has been seen in plenty of movies involving characters coming home from war, only to be something other than what they left as. It's well made, rough around the edges and gritty but avoids the over the top aspect of many films of the genre, until the films climax where shit hits the fan, and the payoff is given with an amazing little whore house set gun battle that is sure to pump up even the lamest of viewers.

Rolling Thunder's performances are great from all, especially Devane, who has a lot of shit laying on his character shoulders, and he carries it well. I also found Linda Haynes (who plays his love interest and possible path back to some form of happiness) to be really good and a character that developed quite well as the film went along. Of course, I have to touch on Tommy Lee Jones, who has the coldest look in his eyes and is simply great in his small but important role. You can really see why he became the star he did, and it is awesome seeing him play a character like this…I only wish he had done it more.

Rolling Thunder is a very subtle but powerful film that works as a window into what many have gone through but few can truly understand. Sometimes what you see when you look through such a window is devastating, but it is something we all should see from time to time as a reminder of other's suffering.

A Strapped Shoplifter, a Pirate on Cassette

The LAMB does this fun little blogathon thingy called the LAMBs in the Director’s Chair, in which a specific director is put under the spotlight and any LAMB member can contribute in any way they see fit as long is it has to do with the directors overall work in film or a specific movie helmed. When they announced that the fifth director for the Directors Chair event was going to be Clint Eastwood, I was very ecstatic to say the least. Eastwood is a director that I adore and his filmography is filled with so many great movies, but there is only one that came immediately to mind when I thought about my own contribution.

1973’s High Plains Drifter is set in the town of Lago, and the townsfolk have a whole lot to worry about. They suffer from a dark past that haunts them for their greedy ways, and there’s a trio of gunslingers that are to be released from prison and will be looking to take revenge on the town that betrayed them and had them sent to jail. In rides a mysterious gunslinger only known as The Stranger (Eastwood), who seems to be just stopping by for a drink and some R&R.

The Stranger immediately makes his presences known when he is confronted by a couple of would be tough guys, whom he turns into human targets after they try to attack him. Seeing an opportunity to keep the three imprisoned gunslingers from coming back to seek vengeance on the town that did them wrong, the people of Lago talk The Stranger into helping them out with the issue. The Stranger, claiming not to be a gunfighter, only agrees when the townsfolk offer him anything he wants during his stay in Lago – all the food, drink, room and board, anything he wants and all for free.

Eastwood’s character is the definition of anti-hero and it comes across as clear as day in the matter of a few minutes. You root for him right from the get go when he is confronted by the men in the opening moments, but in the blink of an eye, he has his way with a woman in a way that shows he isn’t necessarily a good guy at all and he clearly has no concern for rules. His character goes much deeper than that though - the town does have a history involving a Marshal that was whipped to death by the three imprisoned gunslingers due to the people of Lago and their greed. For some reason The Stranger seems to be plagued, or connected to this tragic event, but why exactly is this?

High Plains Drifter is certainly a Western…on the surface, but it also has many elements of a supernatural Thriller in many ways. Eastwood was unsurprisingly influenced by Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, two directors he famously worked with on films very different from one another. The influence shows greatly in High Plains in that it is a Western in the classic sense, but the epic presence found in a Leone film is traded for what I would consider a gritty urban styled thriller more along the lines of Dirty Harry in how it is shot and the feel of the film. It is almost a meeting of the two genres and it makes for an interesting combination and one that works very well.

One big stand out that shows the two genre styles come together, is the superb music in the film done by Dee Barton. Right as the movie opens, you get a great and almost traditional Western tune that steers you to think that the movie will be a straight up Western. As the movie goes along and especially when the whipped to death Marshal first shows up (in the form of a dream via The Stranger), the music becomes very ominous and eerie. Even as High Plains movies along, the music gets even more dark and brooding, as does the movie itself and it almost reminds me of something that you might hear from Goblin even.

Eastwood still being somewhat green as a filmmaker at this time does a fantastic job with High Plains Drifter and the film looks great on all technical levels. Some of the best stuff in the film is the long panning shots of The Stranger as he’s walking or on horseback, going slowly from one place to another as the camera follows him patiently. As the inhabitants of Lago look on in curiosity, the only sound you hear is that of his spurs. Fantastic stuff. The entire ending is great looking too, with the set design and the how the town of Lago is turned into the town of Hell with a fresh coat of red paint – just for the purpose of putting fear into the hearts of the three bandits on their way to torture the townsfolk.

Eastwood is perfect as The Stranger and he does a great job portraying a character that would seem to be just another gunslinger, to his transformation to something more supernatural. In whatever form it is, whether it is a brother, the soul of the Marshal that was killed, The Crow, or whatever, The Stranger is clearly one that is sent to take vengeance on more than the three gunslingers that murdered the Marshal. He is awful and  despicable to the people of Lago, but they deserve it and if he were sent to avenge the death of the slain Marshal, then he would have to make the townsfolk suffer as well since they are the ones responsible in the first place. And that plays into the end of the film heavily as he lets things unfold in a certain way, instead of taking care of it right away…he wants the town to pay for what they have done before he steps in.

High Plains Drifter is one of the best and most original takes on the Western genre and Eastwood really shows his mastery early in this one by going with something that is a little different stylistically. The ambiguity of what The Stranger is makes this a fascinating film and giving it a supernatural feel is a bold choice that pays off. I can only highly recommend this film and the slight supernatural aspect, mixed with the grittiness of the movie, makes it something that may be enjoyed by fans of horror as well  as fans of Westerns.