Bruised Angel (Vinegar Syndrome) Review

Distributor: Vinegar Syndrome Edition Details: Standard Streaming Movie Specs: Genres: Classic, Feature Film, Gay, Roughie, BDSM Run Time: 70 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1970 Director: Sebastian Figg Written by: uncredited Cast: Ron Taylor, Jim Frost, Phillip Southerland, Dino Release Specs: Audio: English Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: Streaming Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): N/A Number of discs: N/A

Bruised Angel is a gay hardcore feature film from director Sebastian Figg. Sebastian Figg, from what this reviewer has seen, made wholly unremarkable gay films during his directorial career, and Bruised Angel isn't an exception. Bruised Angel is a rather ugly movie that offers the viewer very little.

The plot, as it is, for Bruised Angel is that a motorcyclist (Jim Frost) breaks down. While trying to fix his cycle, a passerby (Phillip Southerland) offers him a ride and claims that his friend Leo (Ron Taylor) can fix his bike. At the passerby's house, the motorcyclist's drink gets spiked, and the motorcyclist wakes up to find himself being seduced by the passerby in drag. Then Leo and his friend Dave (Dino) show up, and the situation gets rough.

There isn't much plot to Bruised Angel. In fact, the entire plot is mostly just a situation that gets set up than any attempt at a true story. This reviewer feels that for a roughie to work, there must be a plot that necessitates the roughness in the movie. Bruised Angel doesn't offer the viewer any plot that requires the roughness.

Bruised Angel is visually unimpressive as well. The camera work isn't fantastic, and the locations don't exactly mesh well given the plot. The passerby's house is fine, but the park where the motorcyclist breaks down doesn't quite fit the scenario making it necessary for the biker to go with the passerby. The whole film feels cheap and uninspired.

This reviewer can find no real reason to recommend Bruised Angel to anyone. The film doesn't look very good, and the plot is a loss. There are much better films to spend your time watching out there.

The edition of Bruised Angel screened is the streaming-only edition available on Exploitation.TV. Vinegar Syndrome has done a decent job with their streaming-only version of Bruised Angel. Bruised Angel was shot on film, and it appears that Vinegar Syndrome has utilized a film print for this release. Bruised Angel is presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 pillarboxed to the anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The image contains artifacts and print damage, and the image can be overly dark at times. The colors in the film aren't great.

There is an English monaural audio track for Bruised Angel. The dialog in the film is clear and easy to understand; however, the audio track does contain a hiss, pops, crackles, and distortion.

Vinegar Syndrome hasn't included any extras for their streaming-only edition of Bruised Angel.

Bruised Angel is a gay feature film that doesn't have much plot, or much else, going in the film's favor. Fans of gay BDSM sexual action may find the movie appealing to them; however, most everyone else will discover Bruised Angel to be a cheaply made poor movie. Vinegar Syndrome has done a decent job with their streaming-only edition of Bruised Angel on Exploitation.TV with decent video and audio quality.

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