''Raze'' is a 2013
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
that was directed by Josh C. Waller. The film premiered on April 21, 2013 at the
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...
and stars
Zoë Bell
Zoë E. Bell (born November 17, 1978) is a New Zealand stuntwoman and actress. Some of her most notable stunt-work includes doubling for Lucy Lawless in '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' and for Uma Thurman in ''Kill Bill''.
As an actress, Bell has ap ...
and
Rachel Nichols. The story focuses on women forced to fight to death for the twisted entertainment of the wealthy elite.
Synopsis
Sabrina (
Zoë Bell
Zoë E. Bell (born November 17, 1978) is a New Zealand stuntwoman and actress. Some of her most notable stunt-work includes doubling for Lucy Lawless in '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' and for Uma Thurman in ''Kill Bill''.
As an actress, Bell has ap ...
), along with 49 other women, is kidnapped by the diabolical husband and wife team of Elizabeth (
Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn (born Sheryl Ann Fenn; February 1, 1965) is an American actress and author. She came to attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, 2017) for which she was nominated for a Go ...
) and Joseph (
Doug Jones), and kept in a prison where they are all barefoot in matching white tank tops and gray sweatpants. The women are told that they will fight to the death for the entertainment of a group of bored rich people. If they lose or refuse to fight, a sniper will kill their loved ones.
Cast
*
Zoë Bell
Zoë E. Bell (born November 17, 1978) is a New Zealand stuntwoman and actress. Some of her most notable stunt-work includes doubling for Lucy Lawless in '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' and for Uma Thurman in ''Kill Bill''.
As an actress, Bell has ap ...
as Sabrina
*
Rachel Nichols as Jamie
*
Tracie Thoms
Tracie Nicole Thoms is an Emmy-nominated American television, film, and stage actress and singer. She is known for her roles in ''Rent'', ''Cold Case'', '' The Devil Wears Prada'', ''Death Proof'', and the short-lived Fox television series ''Won ...
as Teresa
*
Bruce Thomas
Bruce Thomas (born 14 August 1948 in Stockton-on-Tees, England) is an English rock bass guitarist, best known as bassist for the Attractions; the band formed in 1977 to back Elvis Costello in concert and on record.
In addition to his work ...
as Kurtz
* Bailey Anne Borders as Cody
* Rebecca Marshall as Phoebe
* Allene Quincy as Brenda
*
Adrienne Wilkinson
Adrienne Wilkinson is an American actress. She is known for playing Eve, the daughter of Xena in the TV series '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' in the fifth and sixth seasons. She has appeared in numerous television series such as ''Angel,'' '' Charm ...
as Nancy
*
Doug Jones as Joseph
*
Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn (born Sheryl Ann Fenn; February 1, 1965) is an American actress and author. She came to attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, 2017) for which she was nominated for a Go ...
as Elizabeth
* Amy Johnston as Gloria
*
Tara Macken as Dee
*
Nicole Steinwedell
Nicole Steinwedell (born April 2, 1981) is an American film and television actress.
She is the daughter of two Marines and the granddaughter of an Army colonel. She has three sisters and one brother. She is best known for playing Bridget "Red ...
as Isabelle
*
Kelly Thiebaud
Kelly Hager Thiebaud"The Good-Bye Girl." ''ABC Soaps In Depth''. January 5, 2015. pg. 45. (born on August 28, 1982) is an American actress and model best known for her portrayal of Dr. Britt Westbourne on ABC daytime soap opera, ''General Hospi ...
as Vanessa
* Jordan James Smith as Adam
*
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Isabel Dawson (born May 9, 1979) is an American actress. She made her feature-film debut in the 1995 independent drama ''Kids''. Her subsequent film roles include '' He Got Game'' (1998), ''Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), ''Men in Bl ...
as Rachel
Production
While creating ''Raze'', Waller tried to treat the film "as seriously as if it were men that were abducted and forced to fight each other."
For him this meant avoiding stereotypes typically seen within the "largely exploitative subgenre of women-in-prison" such as nudity, as he felt that viewers would not see this in an all-male exploitation film.
Waller also tried to avoid gratuitous gore.
''Raze'' was shot with a very tight schedule and the crew had only thirty days to film nineteen action sequences.
Partway through filming,
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Isabel Dawson (born May 9, 1979) is an American actress. She made her feature-film debut in the 1995 independent drama ''Kids''. Her subsequent film roles include '' He Got Game'' (1998), ''Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), ''Men in Bl ...
was brought onto the set for a cameo as she had previously worked together with Bell and Thoms on the 2007 film ''
Death Proof
''Death Proof'' is a 2007 American action-thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Kurt Russell as a stuntman who murders young women with modified cars he purports to be "death-proof". Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito ...
''.
Bell was not made aware of Dawson's casting or arrival, as Waller wanted her appearance to come as a surprise.
Reception
Critical reception for ''Raze'' has been mixed. The film holds a rating of 44% on ''
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
'', based on 32 reviews. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
it has a score of 41% based on reviews from 16 critics.
Criticism for the film predominantly centered upon the familiarity of the film's plot, and ''
Fearnet
Fearnet was an American digital cable television network, website and video on demand service owned by Comcast. The network specialized in horror entertainment programming through a mix of acquired and original series, and feature films.
Backgr ...
'' reviewer Scott Weinberg commented that "'' Raze'' is simply a gender-friendly twist on a very conventional tale, but it's still a rather fun way to spend 85 minutes if you're tired of the same old action." ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' criticized the movie's screenplay, as they felt that it did not give actors Jones and Fenn enough to work with and also opined that the movie's "opening title card, which cites statistics about the number of women who go missing in any given year -- the co-opting of real-world suffering making it that much harder to go along with Waller's idea of it's-only-a-midnight-movie kicks."
''
Twitch Film
Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...
'' praised Bell's acting as one of the film's highlights, as they felt that it helped "lift Raze above similarly themed genre film endeavors." The ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' opined that the film would not appeal to everyone but that "there is food for thought here about the subjugation and exploitation of women, the limits of psychological and physical endurance, and more."
Awards
* ''Grand Jury Prize for Best Supporting Actress'' at the Las Vegas International Film Festival (2013, won - Tracie Thoms)
References
External links
*
* {{IMDb title, 2111392
2013 films
2013 horror films
American action horror films
American exploitation films
Films about kidnapping
Films about death games
2010s English-language films
2010s American films