Product: Day of the Woman (1978)
Rating: 4.0
The pinnacle of rape/revenge
When a movie basically starts off with a writer retiring to a remote cabin, and one of the first things she does there on her first visit is skinny dip, you know you are watching 70s horror. When the entirety of the remaining minutes fall into the categories of gruesome rape or brutal revenge for the rape, then you know you're watching the controversial classic,I Spit on Your Grave.Director Meir Zarchi's produced this assault on human decency in the late 70s, and it's as resonant now as it was then. Jennifer Hill (Camille Keaton) secludes herself to a small wooded Connecticut town to write her newest novel. When she attracts the attention of a few local deviants and their retarded friend, however, she ends up with a life altering experience that dwarfs any possible story she could write. When she plans her revenge, however, the story, specifically the second most disgusting bathtub scene in cinema history (the first is with a naked Kathy Bates), celebrates revenge that knows no boundaries.From beginning to end, this movie transfixes the viewer with an indelible image of betrayal, rape, and revenge that is seared into memory. Seeing a group of four men, one of which is mentally handicapped, brutalize an innocent women multiple times - all with a harmonica performance from one of the criminals - is something that never leaves one's memory; and I'm surprised the harmonica in this movie is not compared to the infamous banjo in Deliverance.It's quite interesting that multiple decades after this film, the Western audience has made a movement - good or bad is up for interpretation - making the type of depravity seen in the current torture porn flicks acceptable to view, even on prime time television, yet the filming of a rape is still considered taboo and unwatchable. The reluctance to air this film, despite the ever-widening audience toleration, truly displays how gruesome and memorable this groundbreaking exploitation film was when released. Zarchi explains in the commentary that this not about celebrating a crime and inspiring the sick minded. He wanted to expose the sheer disgust that should be associated with rape, to break the boundaries of tolerance, to disturb all but the sociopath. Given this film's legacy, I'd say Zarchi succeeded in his quest.This is the pinnacle of the rape/revenge genre, and should be watched by fans of both horror and overall cinema history...just don't expect to feel good when the credits roll.