Avenging Angel
(1985)
Reviewed by Stephen Livingston
Rating: 9 Beans

pparently the writing/directing team responsible for Angel felt that they just couldn't do enough to tarnish their professional reputations, so they thought up a script one night, and, well, started shooting the next day.

Molly's back, now played by Betsy Russell (_Tomboy_, _Cheerleader Camp_) instead of Donna Wilkes, who we'd come to know and love, and even though it's only a year after the first one, she's now out of grade ten and in law school. Kids grow up so fast these days. And I thought I blew through school ahead of time. Guess I didn't know as much about blowing as she did.

Anyhoo, chronological oddities and bad puns aside, Molly's now out of the hooking biz, and she's doing just fine in her new, improved life. Fortunately for the plot, there's quickly a conflict as Lt. Andrews (now played by a new guy, Robert Lyons, for about 45 seconds) gets shot to death while stupidly trying to take a bite out of crime. Since Molly feels she owes her turn to legality to Andrews, she decides to swear vengeance against "the bastards that did this", straps on her gear, and heads down to the street. She quickly gets in contact with her old buddies, probably because the actors playing them were still *really* out of work. Rory Calhoun's back, standing, walking, and getting thrown into a home, Susan Tyrell suddenly has a cute-as-a-button baby, Yo-Yo Charlie is still doing his act, and just for good measure, there's a goofball named Johnny Glitter, so named because he dicks around with glitter a lot. After a series of kooky hijinks Angel and Company eventually get to the bad guys, a collection of pseudo-mobsters, and the inevitable shootout happens. But will she get her vengeance?

If you're looking for the loopiest of the Angel series, here it is. The first one tries hard to be serious, the third is actually a passable action flick, but this one maintains all the quality of a puppet show where you can see the puppeteer's head. The hospital rescue scene is just insanely funny, their attempts at humor not so, and the end is worth at least half the price of rental alone. And you can't help but feel sorry for a movie that sucks so badly that it hopes that a semi-cute, semi-real (it's occasionally just a bag of sugar with post-dubbed waaaaah's) baby can save its sorry ass. If you want a decent flick, skip to Angel III, but this is certainly the one I'd recommend to people looking for a solid 90 minutes of morbid entertainment. This Angel ascends right up to the 9-Bean level.

Things to Look For: Mrs. Ochmonek (or Helen Seinfeld, for you young'uns) herself, Liz Sheridan, as the booby-hatch nurse; the baby tumbling scene; the baddie's son being 'blown back' in the wheelchair by the shotgun blast (hint: he seems to be being pulled back by a rope); co-writer Joe Cala in another cameo (again, check the credits for "Sanitarium Guard"); a notepad, to write down all the clichés *you* find.

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