Paula Luelmo is Rebecca Falcon, a young woman of American and Native American descent, living in southern California with her husband and two children in the 1870s.
She’s incensed by her neighbors’ attitude toward members of the Kumeyaay tribe, a hatred and call for genocide fueled by recent murders blamed on Native Americans.
Then her own family is attacked in the middle of the night by three men. Her husband and two children are killed. She’s badly wounded, partly scalped and raped.
She’s found the next day by Simon Coletrain (Azeem Vecchio), a young black man who leads her to a Kumeyaay village where her body heals under the care of a woman known as Delicate Poison.
As for her mind? That’s another matter. She wakes with one thought on her mind: vengeance against the men who killed her family.
So as soon as she’s well enough, she begins training in the use of deadly weapons under the tutelage of Delicate Poison’s brother, Ghost With Silent Knives Protects.
Then she sets off for one last stop before beginning her quest for revenge. She wants to visit her former home, the site of the attack. She digs a grave for Rebecca Falcon and becomes Mia, Wild Witch of the Prairie.
When Simon found her, he mistook her name for Mia when she was really saying “Mi Amor” — my love — the expression of fondness she and her husband frequently exchanged.
As for her foes, they’re led by Jefferson Coletrain, Simon’s cruel father, the man who disowned his son because he refused to “become a man” by being the first gang member to rape the wounded Rebecca.
They’ve been dressing up as Native Americans and attacking local families, knowing whites in the area will place the blame on the Kumeyaay.
Paula Luelmo as Rebecca Falcon, listening to her daughter talk about God’s avengers during dinner in Vengeance Turns (2023)
Jamald Gardner as Jefferson Coletrain, the man who led the attack on Rebecca’s family in Vengeance Turns (2023)
Review:
The film comes in two volumes, but they’re very much one movie, neither part capable of standing alone.
And it’s a low-budget grindhouse style movie, complete with extreme violence, dream sequences and, unfortunately, some plot turns that don’t make very much sense.
Mia’s partners in her quest for blood vengeance includes Delicate Poison’s sister Gloria, who just loves prying teeth out of her victims’ mouths and snacking on them later, especially the ones that are soft in the middle.
In one of the film’s best scenes, Mia pretends to be a damsel in distress as she desperately dashes into a bar owned by one of the men who attacked her family.
Meanwhile, Delicate Poison and Gloria are arming the whores in town. The whores march down the street, enter the bar and cut loose in an orgy of blood, gunning down every male in sight.
By the time the credits role, not every plot point is resolve. Those credits indicate that the story continues in the comic book: “Vengeance Turns: Explosions of Truth!” written by Robert Christopher Smith, director of volume one and two.
Azeem Vecchio as Simon Coletrain, the young man who gets Rebecca helps in Vengeance Turns (2023)
Robert Christopher Smith as Frank Ford and Steven Ciceron as Sheriff Cartwright, listening to damsel supposedly in distress in Vengeance Turns (2023)
Directed by:
Robert Christopher Smith
Cast:
Paula Luelmo … Rebecca / Mia Falcon
Azeem Vecchio … Simon Coletrain
Jamald Gardner … Jefferson Coletrain
Josh Puga … Oscar Gomez
Robert Christopher Smith … Frank Ford
Joe Altieri …. Roscoe
Adam Fried … Michael Falcon
Moriah Hart … Hester Blake
Delicate Poison … Delicate Poison
Nevin Millan … Ghost
Catherine Song … Gloria
Steven Ciceron … Sheriff Cartwright
Stacy Marie Turner … Mrs. Paine
Kate Comstock … Mrs. Coppersmith
Sofia Chicorelli Serna … Emma Falcon
Aether J. Velarde … Edward Falcon
Runtime: 75 min. (Vol. 1) + 87 min. (Vol. 2)
Delicate Poison as Delicate Poison, accompanying Mia on her quest in Vengeance Turns (2023)
Nevin Millan as Ghost, the man who trains Mia in the art of fighting and survival in Vengeance Turns (2023)
Memorable lines:
Mrs. Coppersmith: “If we let those animals have their way, they would come into town, rape every last one of us, and leave with our scalps to go sell them in Mexico.”
Mrs. Payne: “They’re Indians, Rebecca. Sub-human savages. Maybe one is less violent than the other, but there is no such thing, anywhere, as a peaceful Indian.”
Delicate Poison: “It is our thought that as the European ways continue to spread here, we’re all being moved further and further from nature. And all of us have lost — or are losing — our way. It is not we who are the lost people. It’s people who are lost. White, black, brown, yellow. Skin or country doesn’t matter. It’s when belched smoke becomes our sky. And piss and poisons run in streams.”
Catherine Song as Gloria, delighted at the prospect of another opportunity to collect teeth in Vengeance Turns (2023)
Moriah Hart as Hester Blake, one of Rebecca’s Indian-hating white neighbors in Vengeance Turns (2023)
Mia, swing around her three-pronged metal claw, designed to be worn on her hand: “This is amazing, right?”
SImon: “Amazing. And dangerous. Mia, do you ever think of anything except killing>”
Mia: “No really. Why would I?”
Sarah, a young girl, watching Mia defend her family by attacking an outlaw with her claw: “She’s a monster, mommy. A witch.”
Mia: “Monster? Maybe.”
A spirit, during a dream sequence: “I said I’m a spirit. Can’t waste much more time.”
Mia: ” A spirit, huh? You sure about that? You look more like a skunk. A God-damned big one. I’ll give you that.”
“See you later you dumb-ass human.”
Hester Blake to Mia: “The sweet Lord Jesus does shine his light on us with one more opportunity to rid this world of another piece of redskin savage filth.”
Paula Luelmo as Rebecca Falcon, wounded and struggling to crawl to safety in Vengeance Turns (2023)
Adam Freid as Michael Falcon, Rebecca’s loving husband, in Vengeance Turns (2023)
Josh Puga as Oscar Gomez, minus one ear and in danger of losing another if he doesn’t tell Mia what she wants to know in Vengeance Turns (2023)
Paula Luelmo as Mia Falcon and the whores, taking out their anger on a saloon full of men in Vengeance Turns (2023)
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