WAR CAT (1987)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *naturalistic*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

This 1987 film was given the bland title ANGEL OF VENGEANCE in DVD releases, but I still prefer the title from its VHS incarnation, WAR CAT. The heroine of the story isn't especially cat-like, but she does show an ability to turn savage, in contrast to having zero angelic qualities. In terms of phenomenality this flick is largely relevant for being a naturalistic take on the "most dangerous game" trope of human-hunting. 

Heroine Tina Davenport (Jannina Poynter), daughter of a deceased armed forces officer, decides to take up temporary residence in a small American town in order to write a book about her late dad (a motif possibly borrowed from 1979's I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE). Because Tina's hot and runs around the town for daily exercise, she's noticed by a neighboring survivalist group. This group is made of its leader Major Hargrove and about half a dozen hangers-on. Hargrove honestly thinks that the country's about to be consumed by chaos at any minute, while most of his followers just seem to be in the group because it gives them the chance for antisocial activities.

Tina uses an elbow-strike to repel an assault by the most lustful member of the survivalists, and gets him charged by the local cops. Apparently he gets bailed out by his cohorts, but after one shot of a cop-car there's no sense of any local law enforcement on the scene. Hargrove's survivalists take down an equally scuzzy biker-gang and take their women prisoner. The desire for more feminine company leads the faux-soldiers to kidnap Tina as well, after which at least one of them rapes her.

Hargrove, dedicated to his martial mission, does not rape her, but he decides to execute her. Tina requests a fighting chance: to run ahead and let her oppressors hunt her down. The guys all think she's going to be a sitting duck, but Tina's father trained her in guerilla tactics. One by one, she takes out each of her armed enemies, with an admirable variety-- miniature spears jabbed in one guy's eyes, a noose-trap and a grenade for another one, a throat-slitting for her rapist, and a "fighting chance" fate for Hargrove. 

While the killings are the best part, they're all in the last twenty minutes of this short flick, and most of the rest of the film displays director Ted Mikels' legendary talent for wasting time. One review commented that no one in the film could act, and it's true that almost everyone is a bad amateur, particularly the guy playing Hargrove, who looks like he ought to be a manager at a Wendy's. But if it's true that Poynter came to the film after having been a cocktail waitress, she actually acquits herself fairly well for a non-professional. It's still a blah film, of course, but Mikels had done, and would continue to do, many movies of far worse quality.