Lethal Woman

My review was written in May 1989 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"Lethal Woman" is an unconvincing revenge pic, suitable as a direct-to-video exploitation genre title.

Pic originally was called "The Most Dangerous Woman Alive" and in fact is a sex-switch on the classic "Most Dangerous Gamer" horror format of humans as prey.

Merete Van Kamp, Dutch thesp who closely resembles Michelle Pfeiffe this time out, plays an army brat who's raped by her commanding officer Col. Maxim (James Luisi, playing heavy in the old twirling-mustache mode). Fellow soldiers and even Van Kamp's fiance (Deon Stewardson) cover up for the colonel.

Embittered, Van Kamp has rounded up other rape victims, including statuesque Shannon Tweed, and set up shop on an all-woman island. There she lures all the men involved in the original rape indent and court-martials them one by one, hunts them down and kills them in bloodthirsty fashion. Robert Lipton is the retired special forces expert who's assigned by the army to put a stop to Van Kamp's antisocial behavior.

Lensed in South Africa, site of several Film Ventures '70s hits (e.g., "Kill or Be Killed" with James Ryan0, pic is competently made but phony. Supporting cast has trouble simulating the all-American accents and no suspense is generated in final reels when the obviously competent Lipton fights various starlets for survival.

Van Kamp is hamstrung in a nasty role, with Tweed stealing the spotlight, especially when the latter delivers the exploitation goods in a topless tryst in the surf with Lipton, simulating "From Here to Eternity" pose. Pic could have used more lighter moments. It's played dead serious by helmer Christian Marnham and is ultimately boring.