The Cinema Overdrive movie series specialized in showing some of the most outrageous exploitation gems on the big screen in Raleigh. Curator Adam Hulin (director of the horror movie The Blackest Darkness that’s currently on Tubi) made sure one night to give us a film that was filled with perversity. A 15-year-old-girl turns to prostitution to pay for private school while a necrophile serial killer stalks her. The crowd was into the film that promised “High School Honor Student By Day – Hollywood Hooker By Night.” They just don’t make theatrically released movies like this anymore. Angel & Avenging Angel: Double Feature brings the streetwalking thrills to your house.
Angel (1984 – 93 minutes) has a pigtailed Molly (Jaws 2 and Hello Larry‘s Donna Wilkes) in her school uniform walking along the stars of Hollywood Boulevard as she grabs her school bus to North Oaks Prep school. She’s a bit of a loner to the other kids. She doesn’t have time for dating or extracurricular activities because she has to take care of her sick mom. When the sun goes down and the lights come up on Hollywood Boulevard, Molly transforms into Angel, a teenage streetwalker that looks like she’s dressed for a ZZ Top video. Unlike school, she has friends on the street that look out for her. This batch includes a Charlie Chaplin impersonator (Best In Show‘s Steven M. Porter), the matronly Mae (The Producers‘ Dick Shawn) and old-time cowboy actor Kit Carson (Motel Hell‘s Rory Calhoun). They’re all hustling the crowds on the street. Also working the street is a killer (John Diehl right before he started playing Detective Larry Zito on Miami Vice. Angel’s friend Lana picks up the guy and takes him to a motel only to discover he’s her final John. Lt. Andrews (The Boys In The Band’s Cliff Gorman) works the case. When he interviews Angel, he discovers she’s been working the street since her mother split three years before. She’s been hiding this fact from everyone including the arty landlady Solly (Cry-Baby‘s Susan Tyrrell) so she doesn’t get sent to foster care. Molly does believe her father will someday return. He’s the one who first called her Angel. This is what she does to survive and pay for prep school. He warns the girl to stay off the street since the killer is also a necrophile. Molly has to keep up those tuition payments so she gets back to the whore game. She does pack protection: a gun, but is that going to be enough?
Donna Wilkes was 24 when the movie was produced, but passes as a kid street walker. People grow up fast on Hollywood Boulevard. The production cast equally old actors to play her fellow high school students so you don’t quite notice any age gap in the classroom. The school nerd that attempts to ask her out looks to be having a mid-life crisis. She really does a great job as both Molly and Angel.
Angel proved to be a smash with a box office of $20 million. The film outgrossed New World’s Children of the Corn, which was their high-profile Stephen King flick. The studio immediately wanted a sequel and brought back director Robert Vincent O’Neil and his co-writer Joseph Michael Cala. But Donna Wilkes was missing. Rory Calhoun said the actress wanted a pay bump. Even though Roger Corman had sold New World Pictures, the studio still wanted to keep their budgets low. Instead of bringing back the star, the studio cast a new Angel for the old price. Betsy Russell had made her mark in Private School as the saucy student who tries to seduce Phoebe Cates’ boyfriend. This would be a busy January for her. Two weeks after Avenging Angel, her star turn in Crown International’s Tomboy debuted. There was probably a couple Twin Theaters in 1985 that had a Betsy Russell double feature.
Avenging Angel (1985 – 94 minutes) opens with an older Molly (Betsy Russell) enrolled in a cool college and winning a 100m dash. Who knew the best training for college track is street walking? Cheering her on is Lt. Andrews (Dark Night of the Scarecrow‘s Robert F. Lyons instead of Cliff Gorman from the first film). He is happy that Molly has left her Angel days behind as she pursues her career goal of being a lawyer. Lt. Andrews can’t take her out for an ice cream celebration because he has to hustle back to Los Angeles to keep things safe on Hollywood Boulevard. His own safety is a different story as a crew of gunmen take him out. His last words are “Angel.” When Molly gets the news, she can’t just stay in class. She heads down to Los Angeles and hits the streets looking for his killers. She finds a few familiar faces in her old landlady Solly (Susan Tyrrell), Charlie Chaplin impersonator Yo-Yo (Steven M. Porter) and Kit Carson (Rory Calhoun) after he’s sprung from the nearby sanitarium. Molly transforms back into Angel to hit the streets. Instead of hooking Johns, she’s looking for leads. She believes Andrews and the undercover cop were investigating a group that’s buying up property on the Boulevard with strongarm tactics. What she doesn’t know is she isn’t tracking a serial killer like in the first film. She’s starting a mob war.
Ossie Davis (Do The Right Thing) has a small, but pivotal role as the police captain. Also in the movie is Ross Hagen, beloved by Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans from the iconic Sidehackers. The soundtrack here is great including the Bronski Beat’s “Why?” for an intense montage of the undercover agent getting ready and not realizing her cover’s been broken. There’s a shootout in the neon covered Chinatown. This makes the whole sequence as cool as anything in Miami Vice that season.
Avenging Angel did barely $5 million in business. I won’t blame Betsy Russell since her Tomboy movie made three times the box office. People wanted to see Russell on the screen. Audiences who liked Angel were probably turned off by the major tone shifts. After the intensity of the death of Andrews, we’re given too much cute comedy moments. Solly’s baby is takes too much edge off the action. The baby is endangered in the big gunfight at the legendary Bradbury Building (as seen in Blade Runner). People eager for a sleazy prostitution action film probably don’t want to see a baby dodging bullets.
The Angel series has two other entries, but they are different from these first two. Angel III: The Final Chapter came out in 1988 and features a different writer/director along with a new Angel that’s a photographer. The action is moved to New York City. It feels different all over. Angel 4: Undercover was the pilot to a proposed Angel TV series. Angel & Avenging Angel have more in common even with the acting swaps. Angel & Avenging Angel: Double Feature is a great way to stay off the streets at night.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic for both films. The transfer brings out the gritty and nasty nature of Hollywood Boulevard by night. The Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo for both films.
Trailer for Angel (1:48) has her as honor student by day and street walker at night.
Trailer for Avenging Angel (2:36) has clips of Donna Wilkes’s legs walking the boulevard and then cut to the older Angel played by Betsy Russell. There’s plenty of gunfire exchanged.
MVD Rewind Collection presents Angel + Avenging Angel: Double Feature. Directed by Robert Vincent O’Neil. Screenplay by Robert Vincent O’Neil and Joseph Michael Cala. Starring Donna Wilkes, Betsy Russell, Rory Calhoun, Dick Shawn, John Diehl, Susan Tyrrell, Ossie Davis and Ross Hagen. Boxset Contents: 2 movies on 1 DVD. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: August 27, 2024.
