{jatabs type="content" position="top" height="auto" skipAnim="true" mouseType="click" animType="animFade"}

[tab title="Movie Review"]

Guilt

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to push a person to their breaking point.  But, as is the case with Guilt, a childhood spent witnessing abuse forces a person’s hand . . . and violence becomes the only recourse.  But is it ever the answer?

Guilt, a revenge thriller opening this week, attempts to answer the question and it begins with a scene of supposed quiet domestication - as a plumber arrives to fix a woman's toilet - that ends, rather shockingly, in brutal violence.  It is alarming, disquieting, and totally kick-ass. 

"is involving and dynamic enough that any fan of the beloved Showtime series Dexter should check this title out"


 

Because Jessie Fuller (a blisteringly fierce Janet Shay) is taking the law into her own hands. And, when you see why, you will understand, too.

Jessie’s not a caped crusader, mind you, but this vigilante has had it with the amount of child abuse in the world.  With the Capital of New South Wales as her home turf, this child psychologist takes it upon herself to rid the streets of child sex offenders by violent means, hunting and killing them.  She's a pro at this and emotion has no room on the killing floor.  This is the tense and startling territory of Guilt, a film which grabs viewers by the throat and refuses to let go until the end credits roll by.

Because Jessie, the child psychologist pushed to her limits by this cruel world, is having second thoughts.  Maybe it is because Detective Swan (Kirsty McKenzie) and her partner, Detective Detective Hancock (Craig Walker) are getting wise to all the missing (and convicted) pedophiles.  Maybe it is because her latest target, Grace O'Connell (Hayley Flowers), is striking a nerve with her.  Psychologists are supposed to be helping people, after all.  Guilt

And Grace, a woman involved in a child sex trafficking ring (but who avoided jail time after she convinced the judge that she was a victim of abuse herself, and feared for her life if she didn't obey the ring leader's demands) is bringing out the vengeful animal within her.  

Marking the feature directorial debut of Australian filmmakers Karl Jenner & Lyndsay Sarah, Guilt is a revenge thriller that explores all avenues of its namesake because it doesn’t hold back as Jessie comes in contact with one of her former clients and discovered, as part of his recovery, that he lied to her about his molestation . . . and, yes, she murdered the man he named.  Uh-oh.  Has she been used?

All of these situations are coming to a head in this Australian independent thriller.  Some you will see coming.  Others you won't, but Guilt makes for a solid flick.

Co-starring David Woodland, Raelee Hill and Tom Wilson as Mitchell, her former client who reveals his former lies, Guilt doesn’t necessarily redefine the vigilante revenge thriller genre and it certainly doesn’t have to.  The story, written by co-director Lyndsay Sarah, is involving and dynamic enough that any fan of the beloved Showtime series Dexter should check this title out, too . . . especially upon witnessing the lengths that Jessie will go to make Grace feel what her victim’s felt so many years ago.  

Guilt screens at the Film Noir Cinema in Brooklyn beginning September 26 and is currently available On Demand from GVN Releasing.

3/5 stars

[/tab]

[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Guilt

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor:
Available on Blu-ray

Screen Formats:
Subtitles
:
Audio:

Discs:
Region Encoding:

[/tab]

[tab title="Film Details"]

Guilt

MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime:
102 mins
Director
: Karl Jenner, Lyndsay Sarah
Writer:
Lyndsay Sarah
Cast:
Janet Shay, Hayley Flowers, Sandra Stockley
Genre
: Thriller
Tagline:
Vengeance for the Victims.
Memorable Movie Quote: "They begged me for it."
Distributor:
GVN Releasing
Official Site: http://www.digitalrealm.com.au/
Release Date:
September 15, 2020
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:

Synopsis: Jessie Fuller was a child psychologist. After becoming overwhelmed with the amount of child abuse in the world, and noting how few cases are prosecuted, she decided to take the law into her own hands and become a vigilante, targeting child sex offenders. Her latest target is Grace O'Connell, a woman involved in a child sex trafficking ring, but who avoided jail time after she convinced the judge that she was a victim of abuse herself, and feared for her lifeif she didn't obey the ring leader's demands. Jessie doesn't buy it. She kidnaps Grace and holds her hostage, giving her the same treatment, and torment, that Grace did to her child victims. However, one of Jessie's ex-clients, Mitchell Douglas, five years on and now grown up, comes forward and admits to Jessie that he had lied during his sessions about a man named Geoffrey Callaghan, who had molested him, and ended up publicly shamed, convicted and murdered while on house arrest. Jessie had been the murderer. With this disturbing revelation, Jessie becomes pained and conflicted about what to do with Grace. Was she in fact a victim of abuse herself, and somebody who deserves a second chance? Or is she really a wolf in sheep's clothing, who outsmarted the justice system for too long?

[/tab]

[tab title="Art"]

Guilt

[/tab]

{/jatabs}