Madeleine Sims-Fewer co-writes, co-directs and stars as Miriam in a daring and referential debut that questions the nature of revenge.

| May 11, 2021

The culmination of a film career built on interrogating rage, justice, and the intangible promise of catharsis.

| Apr 5, 2021

Violation impressively pushes against the typically straightforward trajectory of the rape-revenge film.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 2, 2021

Remarkably accomplished, doing things quite daring and unexpected, and somehow it knows exactly when to be exploitative vs. when to draw back...very intense, I found it very very powerful.

| Mar 30, 2021

Violation's points about violence, assault, and the disorientation of assault are all well-taken. But the strategies undertaken here feel like a lot of fuss distracting from a sincerely compelling core.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 29, 2021

It's gruelling, but fiercely intelligent film-making.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 28, 2021

This female-centered story manages to be gutsy while resisting exploitation - a welcome and nuanced addition to a genre often hobbled by didacticism.

| Mar 25, 2021

Violation, much like Brea Grant's Lucky, strikes hard at the heart of the impossibility of revenge.

| Mar 25, 2021

While the filmmakers' intent is certainly commendable, the film as a whole is nearly impossible to recommend.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 24, 2021

This corporeal tragedy plays out in Sims-Fewer's staggering physical commitment to the role.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 24, 2021

However, this starkly beautiful, utterly bleak film stands in contrast to that candy-coated dark comedy with effective but grim scenes that you may wish you could forget.

| Mar 24, 2021

A paradigm shift for the genre.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 22, 2021

Violation stands out for the modesty of its aims and execution amid a crowded horror scene awash in overambitious world-building.

| Mar 4, 2021

It's a brutal, graphic depiction of this journey, but it's a necessary addition to a genre that has historically degraded and demeaned its women survivors.

| Feb 26, 2021

Violation makes the audience sit through every brutally uncomfortable minute right until the end.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 10, 2021

Expect to be staggered, shocked and awed.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 2, 2021

VIOLATION further proves that female filmmakers bring a crucial perspective to rape-revenge films, which shows that despite the difficult subject matter, these films are more important than ever.

| Jan 29, 2021

"Violation" delivers a smart and visceral examination of the rape-revenge narrative, cutting out the exploitation aspects for something that's bleakly more methodical and haunting.

| Original Score: B | Jan 19, 2021

Only Miriam emerges as a character to latch onto, but she's too emotionally elusive to moor the audience in even her basest motivations. All the pieces of a delectable genre piece are here, but nobody's home.

| Original Score: B- | Sep 28, 2020

Sims-Fewer grounds Violation with a performance that is achingly raw.

| Sep 24, 2020