Review of Day of the Woman (1978) by Sleez B — 19 Oct 2011

You hawk that loogy and my hand breaks out the ground and grabs you. You scream no! and are dragged to your doom. You better stand because there is no turning back. You wish you had never done this, so LET THE SLEEPING CORPSE LIE.

This was inspired by the film's title, Iron Maiden's "The Trooper", and White Zombie.

Warning: the following review is very vague. I have left out a number of important points for arguments over the effects this movie may or may not have. There are some spoilers too.

I Spit on Your Grave has been called a lot of things. I never thought I would see the legendary and notorious I Spit on Your Grave and now that I have seen this, I can say it has been over emphasized. I Spit on Your Grave has been mistakenly and over interpreted a number of times and years even though this flick is simple within the context. A woman goes into the woods and into a cabin to write a book, but she attracts a couple of hicks. The hicks first annoy and teases until they gang rape her pervasively. She gets her revenge by luring them one by one and kills them. It's that simple, but people have managed to take text and go further. I write below me the things that I Spit on Your Grave has been called because one has to understand what it is; afterwards, my review will come in once I identify the flick and the issues around it. You may disagree, but this is how I saw it.

There is no real message here other than rapist deserving to die. That's it. This film has been considered as a feminist statement, empowerment, revenge fantasy, sickest film of all time, vile bag of garbage, and as a backlash to slasher films. I am going to clear this up with little arguments and reasoning. First, this is in no way the sickest film. The logic is deeply and perversely flawed which sick, but there were sicker films than this like Cannibal Holocaust or I Drink Your Blood. Second, this is not really a feminist film unless you think feminism is another word for "man hating". It would equivalent to saying cock fights are pro-chicken because in the end the winner will be a rooster. I will agree that this is a strong rape-revenge fantasy, but that is about it. I would not say this is a "vile bag of garbage" as fame film critic Roger Ebert has quoted, as much as it is moronically made. Writer and director Meir Zarchi demonstrates us that he does not know how to make a film because this little flick really feels like a skit. I could not take I Spit on Your Grave seriously in the terms of acting and drama because of the inept writing and production. Zarchi's heart was sort of in the commendable place, but he clearly does not know how to demonstrate or express it. Heck, he cannot even show that vengeance is valuable and does not even know revenge is sort of a death sentence to one's self which makes the church scene repulsive and offensive. There is a saying that one has to dig two graves when they embark on a journey for revenge: one for the person and the other one for themselves. Death Wish clearly demonstrated this especially with the ending even though I believe no one "got it". The same could be said with Hobo with a Shotgun. Fourth, the film has been mistakenly as a backlash for the slasher films that came out in the year 1980. This is not true. I Spit on Your Grave came out in 1978 as Day of the Woman. The film went by without recognition until it was rereleased with a new moniker, taken from a 1950's French novel, in 1980. This happened because there was easy money to be made because audience where flocking to the big screens to see these types of flick, violent and gory. A lot of flicks contained violence against women like The Boogeyman, Don't Answer the Phone, Don't Go in the House, and others of its ilk. Don't believe me, check them out. The Boogeyman tears a young girl's clothes. Don't Answer the Phone! has women getting strangled and then slapped. If slapping women ain't you r thing, Don't Go in the House takes it a step further by burning the women alive. A lot of films were explicitly showing the violence against women which receive backlash from Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel on their PBS show Sneak Previews. However, one can argue against showing such scenes which would be censorship, but that would be no good. Heck, Raging Bull (1980) had a lot of scenes of violence against women even which based on the book. If you take away those scenes, the film would lose a lot perception and ground. Do not use that statement and use it as an argument or attack. The release and of slashers in the 1980 would be followed into a moral panic in cinema with the belief that these films would cause men to cheer rape and commit similar actions themselves. Bull crap, rape and violence have been part of history, so it is pretty irresponsible and arrogant to say this flick would be emulated. Today, violence against women is still a big problem which follows another issue. There is fear that viewers will cheer and become aroused by the rape scenes. I will have to grudgingly say that we should not complain if a person was aroused or entertained by the rape scene. Concern yes, but argue to make point, no. It is okay to be honest even though one has to feel self-conscious. A reviewer in Fangoria did not think so. Yes, violence against women is still an issue today, but that will always be around and will never disappear. I hate to spill it to you. Heck, violence will never ever disappear as long humanity is around. The issue of course comes to the other half of the flick which is the woman inflicting her revenge. The scenes are mostly cartoonish and laughable in some respect, but I guess they will be accepted which may say something about someone. You complain about sexual violence, but praise the revenge scene which is pretty much sexual violence gender role is reverse.

This film's story is pretty much violence. There is a huge difference when a filmmaker uses violence to tell the story and when violence is the story. This film is two parts violence: rape and murder. I will go over the rape and then the homicide in the film. What do I think about the film's explicit rape? I did not know how to response to the rape scenes other than watch it. In fact, how do you even judge rape in movies? I do not want to judge on how rape should or should not be depicted. I can tell you that I was not aroused by the scenes. I began to feel numb as the first half dragged on. I felt like if everything was a joke. The reason has to do with Zarchi's direction. He is once again unable to pull it off as a writer and director. We are treated to more sexual violence which makes the film all the more deplorable. I have seen other flicks that had more disturbing and uncomfortable depictions like both Last House on the Left, Satan's Slaves, and Rob Zombie's Halloween, just to name a few examples. The film is then loaded with cheap violence after the pervasive rape scenes. What did I think of the violence against the guys? I love them which I feel weird and a little conscious. I believe society (remember, not all) have accepted cartoonish violence a lot, but are uncomfortable when sexuality is added which bring us back to this flick. I had mixed feelings with the film. I could not help my amusement with revenge scenes. I bet they were film to be cheerful "that's what you get" reaction or to be terrifying. Instead, I found them very amusing and funny because Zarchi is lacking in skills and craftsmanship to make the shots effective. One of the best examples is scene with the death of Matthew even though every other revenge scene is comical due to ineptness. Matthew is hanged because ***king moron and makes a lot of funny faces during so. It is okay because Jennifer Hill (Camille Keaton) has plenty to go around. The last revenge act is wonderful and moronically comical. It's not supposed to be. Andy's death is obviously cheap because of the PlayDo, and Johnny's death is awesome as his offending weapon is taken. Rather than attack or cover the bleeding with the many objects in the bathroom, Johnny splashes around the blood water. My favorite is Andy's because I cannot tell or express to you how ridiculously and moronically awesome it is. You can watch it on YouTube for free.

Now that I covered the story which is violence, I must tell you about everything else in the film. I will have to side with Ebert as it is moronically made. The production values are very crappy and dialogue is a mess. By that, the lines are very dumb. This is another problem with Zarchi because he cannot be creative with the writing. All women in New York want to screw! It goes something like that and is repeated. The best part is when Johnny makes the illogical response to gun packing Jennifer with I don't like women giving me orders! Derogatory and meaning words against women are repeated pretty much. There is no real character development other than a very weak exploration of Jennifer. I Spit on Your Grave is weak effort other than the use of rape and violence. There could have been so much done with this which is a shame since the film did have raw power. I will say this flick is overrated and over emphasized which weakens the film if you start to wonder about it. It's not that bad, but it is not even okay. I will argue that five or ten minutes of the film are actually watchable if you do want to skip the rape. The film is pretty much a rip from Last House on the Left and Deliverance.

I have bought this film at Wal-Mart for 8 bucks. Not bad. I enjoyed the extras including a sit down with director Zarchi. I was expecting him to be a real douche that was full of it, but he turned out to be an okay guy who could pull a decent. I was expecting him to be douche based on my reflection over director David DeFalco in Chaos and maybe Virginie Despentes in Baise-Moi. One thing to mention is the film's title because it challenges the original title. Between I Spit on Your Grave and Day of the Woman, I say I like new title because it matches to what the film is. I say the original title should only be added if it is the rated R version; also, there is no grave spitting anywhere in the film. I've been mislead.

Review for remake of I Spit on Your Grave.