Summary
Scavenger is a grindhouse-style movie that doesn’t capture the uniqueness of the sub-genre that was once so famous.
Scavenger, also known as Carrona in its native Argentina, is directed by Eric Fleitas and Luciana Garraza, starring Nayla Churruarin, Eric Fleitas, Sofia Lanaro, Rosa Cuenya Macedo and Gonzalo Tolosa.
Scavenger follows Tisha (Churruarin), who roams the post-apocalyptic world picking off survivors who kill innocents, selling their body parts to other chefs in The Merchant, who has the connections Tisha is searching for when it comes to finding the truth about the organ donors roaming the open world. She also meets the exotic stripper Luna (Lanaro), who will help take her into the underworld of the sadistic cannibals.
Scavenger brings us a story which starts with so much promise, making us feel like we are entering into a story that could easily be compared to a Mad Max movie, only to fall into watching an exploitation movie’s biggest weakness: getting caught up in trying to shock the audience with one scene that goes on too long, becoming uncomfortable to the extent of making us want to switch it off, rather than being shocked by what we are seeing. If you were to take out or at least trim down that unnecessary scene, everything else going on in the story works very well for a grindhouse-style movie, with the basic concept of one person fighting back against the odds.
Scavenger has strong performances throughout, with Nayla Churruarin in the leading role, needing to show endurance for certain scenes, and strength and brutality in others. When it comes to the bandits and cannibals being portrayed, they are made to believe we are seeing the very worst in the world.
Scavenger uses the action-horror genre by taking us into the grindhouse style of horror, where the violence, sex, and world is way over the top. While most of the film embraces this world to make us feel like we are watching a movie from the 1970s, it does get caught in the middle of giving us an uncomfortable scene, which does go on too long.
Overall Scavenger is a tribute to the 1970s exploitation movies that will always gain an audience, even if it isn’t going to be for everyone to enjoy.
