Low-budget South African "thriller" (if it can be called that) about a couple honeymooning in the woods who encounter a couple of oddballs (one in top-hat and tie, the other a subservient mute) who predictably turn feral and do bad things to the wife while the husband is tied to a tree. Complicating matters is the fact that the wife (Ziegler whose only other film I've seen is the much more sedate "Rogue Lion") was sexually abused as a youngster, sending her into a catatonic state for which the only antidote is revenge.
If you've seen "Last House on the Left", "Death Wish", "Straw Dogs", "Deliverance" or "I Spit on Your Grave" then you've seen "Savage Encounter". It borrows elements of all those, and still, the outcome is much less. The nudity and violence isn't remarkable in my opinion, and the pair who play the thugs from down in the boondocks aren't nearly intimidating nor chilling enough to carry off their roles.
Star John Personson produced the movie and the meagre budget and semi-professional approach looks apparent; basic dialogue and experimental camera angles give it that 'independent' look, and as far as a rape and revenge flick goes, while it's difficult to locate (I saw an online 81 minute version), that doesn't mean it's worthy of cult status.
