Plot: What’s it about?
In The Violent Years, we watch as a neglected young woman and her friends start a reign of terror over their town, which results in all sorts of chaos. These girls might look sweet and innocent, but don’t let their faces fool you, as they’re cold hearted criminals to the bone. The chicks seem to forsake everything as they run amok in the town, even dressing up like men to rob a gas station, but that’s just the start of their antics. It seems like the girls want to do anything that’s bad, such as throw makeout parties with older men, harassing local residents, and even venturing to Lover’s Lane to have some sick fun with the couples. But all those acts fail to equal what the girls do next, as some Commies hire them to trash the school, but things don’t go just as planned. More female crime is present in Girl Gang, where a band of young ladies fall into bad company and end up in a world of illegal events. A sleazeball gangster wants the girls to do his dirty work and to make sure they do, he gets them addicted to drugs, then rewards them for completed tasks. But when one of the kids ends up shot in one of their crimes, it seems like the choices she made have come back to haunt her and then some.
This is another double feature release from Something Weird Video (via Image Entertainment) and this time, we’re given two teen tough flicks, both of which focus on the ladies. And while I like to watch these teen crime movies, I think the female based ones are often the better ones, as they seem to have more eye candy to soak in. The Violent Years is an excellent piece of teen tough cinema and while it is a little too preachy, I think it delivers in terms of entertainment. Of course, the acting is bad and the production values are low, but I think that adds to the allure here and genre fans should give this one a look. On a humorous note, this film was written by B movie maven Ed Wood, Jr. and of course, that means all sorts of hijinks ensue. The second feature here is Girl Gang and in truth, it is so bad you have to love it, especially the hilarious lines you’ll hear. The episode with the low rent doctor takes the cake, but Girl Gang is loaded with memorable lines, to be sure. Once again, Something Weird Video has delivered a worthwhile double feature and as such, I am giving this release a more than solid recommendation, if you’re a fan of teen tough flicks.
Video: How does it look?
Both films are shown in full frame transfers and look decent, but still show some signs of the ravages of time. The Violent Years is a shade darker overall, but has a clean print and seems to be sharp enough, although a little hazy if compared to more recent releases. The print looks pretty clean, but has some defects of course, though not as many as I had expected. I think Girl Gang has better contrast balance, but also has more debris and damage to the source print, so I suppose it all sort of levels out in the end. In the end, both movies look good, but of course, time has taken some toll on them and as such, don’t expect pristine elements here.
Audio: How does it sound?
There isn’t much to talk about here, both films use mono tracks and sound decent, but not much above that. I have no serious issues to report, but time has lessened the sharpness of the audio, of course. I detected some hiss and harshness in both tracks, but that’s to be expected to a certain extent. I can’t imagine these elements being restored anytime soon, due to the limited audience of the material. The music, sound effects all sound decent, but don’t expect much more than that, although the mixes aren’t bad by any means.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes The Violent Years’ theatrical trailer, as well as a wealth of behind the scenes stills from the production. I was pleased to find these materials here, but I would have liked even more film specific features also. This release also has bonus trailers for other teen tough movies, selection of exploitation artwork, radio spots, and two bonus short films, which are fun to watch of course. As always, you can enable a drive-in mode and when you do, the films run back to back, with various drive-in themed events piped in to enhance the mood.
