DVD Review – X: Night of Vengeance

Coming to DVD next week is Australian thriller, X: Night of Vengeance, here is Scott’s thoughts on the film.

When making a film that is about prostitution and exploitation, it is vital for the film maker to tread very carefully and not align itself with the very hatred of women that it is trying to highlight. Unfortunately, Jon Hewitt’s film, ‘X: Night of Vengeance’ which I am sure worked very well on paper, fails on it’s execution. Not even the very real location of King’s Cross in Sydney with its red neon and shady back streets could save this film from being one-dimensional and voyeuristic.

Viva Bianca plays Holly, a 30-year-old high class call girl who is just doing one more job, a threesome,  before escaping her 15 year stint as a hooker and jetting off to France. Unfortunately her partner in this ménage-a-trois falls fowl of what could easily go down as the freakiest shower accident ever and Holly is forced to find another partner for the job. As if by magic she stumbles upon 17 year old Shey, a brunette and fledgling hooker, and asks her if she wants ‘IN’ on the job. Whilst the two ladies are partying with their client in his hotel room, they witness his brutal murder, and then spend the rest of the night in what can only be described as ‘a night from hell’.

The film feels very straight-to-dvd from the outset. The acting is wooden (no pun intended),  and the supporting cast are penned so flat that they almost feel like caricatures, from the greasy haired junkies to the crazy bent cops. The end result is a very well shot, but boring thriller, even with violent punctuation it does nothing to excite. The other problem I have is the amount of pointless characters that do nothing for the overall storyline, the young street kid who pops up to pinch a smoke every now and again only to disappear around the next corner…with no added value to the narrative… eh?

There is also a vain of unfeasibility throughout. There are many leaps of faith made by writer/director Jon Hewitt that make little sense. For instance, how did Holly guess that Shey was a call girl just from the way she dressed? And, would anyone really go and knock on the door of a suffering drug addict to help him in a scary looking pay-by-the-hour hotel? I think not.

There is a glimmer of humanity though in wannabe magician / cab driver played by Eamon Farren, but his freakishly on time rescues and unhealthy interest in child like Shey, yes she looks very young, does seem to throw this off kilter as well.

X: Night of Vengeance tries so hard to be a tragic tale that depicts the hard side of a call-girl’s life, instead it just titillates but rarely excites and seems rely heavily on nudity to try to retain your interest, ultimately it leaves you feeling perplexed at what it’s true motives were.

X:NIGHT OF VENGEANCE IS RELEASED IN UK ON DVD ON 20TH FEBRUARY 2012

About The Author – Scott Lawlor

Chief Editor of FRC. A self confessed geek with an unhealthy thirst for all things Home Cinema. Whether it is the latest Action film or Subwoofer.

Have you seen this film? Do you agree with the review? Comment below…