The Top 10 Garbage Revenge Movies and ‘Rebel Ridge,’ With Jeremy Saulnier!

The festival dispatchVenice, TIFF, and the fall slate

The Room Next Door 2024

Almodóvar's first English-language feature took the Golden Lion out of a Venice slate Sean calls mostly mediocre.

The Brutalist 2024

Brady Corbett's 3.5-hour epic; A24 paid a reported $10M. Sean's most-anticipated of the fall: 'Sean porn,' per people who've seen it. Amanda is unconvinced.

Sing Sing 2024

A24's rollout went limited, then narrower instead of wide. Sean thinks it's been backburnered for 'The Brutalist.'

We Live in Time 2024

The Andrew Garfield / Florence Pugh drama, premiered at TIFF.

Babygirl 2024

Nicole Kidman won Best Actress at Venice; a Best Actress play more than a Best Picture one.

Queer 2024

Guadagnino's second 2024 film, with Daniel Craig; adapts Burroughs. Sounds like too much of a head trip for a serious awards push.

Dune: Part Two 2024

Chris's one lock in a genre-heavy year: the Best Picture slot the Academy needs for eyeballs.

Nickel Boys 2024

Audacious enough that Sean thinks it may be too avant-garde for broad acceptance; Chris wants it and 'The Brutalist' to be the year's two poles, like Moonlight/La La Land.

Nightbitch 2024

Amy Adams as a mother turning feral. Sean thinks it's one of the worst trailers he's ever seen and won't watch unless obligated.

The Life of Chuck 2024

Mike Flanagan's kinder, gentler Stephen King. Sean gets defensive when a film sells itself on the greatness of the human heart.

Hard Truths 2024

Mike Leigh reuniting with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, ~30 years after 'Secrets & Lies.' A wide January release.

Friendship 2024

Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson; Adam Nayman DM'd Sean from TIFF that it's incredibly funny.

Emilia Pérez 2024

Sean doubts Chris will respond to the film but bets he'll love Zoe Saldaña.

Conclave 2024

Ralph Fiennes, cited as one of the year's few clearly very good performances.

The Piano Lesson 2024

Danielle Deadwyler, another performance Sean rates as very good but not a can't-believe-it sensation.

‘Rebel Ridge’Saulnier's fourth feature, on Netflix

Rebel Ridge 2024

Aaron Pierre plays Terry Richmond, an ex-Marine who confronts a corrupt Louisiana town after cops seize the cash he needs to bail out his cousin: a portrait of civil asset forfeiture built as 'First Blood meets Michael Clayton.' Visceral but restrained; nobody gets killed, just disarmed. Sean and Chris both around a 4/5, with the middle running long. Started with John Boyega, shut down mid-shoot, recast to Pierre.

Garbage revengethe 8th in the garbage series: the lean, mean vigilante canon

Point Blank 1967

John Boorman's New Hollywood opener; a Westlake/Parker adaptation. Chris's first all-timer, a crime-gone-wrong and one man getting after everybody. Borderline too classy.

Rolling Thunder 1977

Written by Paul Schrader, a Vietnam vet on a revenge spree with William Devane. Somewhere between prestige and programmer, boosted by Tarantino's advocacy. You never think he'll be okay.

The Limey 1999

Soderbergh directing Terence Stamp: a genius downshifting to a gnarly programmer, which Sean calls his favorite thing in the world.

John Wick 2014

The first one specifically, for the very basic setup before the mythology. They pushed him too far and now it's on.

Man on Fire 2004

Tony Scott and John Creasy: the patron saint of the modern genre, per Sean, even if Chris runs a little down on it.

Blue Ruin 2013

Saulnier's breakout; the one Chris holds space for. A movie about the messiness and unsolvability of revenge.

First Blood 1982

Misremembered through its sequels: really a tragic story of a man with PTSD who just wants to be left alone. Saulnier's stated template for 'Rebel Ridge.'

Falling Down 1993

A '90s curio of samurai-like L.A. encounters; Sean pairs it with 'Rolling Thunder' as a film where you never think the guy will be okay. Chris files it more as societal-commentary travelogue.

Wrath of Man 2021

Sean's recent-vintage sixth pick: Guy Ritchie in a 'Point Blank' job-gone-wrong groove, and the start of the Hartnett renaissance. He'd crown Statham a genre patron saint.

Lady Vengeance 2005

Chris's Park Chan-wook pick, chosen over 'Oldboy' to be different, part of the Vengeance trilogy.

Bullet to the Head 2012

Late-period Walter Hill with Stallone; Chris calls it incredibly stupid and incredibly good.

Darkman 1990

Sam Raimi's down-and-dirty not-quite-superhero revenge movie; an all-timer for Chris.

Death Wish 1974

The Charles Bronson text still used as shorthand: 'it's Death Wish, but…' Sean prefers the Eastwood revenge Westerns of the era.

The Outlaw Josey Wales 1976

Eastwood as a Confederate soldier avenging his family, closely aligned with the subgenre, per Chris.

High Plains Drifter 1973

The other signature Eastwood Western the two put right in the pocket of garbage revenge.

Unforgiven 1992

Chris's example of revenge as an empty, hollow pursuit that destroys the avenger as much as the avenged.

Oldboy 2003

Cited as an international classic of the form, a rung above the garbage tier.

The Equalizer 3 2023

Chris likes the third maybe more than the first two: a shadow 'Man on Fire' sequel and an unabashed program. 'It's for your dad.'

Death Sentence 2007

Early James Wan with Kevin Bacon; somewhere between atrocious and genuinely amazing.

Ms. 45 1981

Abel Ferrara's rape-revenge film, pretty effective, though the two argue rape revenge is a separate study from garbage revenge.

I Spit on Your Grave 1978

Named as a canonical rape-revenge title in the genre they set aside.

Lady Snowblood 1973

The Japanese rape-revenge classic, part of a decades-long tradition tapping a dark place in the psyche.

Promising Young Woman 2020

A recent riff on the long rape-revenge history.

Deliverance 1972

Debated as rape revenge, but the revenge is one scene and the rest is survivalist. Chris has seen it five or six times; revisits 'Dueling Banjos.'

Jackson County Jail 1976

A deep cut Chris says is worth seeking out.

Hannie Caulder 1971

The rare Western rape-revenge movie, with Raquel Welch: a friend's recommendation Sean's yet to see.

The Virgin Spring 1960

Bergman's revenge film, floated but not on either long list.

In conversation: Jeremy Saulnier

Jeremy Saulnier on

Rebel Ridge 2024

Conceived in 2018 as 'First Blood with a bit of Michael Clayton,' after Saulnier wanted a competent hero as a break from his brutal filmography. He found the civil-forfeiture premise infuriating enough to unite left and right behind Terry. Shot in Louisiana over three years and two more shutdowns; Netflix let him cast Aaron Pierre, whom he knew was Terry within minutes of a Zoom.

Jeremy Saulnier on

The Thing 1982

His last great thing: a pristine Carpenter print at the newly reopened Egyptian, which turned him into a print nerd. He brought his daughter and watched her face during the chest scene.

Also mentioned raised along the way

Awards-talk comparisons Vox LuxThe Childhood of a LeaderThere Will Be BloodOppenheimerNight SwimMoonlightLa La LandDances with WolvesDoctor SleepField of DreamsDriving Miss DaisySecrets & LiesPeterlooNakedMr. TurnerVera DrakeHappy-Go-LuckyMartha

Around ‘Rebel Ridge’ Green RoomHold the DarkMichael ClaytonFoeThe BikeridersThe GamblerBrooklynThe Place Beyond the PinesOldTrapStrange DarlingBlink TwiceHis Three DaughtersLove Lies BleedingLonglegsCivil WarDen of ThievesCitizen Kane

Weighed and set aside in the garbage-revenge debate Once Upon a Time in the WestThe Good, the Bad and the UglyThe NorthmanBraveheartHard BoiledCape FearCommandoTakenFour BrothersThe BeekeeperExtreme PrejudiceHigh NoonKramer vs. KramerCarrieJack ReacherDeliverance

Saulnier's references The Green KnightManhunterTaxi DriverBetter Off Dead

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV The Underground RailroadLionessThe CrownThe Morning ShowReacherTrue DetectiveThe White LotusMasters of the AirThe SympathizerIndustryTerminal ListMad MenLost24

Coming next episode Speak No Evil

Ads / promos The Challenge: Battle of the ErasDeath, Taxes and BananasMint Mobile