Year: 1984
Duration: 01:32:44
Directed by: Danny Steinmann
Actors: Linda Blair, John Vernon, Robert Dryer, Johnny Venocur
Language: English
Country: USA
Also known as: Zombie Brigade, 5 Deadly Angels, Savage Street – Straße der Gewalt
Description: In a big city that only exists in the movies, Linda Blair is Brenda – the leader of a tough-as-nails gang of chicks. You can tell they are tough because they wear sunglasses at night, strut up and down sleazy streets in spandex pants, smoke cigarettes and talk about sex. They do all this to an extremely dated, overly synthesized 80’s soundtrack by a Mike Reno wannabe.
But underneath that tough exterior, Brenda has a heart of gold – after all, she lets her sickenly sweet deaf mute little sister, Heather (Linnea Quigley), hang out with the girls during their slutty evening streetwalking sessions.
During one such excursion, a gang of leering creepazoids called The Scars hits little Heather with their car at a streetcorner (apparently Heather is both deaf AND dumb, as she steps out into the traffic and waits for the car to hit her). Anyway, she’s not seriously hurt, but all the girls are still pissed off about it. Never one to miss an opportunity for some pootang, thug gang leader Jake (Robert Dyer) suggests that Brenda should hook up with him. When he asks “how does that sound”, Brenda responds with “How does that sound? Let’s see…almost as good as… DROWNING IN A POOL OF VOMIT!” Ooooh. Brenda earned her street cred with insults like that, folks.
Later on, Brenda and the girls come across Jake’s unattended car, and they jump in and take it for a joyride as The Scars run behind them. And damn, these guys are fast, they actually keep pace with the car for about 10 blocks before Brenda loses them. When they finally find their car, it is overflowing with garbage, prompting Jake to hulk out.
The next day, Brenda and the girls are in gym class doing one of those exercise sessions you only see in movies like CARRIE and ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL. Again, you know these girls are tough, because every time the gym coach gives them a fitness instruction, they respond with “stuff it, bitch” and “up yours”, and the coach doesn’t do anything about it. In response to a joke from one of her friends, Brenda responds “Sit on it, Stella”. I’m surprised her friend didn’t come back with “up your nose with a rubber hose”. Shit, I half expected Fonzie to come around the corner wearing a Scars jacket and saying “ayyyyyy”!
Review: SAVAGE STREETS was a troubled production from the beginning. Cherie Currie of the Runaways was originally cast to portray Brenda, and Tom DeSimone was slated to direct. However, after casting was finalized and a few days of shooting, Linda Blair was unexpectedly brought in to replace Currie, making the rest of the cast wonder if they were about to be fired. Then DeSimone walked, and Danny Steinmann (who went on to write and direct FRIDAY THE 13TH: A NEW BEGINNING) was hired as DeSimone’s replacement. Then came financial troubles – the project ran out of money and was put on hold with an uncertain future. Enter producer John Strong, who was brought in to save the picture. The troubles didn’t end after shooting re-commenced – according to the cast interviews, there were times during the shoot when everyone seemed to be wanting to direct the picture. But despite all these obstacles, SAVAGE STREETS was completed and the rest is B-movie history.
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