Deadly Daphne's Revenge Review

Title: Deadly Daphne’s Revenge a.k.a The Hunting Season (1987)

Rating: 4 out of 5

My Tagline: “Where the hell is Deadly Daphne?”

Favorite Quote: “Relax, have a good time.”

Plot Synopsis: You would think it’s about a girl named Daphne and the revenge that she seeks but as you may have guessed from my tagline it has almost nothing to do with that at all. This movie is actually about a blonde teenager, Cindy, who during the course of running away from home is more or less raped by a small group of hunters. (I always thought that if you wanted to get picked up you were expected to put out but whatever) Telling you this may spoil the surprise as one naturally assumes that the girl who is going to be raped is Daphne and the bulk of the movie is about the gruesome way she deals with the situation. Instead the movie takes an odd turn into a bad legal/psychological drama involving a lot of talking, contracted murder, suicide, love, and the exploration of man’s dark side. The idea of tackling such issues within a bad movie like this is hilarious. Especially when you consider how much easier it would be to just make a slasher flick. Things start off fine, go dull, go a little less dull, and then get pretty crazy.

Review: I enjoyed this movie because I made fun of it the whole time and it’s pretty rife for riffing. Even if that isn’t your game it can be fun on it’s own. It has those great weird characters and plot turns that leave you asking, “What were they thinking?” It’s competently produced and it’s pretty clear they tried hard which is a fun change. Though there is no doubt that the bad writing and acting will leave you chuckling. (I’ve seen more convincing love stories on Star Trek for Pete’s sake!) The racist male lead is one of my favorite characters of all time and the film’s attitudes towards women are pretty funny. If it’s the ridiculous whims of the flighty Cindy or a man’s wife being such a bitch he is driven to suicide or a mob boss’ ho sitting at his feet this movie is guaranteed to please all vagina haters everywhere. It’s also the movie that finally demonstrates the plight of the white-male-business-owner and the reality of his hardships. He makes one mistake, rapes a white girl, and next thing you know the whole world is out to get him. Poor white-male-business-owner, no one ever gives him any breaks.