Product: Day of the Woman (1978)
Rating: 4.0
"Mercy has its place, as do cruelty and revenge." - Meir Kahane
Well, as always it seems, I do things backwards. I watched the 2010 remakeI Spit on Your Gravebefore I watched this original 1978 "I Spit on Your Grave - Day of the Woman." I'm glad I watched both - they both have their strengths.I don't think either are the type of movies you ENJOY. You experience them at a visceral level.I was very impressed with this version. The cinematography was superb - clear, wonderful color, interesting perspectives. There was no background musical score and I think that added a lot to the movie - you could hear every sound and the silences added to the drama.There was more nudity in this version - male and female; much more solely physical rape scenes - I can definitely understand the NR rating, ESPECIALLY for 1978. An extra on the DVD for this version is a discussion with the director, Meir Zarchi, which was enlightening.The 2011 version had much more of a psychological/emotional buildup to the rapes, which added to the scare factor. And the revenge sequence in the newer movie was much more brutal. Also, I thought the part of Matthew was much better played in the newer version, not such a caricature of a mentally troubled young man.The stories aren't exactly alike but both are very good, for the genre they are. Both actresses playing Jennifer Hills - Camille Keaton (1978) and Sarah Butler (2010) did outstanding jobs.Both versions deserve their NR ratings - these are not movies for anyone but adult - and a LOT of adults won't want to be watching them either. They are hard movies to watch, especially for women I think.