X: Night of Vengeance

X: Night of Vengeance is a 2011 Australian erotic thriller[2] directed by Jon Hewitt and starring Viva Bianca and Hanna Mangan-Lawrence as a pair of sex workers who witness a murder and must evade the killer (Stephen Phillips) while he chases them through Sydney, Australia.

X: Night of Vengeance
Theatrical film poster
Directed byJon Hewitt
Produced byLizzette Atkins
Written byJon Hewitt
Belinda McClory
StarringViva Bianca
Hanna Mangan-Lawrence
Peter Docker
Stephen Phillips
Eamon Farren
Belinda McClory
Music byDavid Franzke
Byron Joel Scullin
CinematographyMark Pugh
Edited byCindy Clarkson
Production
company
Circe Films
Rough Beast
Distributed byCelluloid Dreams
IFC Films
Release date
  • 4 August 2011 (2011-08-04) (MIFF)[1]
Running time
99 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Shay, a runaway on her first night in Sydney, works as prostitute. She is beaten up by couple of pimps because she took one of their customers. Holly is on her last night working as a high-class call girl before departing with one of her clients to Paris. Needing a brunette girl for one of her customers, Holly discovers Shay and recruits her for a sexual encounter. In the client's hotel room, they witness him being killed by Bennett. The girls flee the hotel, chased by the murderer through King's Cross, Sydney's red-light district.

Holly and Shay use a cab driven by Harry, and the pair manage to evade Bennett, only for Bennett to track Holly using the murder victim's recent call list. Bennett intercepts Holly and assaults her. They drive through the street looking for Shay. It is revealed that Shay is seventeen years old and ran away from home after her mom died. Bennett finds Shay walking through the streets, Holly warns Shay and Shay runs away. Bennett chases after her, leaving his car behind with Holly inside.

Holly takes Bennett's car and rescues Shay. It is now revealed that Bennett is a cop. Holly decides to seek help from her boyfriend Ligurian, who is also a cop. They visit Ligurian at a strip club and ask for his help. It turns out Ligurian and Bennett are friends and when Bennett tries to shoot Holly, Ligurian shoots and kills him. Ligurian then forces Shay to drive a car with him and Holly. Holly drives the car into a wall, killing Ligurian. Holly and Shay then escape with the briefcase in another car before Holly succumbs to an injury from the crash. Shay leaves in Harry's taxi and receives a pet rabbit from Harry the next morning.

Cast

Production

X was shot in and around Kings Cross, Sydney.[3]

Release

The film premiered at the 60th Melbourne International Film Festival in 2011.[1] The film was sold overseas before it premiered in Australia, which director Hewitt attributed to the difficulty that Australian films have competing against American films domestically.[4]

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports a 69% approval rating based on 16 reviews and a rating average of 5.3 out of 10.[5] Glenn Dunks on Oyna Magazine gave X: Night of Vengeance a B+, stating that the film "won't be for everyone, but I found myself enjoying every second of its slick, bordering on camp, nature. It's one of the most alive and confident genre titles to come out of this country in quite some time",[6] while Xan Brooks of The Guardian gave it a 2/5 rating and said, "Hewitt's pungent early scenes of Oz's underbelly have a certain crystal-meth intensity, but the buzz can't last, and the film starts to wilt."[7]

Accolades

Cindy Clarkson was nominated for Best Editing at the 2nd AACTA Awards.

References
  1. Savage, Sophia (4 August 2011). "Highlights at Final Week of Melbourne Int'l Film Fest: "Attenberg," "Grey Matter," "Butt Naked"". Indiewire. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  2. "X - Night of Vengeance (18)". The Daily Mirror. 15 January 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  3. Molitorisz, Sacha (20 November 2011). "Kings among men". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  4. Bartlett, Myke (18 July 2011). "X marks the spot". The Weekly Review. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  5. "X: Night of Vengeance (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  6. Dunks, Glenn (24 November 2011). "X". Onya Magazine. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  7. Brooks, Xan (19 January 2012). "X: Night of Vengeance – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
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