MOVIE PREVIEWS
RAVAGE
Rated: R
Release Date: 08/21/2020
Production Company: Brainstorm Media

Cast:
Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Bruce Dern, Robert Longstreet, Michael Weaver and Ross Partridge.

Crew:
Director: Teddy Grennan. Producers: Benjamin Baldwin, Heath Franklin, Bennett Krishock and Marsha Oglesby. Executive Producers: Gloria Coronado-Myatt, Alejandro de Castro, Emily Granville, Burton Gray, Ayanna Hart, Oliver Kennan, Rosalie Maloney, Jill Mazursky, David Perdue, Jeff Steen and Taylor Williams. Screenwriter: Teddy Grennan. Cinematographer: Christopher Walters
Plot:
By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs

?Ravage,? the new movie from director and screenwriter Teddy Grennan (Among Ravens) isn?t for everyone. It is a gruesome, violent, sadistic actioner that might even make Quentin Tarantino wince.

Once you start watching ?Ravage? there is no turning back. Credit that to Annabelle Dexter-Jones (TV?s, ?Succession?), the film?s fierce heroine, who holds her own against the bad boys although you wouldn?t know it at first when the film opens.

That?s because when we first see Harper Sykes (Dexter-Jones), she?s laying in a hospital bed bandaged from head-to-toe unable to tell the unsympathetic detective Slayton (Michael Weaver, TV?s ?Diary of A Future President?) what happened.

He assumes that Harper might be one of those wacko meth heads who decided to hang out at the Watchatoomy Valley, a supposedly woodsy area that attracts all sorts of crazies.

Then the film cuts to Harper before she landed in the hospital. We see that she?s a young, renowned nature photographer on assignment.

While working, Harper notices a man being beaten and whipped by some thugs. She?s shocked and runs for help. But the guys see Harper and go after her.

Little do they know that not only is this woman an amazing photographer, she?s also a trained survivalist and for a while is able to escape them.

When she returns to the police department and tells Officer Slayton what she saw, he insists she show him where it occurred.

Will Officer Slayton do the right thing and take care of the situation. Nope. Turns out, he?s working with the capturers and their ringleader, Ravener, (Robert Longstreet, Judas and the Black Messiah).

It seems that they are angry about people coming in and trying to take their property. Even Bruce Dern is part of this motley crew.

Officer Slayton takes Harper to a barn where the other men are, and they tie her up and abuse her.

However, Harper escapes and gets even by outsmarting, beating, shooting, and even beheading one of the guys in the process.

If you are trying to make sense of it all, don?t. ?Ravage? is mindless entertainment and is best enjoyed when you suspend all disbelief and simply go with its frenetic flow. It is what it is.

Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays now at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 1530 AM and 93.1 FM.

Look At This Trailer For "RAVAGE"

Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics? Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.

OLD SCHOOL VIDEO PICK OF THE MONTH

<b>MAHOGANY</b> Title: MAHOGANY
Year Released: 1975
Running Time: 109
Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Director: Berry Gordy, Tony Richardson and Jack Wormser
Director of Photography: David Watkin
Screenwriter: John Byrum and Toni Amber
Author: Lana K. Wilson-Combs

REVIEW: DIANA ROSS AND BILLY DEE WILLIAMS DAZZLE IN "MAHOGANY"

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you? Where are you going to?
Do you know?
Do you get what you're hoping for? When you look behind you, there's no open doors. What are you hoping for? Do you know? "Theme from Mahogany...
  MOVIE TRIVIA
 
The "Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" was sung by Diana Ross in the 1975 movie "Mahogany." But, who initially recorded the song in 1973?
"Roberta Flack"
"Natalie Cole"
"Deniece Williams"
"Thelma Houston"