Ellie (1984)

Ellie is a scrappy, backwoods revenge comedy that turns its lurid setup into something oddly playful and watchable, powered by a knowing wink at Southern-gothic melodrama. Shelley Winters chews the scenery with relish as the venomous Cora, while the film leans into a grindhouse-meets-soap-opera vibe where scheming, comeuppance, and dark humor share the same sweaty air. It’s not subtle and it’s certainly not shy—Sheila Kennedy’s performance is central and the movie uses nudity as part of its provocation—yet there’s a pulpy satisfaction in watching Ellie seize control of a situation designed to strip her of it. If you can roll with its sleaze-tinged, exploitation-era sensibilities, you’ll find a cheeky little oddity that plays like a mischievous drive-in relic with a revenge streak.

Ellie is aiming for a bawdy, backwoods revenge comedy where the heroine turns the tables using seduction as her main weapon, and you can see the movie trying to be cheeky and scandalous rather than serious. The problem is that it plays more like a thin plot strung between exploitation-style nude scenes than a genuinely funny or clever revenge story, so if you’re expecting sharp comedy or satisfying payback, you may feel shortchanged. The tone is sleazy and low-rent, with performances and storytelling that don’t do much to elevate the material, even with a recognizable presence like Shelley Winters. If you’re not specifically in the mood for an 80s skin-flick vibe with some violence and a lot of nudity, this is an easy one to skip.