“Violation”(2020): Exacting Extreme Vengeance

“Violation” is a film Madeleine Sims-Fewer had to make. Needed to make. Was drivento make.

I’ve never spoken with Ms. Sims-Fewer. We’ve never communicated in any way. We have, however, interacted in that I have just seen ”Violation”, a production she co-wrote, co-directed and stars in.

This is no spur-of-the-moment slapdash stick it on a streaming service creation. Far from such. A hell of a lot of thought, purpose and resolve went in to every chilling frame of “Violation”. Like it or not, this is art clearly summoned from the core of the soul.

Ostensibly a Story of seething vengeance in the wake of sexual assault, this thoroughly unsettling story digs even deeper. Universal human themes of identity, self-worth, family responsibility and preservation and the powerful exploiting the helpless are darkly and disturbingly explored. Then unflinchingly exploded in our faces.

Some will call these extended scenes of explicit malice and gore gratuitous. Sick exploitation. Luridly deranged. And I won’t argue.

Much.

Except perhaps to say this: In the overwhelming measure of the horror genre’s forever-flowing river of blood and entrails-splattered orgies we never see any sign of humanity from those doing the butchering and disemboweling.

We see it here. Vividly. Viscerally. Viciously.

Absolution is the endgame. The ultimate goal. Nothing else will suffice. And it is not enough for Miriam to claim eternal victory in the wake of maniacal mayhem. It is absolutely imperative to becomethat which is vanquished in the triumph.

The final images of are of a lakeside house party. They conspire to reveal a critical component of Miriam’s state of mind. Of her very being.

These moments will linger.

The guests all laugh, drink and lick ice cream cones, blissfully unaware that they are partaking of Miriam’s madness.

“Violation” is available on Shudder.