User Reviews

This time Angel, now a law student hits the streets to get vengeance on the mob guys who killed the cop (her father figure) who got her off the streets, while getting gun-slinging help from Rory Calhoun, Susan Tyrell and some guy with a Yo-Yo in this boring and very unfunny sequel. Avenging Angel, after the surprising quality of its predecessor, is a total letdown. You look at the back of the cover and you see a tied up guy with a bullet hole in his head, Angel pointing a gun and you see Rory Calhoun looking like he's going gun-slinging and yet the context of both scenes aren't action or even exploitive but in a comic tone. Now the first 20 minutes hint at something promising, sleazy action wise along the lines of a Death Wish 4 rip off, but then it just gets really dull, until you find to your horror, these scenes are supposed to be funny. Avenging Angel's Betsy Russell has some screen presence (Though Part 1s Wilkes is a better actress) and warmth, but this embarrassingly bad movie gives her nothing to work with.

* Out Of 4-(Bad)

Molly Stewart(Betsy Russell)returns to the Boulevard after her mentor and guardian, a detective, is gunned down while trying to stop gangsters who had just shot dead an undercover cop and her parents in cold blood. Donning her "Angel" persona once again, this time a college graduate and skilled lawyer, she'll seek out those responsible with the help of some old friends.

Director Robert Vincent O'Neill and writer Joseph Michael Cala do not duplicate the grit that made the previous film so arresting, and the tone(..despite the violence)is a lot goofier. The threat in this film, a mobster and his sadistic hoods, are rather bumbling when they aren't blowing innocent folks away with shot gun blasts. Russell(..known for her work in the SAW series and the silly slasher CHEERLEADER CAMP), in the titular role, is undeniably sexy and the camera(..and her choice of "street wardrobe")clings to her very tantalizing figure.

After watching it, I'm not sure this sequel was necessary, this was obviously made by New World Pictures to cash in on the original entry. Three actors from the previous film return, Rory Calhoun(..as dependable, aging cowboy stuntman relic Kit Carson), Steven M Porter(..as Yo-Yo Charlie, the street comedian in Charlie Chaplin costume), and Susan Tyrell(..as profane "Jewish dyke" hotel tenant Solly Mosler, who carries a facial expression as if she sucked on a sour lemon)to assist Angel in getting revenge on those responsible for the murder of her detective friend, Andrews(Robert F Lyons). Ossie Davis, wasted in a rather thankless role, is Captain Harry Moradian, out to find the one on his force responsible for getting two good cops killed. Barry Pearl is a new street character added to the team of "misfit vigilantes", as Johnny Glitter, wanted by the mob for he was at the crime scene when Andrews was shot. Paul Lambert is Arthur Gerard, the mobster behind property corruption that's tearing apart the district around the Boulevard. Frank Doubleday(freakshow Romero of Escape from New York fame)is Gerard's son, Miles. Ross Hagen plays the nasty killer Ray Mitchell who enjoys his line of work and Hoke Howell has a funny cameo as a drunkard who "operates" a building containing an endless supply of bums.

Despite a rather lackluster scenario featuring a team containing a former hooker, elderly retired cowboy stuntman, and sourpuss tenant against ruthless gangsters, cinematographer Peter Lyons Collistor offers some fine photography, capturing the bright lights of the streets especially well. The scummy atmosphere that made the original film more realistic and disturbing seems missing in AVENGING ANGEL. Furthermore, Russell looks nothing at all like Donna Wilkes(..Angel from the first film)and the authenticity is rather lacking..would those she hasn't seen in four years really believe Russell was the Angel they knew and love?

Haven't seen the 1st but came across this late at nite on tubi, if it's as absurd as this I'd like to see it. The scene with the baby(or rather the doll) getting dropped off the ledge was laugh at loud worthy. If u want to watch some campy 80s hilarity choose this!

Betsy Russell stepped into the role of Molly "Angel" Stewart for the second movie in this series as the producers could not meet Donna Wilkes' salary demands. This would start the trend of a new Angel in each movie.

This time, our little girl has grown up and is in law school. She learns that Lieutenant Andrews (no longer played by Cliff Gorman, now it's Robert F. Lyons), the cop who got her off the streets, has been killed. Luckily, her old street family are all around and played by the same great performers as the original, with Steven M. Porter as Yo-Yo Charlie, Rory Calhoun as Kit Carson and Susan Tyrrell as Solly.

Only one person knows who killed Andrews and that's another street performer named Johnny Glitter (Barry Pearl, Grease). It turns out there's a scheme to buy up Hollywood Boulevard and Andrews got caught in the middle. Solly also has a baby that she found and that infant gets caught up in the craziness, nearly getting killed in a shootout and then almost thrown off a building. Avenging Angel has no qualms about being a neon-soaked nightmare world of street people with hearts of gold shooting, killing and playing Weekend at Bernie's with dead mobsters, much less babies being constantly in death's grasp.

There's also product placement - in an exploitation movie! - for Adidas.

Avenging Angel was written and directed by Robert Vincent O'Neil, who in addition to writing the first movie, also wrote Vice Squad, which is a thematically similar and perhaps better movie, as well as Wonder Women, Deadly Force and the third film in this series. He also directed the first film in this series and Blood Mania.

Molly's back, and law school's got her. And she has a new face. Betsy Russell has replaced Donna Wilkes so Angel is taller and more voluptuous, so we have to assume she had some kind of growth spurt. Back also are her Charlie Chaplin impersonator friend, the gun toting Rory Calhoun and tough as nails lesbian artist Susan Tyrell who seems to have inherited the gowns of the deceased drag queen friend who died tragically in the previous entry. Or maybe it's the Ann-Margret or Linda Evans lookalike female impersonators who provided her with those fancy black widow duds.

Sadly, Angel's cop friend is murdered early on in the film, a recast too for his brief time on screen. The film starts off great with a limousine going up and down the boulevard to the backdrop of Bronski Beat singing "Why?", showing off Hollywood Blvd. Style characters missed the first time, including a Boy George impersonator. Obviously there's some organized criminal activity going on behind the scenes, and Angel/Molly puts on her Daisy Duke's once again to see justice.

"Nobody dies on this floor unless they check in with me first" says the Hope Emerson like charge nurse who is called so Angel can get Calhoun out of his hospital room, and it's a very bouncy comedy scene played for slapstick, delightfully silly. This is campier than the first film, almost like a John Waters film set elsewhere, and Waters vet Tyrell fits right in. I wouldn't call this a good film by any means, but it's amusing. Veteran stage actor Ossie Davis adds some class as a police lieutenant.

Rory Calhoun, Susan Tyrell, and Steven M. Porter are back in the roles they played in the first Angel movie. Moving into the title role because it's now years since the teen was hooking on Hollywood Boulevard is Betsy Russell. After going through college and law school Russell is back on the street with a vengeance because her savior and mentor from the first film now played by Robert F. Lyons is killed in a shootout with some mobsters. Even though it has only been one calendar year since the first Angel film and no disclaimer about this being sometime in the near future.

Lyons was on to a scheme for the mob to buy with their usual tactics of persuasion for the owners huge parcels of real estate on Hollywood Boulevard. But the denizens there like their seedy street the way it is. Never mind that Russell and her posse are going to take matters into their own hands if the law doesn't do anything about a cop killing which I find hard to believe.

Angel was a delicious and campy bit of sleaze and this one follows in the tradition. I have to give big kudos to Rory Calhoun who looked like he was having a great old time burlesquing his own western hero image. A lot of Rooster Cogburn in Calhoun's portrayal, all he needed was the eye patch.

Avenging, sweet and fun trash.

I watched this briefly after the original Angel, and must say I liked it quite much, even a little better. The heroine played by a different actress is justifiable, as Molly must have grown a foot in height over four years, and the face/hair is sufficiently similar. Less social drama here (except for the girl sent to Houston), more thrills, and especially a big serving of comedy which sometimes is overdosed, but laugh-out fun at some instances. Consider various mishaps with firearms (Derringer or John Wayne's rifle) in the middle of shoot-outs. Or: the pet hearse is cool, but the sound effects associated with it are ridiculous.

One commenter associated this film with China (especially the sexy but tough heroine). I agree - but my strongest impression was that it felt like French. A kind of careless style (caring less for a plausible plot, I mean), while delighting the audience with bizarre twists and turns. And settings: The old high-rise with its caged elevators, the gigantic billboard in front of which Angel walks, initially small as an ant...

Don't get me wrong, I like most Hollywood styles as well as off-Hollywood, Chinese, French, what have you. I love a movie if it delivers memorable images and pleasant surprises, and this one often did. A good sequel, that creates some welcome continuity with its forerunner, yet steps well out of its shadow.