1. Plot Summary
Even Lambs Have Teeth is a Canadian-French rape-and-revenge thriller written and directed by Terry Miles.
The film follows two young women, Katie (Tiera Skovbye) and Sloane (Kirsten Prout). After graduating college, they take a job working on a rural organic farm to earn money for a planned shopping trip to New York.
They accept a ride from local men, Lucas and Jed, who detour them to a remote home. The women are drugged, abducted, and held in shipping containers in the woods, forced into a human trafficking ring run by a local family headed by Boris.
Meanwhile, Katie’s uncle, Jason (an FBI agent), becomes suspicious when the girls’ check-ins don’t follow protocol. He begins investigating their disappearance.
As the women endure abuse, they manage to escape and embark on a brutal revenge campaign—tracking and murdering those who harmed them.
2. Notable Elements
Strengths / standout parts
- The first half of the film, depicting the kidnapping and captivity, is often praised for being gritty and disturbing without resorting to graphic depiction—many of the abuses are implied rather than shown overtly.
- The chemistry between Sloane and Katie is noted in reviews: their banter, solidarity, and trust make the shift into revenge more engaging.
- The villains have distinguishing traits: Lucas, Jed, Boris, and the sheriff (wearing a pig mask) are more than one-dimensional bad guys. Their grotesque features and occasional inner conflict lend them some texture.
- The tonal shift in the second half—from bleak horror to stylized revenge—gives the film energy and changes the mood, making the women more active than passive.
Weaknesses / criticisms
- The acting and dialogue are often criticized as flat or rigid. Many characters appear emotionally muted, especially in dramatic extremes.
- The film’s tone can feel inconsistent: horror, dark humor, and revenge are mixed, sometimes abruptly switching styles.
- Some plot conveniences and logic gaps are noticeable—how the kidnappers operate, sudden shifts in character behavior, and how the protagonists arm themselves with little clear setup.
- The second half’s violence is more stylized and less grounded, which reduces the emotional weight of the revenge.
3. Themes and Messages
- Revenge & justice: The core drive of the film is the primal urge to retaliate against those who violate one’s dignity and autonomy.
- Empowerment through pain: The shift from victims to avengers suggests that those who are oppressed can reclaim agency—though the film does this in a brutal, stylized fashion.
- Double nature of horror: The film juxtaposes real human horror (abduction, betrayal, exploitation) with over-the-top revenge violence, blending realism and exploitation.
- Complicity & corruption: Almost every local seems complicit—the sheriff, pastor, townspeople—implying that evil is systemic.
Because this is a harsh revenge film, it doesn’t echo traditional holiday sentiments. But its exploration of justice, survival, and reclaiming power resonates with themes of moral reckoning, protecting self and others, and transformation.
4. Personal Impressions
What I appreciated:
- The film takes its basic premise seriously and gives the women space to transform. The revenge arc has genuine catharsis in its more extreme moments.
- The villains are not generic; they carry enough quirks or ambiguity to make confrontations more compelling.
- The tonal shift is bold: going from confinement horror to stylized violence is risky, and sometimes it works to energize the story.
What didn’t quite work for me:
- The performances often feel muted; high stakes scenes don’t always land emotionally.
- The second half’s shift sometimes undercuts the gravity of the suffering: the transition to an action-revenge mode isn’t always seamless.
- Some plotting is convenient (finding keys, locating villains) with little justification.
- Because the revenge is heavy on spectacle, it sometimes loses the emotional nuance of suffering and loss.
5. Audience Recommendations
You might particularly enjoy Even Lambs Have Teeth if:
- You like revenge horror / “rape & revenge” subgenre films.
- You enjoy B-movie / exploitation territory with stylized violence, dark humor, and moral extremes.
- You’re okay with low-budget production, inconsistent acting, and narrative flaws, as long as the film delivers visceral payoff.
- You want films where female protagonists turn tables rather than remain entirely passive victims.
You might be less satisfied if you:
- Prefer subtle, character-driven drama or psychological horror.
- Dislike abrupt tone changes or overt violence used for spectacle.
- Need strong emotional grounding and polished acting in high tension.
6. Conclusion & Rating
Even Lambs Have Teeth is a gritty, unpolished revenge thriller with enough audacity to make it memorable in the exploitation genre. It doesn’t fully succeed in all its ambitions, but its moments of creative vengeance and striking villainy make it worth a look for fans of brutal retribution stories.
Final Recommendation: Watch it if you enjoy gritty revenge horror and can overlook rough edges. Not for everyone, but offers a raw, if uneven, experience.
⭐ Rating: 3 / 5
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