Review of Day of the Woman (1978) by Jason J — 06 Aug 2010

One of the most notorious exploitation movies from the 70's which was banned in the UK for many years and deemed a 'video nasty'. A young woman from New York hires a house in the countryside so that she can write her novel. Her arrival warrants some attention from 4 of the local males. One sunny afternoon whilst she's relaxing on the river in a boat by the house, the 4 men in a speedboat ambush her, take her to land where they subject her to a horrific and violent rape ordeal. After recovering from her wounds, she decides to take revenge by seducing each and every one of them separately before killing them in the nastiest way imaginable!

One of the best female revenge movies you'll ever see even though it's so controversial. I felt to me like the director might have been partly inspired by the Japanese anti-heroine character Scorpion when he came up with the storyline in that both Jennifer Hills and Scorpion are no weak, whimpering victims. Instead they fight back and use sex as a weapon to lure their attackers into a false sense of security before offing them. It's not a movie that you can enjoy and the rape scenes are very disturbing and disgusting to watch but necessary for the plot to progress although they should not have done 4 of them. That was a bit too much. The director did an excellent job of portraying the true horror of it instead of glamourising the degrading act as modern Hollywood horrors tend to do these days. Jennifer's revenge is every bit as bloody and painful, and nowhere is it more sadistic than in the infamous "bloodbath" scene. The rapists all get what's coming to them, and Jennifer makes sure that the punishment fits the crime, turning the men into the helpless, pleading victims and feeding their own sadism right back to them. Be advised that this movie isn't for everybody - it's very hard to watch at times. It is brutal, powerful, sleazy and exploitative. It is also quite effective and will probably leave scars on some people. You have been warned!