Day of the Woman

Plot synopsis:
Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton) is a short story writer who drives out of her home in New York City to an isolated cottage by a lake in the countryside of upstate New York to write her first novel. The arrival in town of the attractive and independent young woman attracts the attention of Johnny (Eron Tabor), the local gas station owner, and his two friends Stanley (Anthony Nichols) and Andy (Gunter Kleemann), two unemployed youths who hang around the gas station. Jennifer receives a grocery delivery from Matthew (Richard Pace), the local simpleton who is shy and apparently mentally retarded, and befriends him. Matthew is friends with the other three men and reports back to them about the beautiful woman he met, claiming he saw her breasts.The next day, Stanley and Andy start cruising by the cottage in their speedboat and surreptitiously prowl around the house at night while keeping themselves hidden from view. One day, while Jennifer is relaxing in her canoe, they surprise her in their speedboat and tow her to shore. As she tries to escape, she's met by Johnny, while Matthew hides in bushes nearby. She realizes they planned her abduction so Matthew can lose his virginity. Jennifer puts up a fight by punching Johnny, but is chased by the men through the forest. Matthew refuses to have sex with her so Johnny rips off Jennifer's bikini and rapes her. They allow her to escape but track her down shortly afterward and Andy brutally rapes her anally. Matthew again refuses to participate. The four guys flee from the scene of the crime in their speedboat.A little later, after Jennifer crawls back to her house they attack her again. Matthew finally rapes her after drinking alcohol, but says that he can not reach orgasm with the other men watching. The other men ridicule her book and rip up the manuscript, and Stanley sexually assaults Jennifer and rapes her too. When Jennifer scratches at Stanley's face, she is savagely beaten. She passes out on the floor covered in mud from the woods as well as her own blood. With that, the men leave the house. Johnny realizes she is a witness to their crimes and orders Matthew to go back and stab her to death. Matthew cannot bring himself to do it, so he dabs the knife in her blood and returns to the other men claiming he has killed her. The four then take off in their speedboat.Over the next two weeks, a traumatized Jennifer pieces both herself and her manuscript back together. She silently sits around her house, chain-smoking, and avoids looking into mirrors to avoid seeing her maimed face now sporting some permanent scars and ugly bruises from her beating. She goes to a church and asks for forgiveness, vowing to kill all four of the men who violated her. One day, the men learn Jennifer has survived and they beat Matthew up for lying to them about killing her.Jennifer then begins spying on her assailants first by following Matthew home from the local grocery store to his parents house, and the next day she follows Johnny home from the garage to his house where he has a wife and two young children.One day, Jennifer calls in a grocery order knowing Matthew will deliver it. Hearing that it's from Jennifer's address, he takes the groceries, and a knife he steals from the grocery store butcher unsure of what Jennifer plans to do with him. At the cabin, Matthew arrives where Jennifer entices him to have sex with her under a tree. As he becomes oblivious to his surroundings, she strings a noose around his neck and hangs him. Matthews struggles, but is slowly strangled to death as Jennifer watches with a wicked-looking facial expression. Jennifer cuts the rope and drops the dead body in the river. She then pushes his bicycle into the river and the groceries he brought as well. Jennifer then phones the grocery store to report that Matthew never arrived with her order.The next day, Jennifer drives over to the gas station and seductively collects Johnny from the place and entices him to join her in her car. She stops on the road halfway to her house where she gets out of the car, and points a gun at him, ordering that he remove all his clothing. The clearly misogynist Johnny insists the rapes were her fault because she enticed the men by parading around in revealing clothing. She feigns belief in Johnny's ludicrous rant, lowers her gun, and invites him back to her cottage for a hot bath.While taking a bath together, Jennifer manually stimulates him in her bathtub. When Johnny says that Matthew has been reported missing, Jennifer says she killed Matthew. Johnny thinks she is joking. As he nears orgasm, Jennifer takes the butcher knife Matthew brought with him from its hiding place under the bathmat and severs Johnny's genitals. He screams in terror while bleeding to death. Jennifer calmly leaves the room and locks Johnny in from the outside. He dies from blood loss. Jennifer dumps Johnny's dead body in the basement and burns his clothes in the fireplace.The following day, Stanley and Andy learn that Johnny is missing from his wife. They take their speedboat to Jennifer's cabin aware that she might have killed him and Matthew. Andy goes ashore with an axe looking for Jennifer, while she swims out to the boat and climbs aboard before Stanley realizes what she is doing. She pushes him overboard and Stanley has trouble staying afloat for he is not a good swimmer. Andy tries to attack her when she speeds past him in the boat, but she escapes with the axe. Andy swims out to rescue Stanley but Jennifer plunges the axe into Andy's back, killing him. She backs the boat up to Stanley who grabs hold of the motor to climb aboard, begging Jennifer not to kill him. Looking down on her former assailant with very cold eyes, Jennifer instead smirks at Stanley and quotes what he said while assaulting her: "Suck it, bitch!" and starts the engine, disemboweling him underwater. As Andy and Stanley's dead bodies sink beneath the surface of the water, the murderous Jennifer smiles slightly as she speeds away in the boat.

Tags: suspenseful, cruelty, murder, realism, mystery, violence, cult, revenge, sadist

Review:
These guys 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.Okay, so not all of the plot points make sense, and not everyone is going to agree with Jennifer's decision to kill the men, but it's still a powerful film.
It simply tells the story and lets you decide - is Jennifer an insane psycho-killer who ought to go to jail for her crimes, or is she an angel of vengeance delivering poetic justice?Scaredy cats like me might prefer to watch this film with the audio commentary by Joe Bob Briggs turned on.
In essence, films of this type ARE exploiting the subject of rape (and sadly, often presenting it in a sexually ambiguous way) but does this mean that they are not able to condemn the subject matter, or offer a powerful criticism of the behaviour of many men towards women?
I believe so, and I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is a triumphant example of this, putting forward more powerful a message about violence of rape and the attitudes of some men towards it than any other movie I care to mention.
I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE offers a truly subjective message in that it presents gritty reality and leaves the viewer to make up their mind on the matter.Much is made of the fact that the rape scenes last for around forty minutes.
Lets just forget the title "Day of the Woman", the alternate title for which this movie is much better known for; "I Spit on Your Grave" is a far better one and part of the reason why this has become a sort of a cult-classic over the years.
The second part of the movie focuses on the woman, taking revenge on her rapists, Charlie Bronson style, that on its own right is also pretty extreme as well.This movie features the longest rape scene out of movie history?
I don't know but the entire first halve of the movie is basically about the woman getting raped by 4 different guys, multiple times, in various violent ways.
It's something pretty extreme for a movie to feature, even for an '70's exploitation flick.Also the way the woman takes revenge upon her rapists is pretty extreme and mostly original as well.
I especially liked the way the second halve of the movie worked out, in which the woman starts her revenge.
These days, as proved by the likes of 'Irreversible', films tackling rape in a shocking and disgusting way are more readily accepted, and even gain a strong reaction from many critics.
The film plays out like a revenge thriller, with the protagonist getting her own back on the men who raped her.
I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is a straightforward rape/revenge drama with the tone of a documentary.The coverage is plain, there is no music, there are no "stars", there are no concessions to a mainstream audience.The exploitation film audience may be served, although the rape sequences are neither dynamic nor stylish.Camille Keaton (Buster's granddaughter), a writer, drives to the country to stay at her house on the river.
The humiliated and abused Jennifer does not report the sexual assault to the police and a couple of weeks later, she is physically recovered and has just plotted revenge against the rapists."Day of the Woman" is extremely realistic and violent; therefore the simple and scary story is absolutely credible.
First at all, this movie is not for all the audiences, but the fans of Wes Craven's "Last House on the left", Sam Peckimpah's  "Straw Dogs", or Jorge Grau's "Coto de Caza" can find a good piece of sexual horror in "Day of the woman".The story is simple, Jennifer, a beautiful girl came from New York to a cabin in the Connecticut woods with the intention of writing a novel in the summer.
The atmosphere, the silence, and the loneliness of the character and the absolutely explicit scenes of the rape, and a great amount of blood are the elements for creating the tension and the sensation of anguish that makes this movie special.
One of the most controversial and notorious exploitation films ever made and it's certainly not hard to see why either!Vacationing woman is savagely raped by four country boys and left for dead.
Zarchi also chooses to add no music to the film, only natural sound.Camille Keaton is a silent force as the rape victim.
"I Spit on Your Grave" (also known as "Day of the Woman, among other titles) is one of those infamous cult-classic exploitation films that has been hailed and hated, and is a very controversial piece of cinema - and deservedly so.
After recovering from the horrible incident, she decides to seek revenge on the men who hurt and violated her so relentlessly, one by one seducing them, and taking bloody revenge.Probably one of the most infamous exploitation films of all time, "I Spit On Your Grave" is a grueling and disturbing movie.
I had a similar feeling after seeing Wes Craven's "The Last House on the Left", but the violence (particularly the rape) is depicted much more graphically in this film, so I felt even more disgusted.
The group of degenerate men in this film are depicted as slummy pigs, and they prove their stereotype by so savagely raping and beating a young woman like they do.
This film does a good job and showing how horribly human beings treat each other.After the horrible mauling and violation, Jennifer takes a little revenge of her own, and cleverly (and brutally) murders each of the men involved.
This film doesn't need music to help carry it, and it makes it feel even more gritty.Overall, "I Spit On Your Grave" is a nasty, raw, and brutal revenge-themed horror movie.
Really, these were some of the most boring slayings I've ever seen in a horror film.In the end, it's all about the rape, and you find yourself left with the feeling that this film is actually geared toward men who secretly find the visual image of rape kind of hot, and eases the guilt by letting the lady have her revenge, so they can pretend that's actually what they came for.
Having only recently seen the original 1978 film and then the 2010 remake for the first time, the review and comparison here is untainted by having an unrealistically nostalgic view of the original.As a long term horror film fan, I have always found sexual violence especially difficult to watch.
It is a pretty well made "rape-revenge" movie, about an attractive young female writer who is going to spend some time alone in an old house in the countryside.
It's often referred to as a grind house film of the female rape/revenge genre, but I feel this is an unfair depiction of Zarchi's intent.
This is the movie everyone loves to hate.Now fast forward a quarter of a century and compare the above with Ebert's comments on another film involving the horrific rape and beating of a young woman and an equally graphic act of revenge -- I'm referring to Gaspar Noe's "Irreversible" (2002): "it is therefore moral", "it is unflinchingly honest about the crime of rape.
It is ridicolous how people that affirm they can handle any amount of gore or violence get so upset when they face movies like this or Men Behind the Sun. This movie is not only a great rape and revenge, but it's way better than the recent Irreversible, which while a good movie, it has been unreasonably praised by the so called intellectual public, not to mention they added the raper's penis through computer graphics.
If you approach this film as a low-budget genre film and don't expect the production values of a James Cameron blockbuster or the acting of Hollywoods finest you'll get a lot out of this.The acting is better than most low-budget movies I've seen (Camille Keaton and Eron Tabor are especially good) and the story is logical enough to get the directors ideas over.
The production values must have been low, but that's not a significant reason to call I Spit On Your Grave (I've never seen or heard it be called Day of the Woman before) a bad movie.The cinematography is strange.
Ebert has observably made it known that the violence in this movie, at least in his eyes, serves no purpose and lacks any sort of redemption, but perhaps he has missed some crucial elements of the film.First of all, I Spit on Your Grave is not the original name of Meir Zarchi's film; the movie's original title was Day of the Woman.
The revenge murders are predictable and not graphic (ie, not gory in the tradition of slasher or giallo horror films).Clearly the sole reason this film was made was to make money from mentally ill individuals who enjoying watching a woman being raped, beaten, degraded.Is this film the cause of sexism?
But this movie I can't imagine anyone enjoying unless they get some slight thrill from watching a woman being raped, whether or not they want to admit it.
Shocking and disturbing, if you are not repulsed by this movie then you may need to see a psychiatrist.It's one of those films that was hyped up as a slasher movie when it was released in the US in 1978 (and subsequently banned in the UK until 2001) alongside the Halloween's and Friday the 13th's, but it is anything but.A lone writer is mentally and physically raped and seeks revenge, there is no hero, there is only despair and pain, there is no happy ending, just hurt and repulsion.The violence is never glorified it just shows the depths of human pain and despair..
If you hadn`t seen it you`d heard about it due to its reputation of ultra graphic violence but the film was banned before I managed to see it .It was only last year I saw it for the first time when it was released on DVD with several minutes of rape scenes cut .
I can respect any B-movie 'Schlock' film, as long as it knows it is just that.This is where 'I Spit On Your Grave' shows its ugliness, as it tries to pass itself of as a piece of neo-feminism, when it is low budget, crude exploitation cinema.What makes 'I Spit On Your Grave' so awful is that the rape of its lead character is just a plot device to show 'off the wall' murders and gory set-pieces.Unfortunately the notoreity of this film (banned in several countries) has given it a 'mystique' that it doesn't deserve.
As a result, the only atmosphere in this film is that you're watching some amateur footage of a real event, though  even that idea is destroyed by appalling acting and ludicrous characterisation.According to the video cover, the film is about one woman's trail of revenge on the men who raped her.
I was really freaked when I watched this movie, I even felt bad for poor Camille Keaton when she was being abused in the film..
I honored her by watching a movie she's known for, the original rape and revenge exploitation flick, I Spit on Your Grave.
The rape/revenge storyline is hard to take but (1) that's better than other revenge flicks that are easy to take, thus glorifying or cheapening (if not justifying) violence (2) the basic simplicity actually leads us to know a bit about these characters instead of other films that are just excuses to see people get killed.
This is probably the most controversial movie ever made and the 23-minute rape scene has a large part to do with that but in my opinion this film has been mistreated for many years now.
Also, the revenge the woman exacts on her rapists isn't really that impressive...pretty much exactly what you would expect from a standard slasher flick, complete with the obligatory cut-off-the-bad-guy's-penis scene you just knew would be in a movie as tasteless as this one.
REVENGE OF THE WOMAN might have been better or even "LET'S SEE IF YOU LIKE IT?" At no stage does she "spit" on anyone's grave...no-one gets as far as a funeral!Little more than a home movie, no that is incorrect..it IS a home movie!
And what's even more offensive is that Zarchi and his actors, if one could call them that, don't even accomplish the wretched exploitation goals they set out to do.People may seek out I Spit on Your Grave for more wicked though personal reasons (eg, this is for the most part half rape porn and half woman revenge massacre flick), but even on these ends its so stupidly put together; a scene of rape in the woods, for example, should be easy enough to put together, yet it's all for not, with the intended realism coming off like, well, I can't even describe it (is it the locomotion or an ass-f***, pick one and stick with it).
Scenes involving a castration - the lead up to this, by the way, may be one of the dumbest in all movie history - it's not fun this time to yell at the screen, but rather the feeling kicks in to smash your own head into a mirror over the idiocy presented, two lake killings, and the aforementioned forty-five minute long rape, go on an on, soon fizzling out and then lacking out on the delivery.
And above all else, what I Spit on Your Grave is, aside from being obnoxious in its "hey, this is like Last House on the Left reality" style and ultra crude in its bad horror movie way, it's often quite boring.
The story is forced, the direction heavy-handed, the plot is ridiculous, and it feels like the makers decided to change it from a porno to a horror film in the second act.
The film does not disappoint--it is brutal beyond compare, to the point where Roger Ebert could justifyably label it the worst movie ever made.And yet, the problem is that some scenes, especially the gang rape, have an air of truth to them that forces a reconsideration.
Originally released in 1978 as "Day of the Woman" and re-released in 1980 with the more popular title (which writer/director Meir Zarchi hates), "I Spit on Your Grave" is a low-budget film telling a simple story of rape-and-revenge.The film is notorious.
The rape/revenge scenes are a turn-off rather than a turn-on.After viewing the film I saw it again with the director's commentary.
"I Spit on Your Grave" is one of the classic horror movies and this has to do with a woman who has been raped, humiliated and hurt by a gang.
Then they left her for dead but she has survived and she will take her revenge about all of that.It's a very nasty film that shows us the real face of some things such as rape.
I have tired to watch this ones before but I did put on last in day to watch also this movie dose take while to getting.The first 20 mins were a little boring and nothing much really happened but after half hour into movie, the rest of the movie very well paced, no boring moment in last hour of the movie.This movie did seem borrow little from The Last house on left, as revenge after being raped scene was not gruesome but it was still hard to watch at times.The deaths scenes were not bad but I did expect more painful deaths in this movie and some bloody moment in this movie nothing really gory.The acting was really good from the whole cast, I felt sorry for the girl and I hated those guys, wanted them suffer more then they did.
So this is it, the infamous Day of the Woman a.k.a. I spit on your grave, banned in several countries and considered the worst movie ever made by Roger Ebert.
It's a movie that deserves to be seen by the curious and those who also like exploitive low-budget horror films.
Writer-director Meir Zarchi has fashioned himself a low-budget exploitation horror film that you'll either love, hate yourself for loving, or end up really hating it and hating yourself for even watching it.I don't feel bad after watching this feature, but the one thing that bothers me the most about "I Spit on Your Grave" is its disappointing third act.
(Let me say this: Camille Keaton has to be one of the bravest actresses to ever appear in a movie - period, especially after this film.)Zarchi (who was later married to Keaton for three years between 1979 and 1982) is good in building up the tension of these early scenes with no musical score or anything to really signify or suggest the horror he is about to unleash upon Jennifer and the audience.
A brutal film that remains the most notorious of the incredibly controversial "rape/revenge" horror sub-genre, I Spit on Your Grave makes The Last House on the Left look like The Benny Hill Show.
But worry not, her assailants soon get their just desserts, and if any women feel outraged by the acts performed in the previous scenes and want the male audience to squirm just as much, your wish is granted.While this film is far from enjoyable, it is not your average exploitation movie and the uneasy feeling you might have while watching it is exactly what is intended in a film displaying the horrific experience of a rape, and it is not surprising that writer/director Meir Zarchi never broke into the mainstream.
Now I liked the movie, it had a good story to it, and it was a very emotional film, in a way.
The movie concerns a woman off in a quiet town, where she is raped, repeatedly, and the film is careful to linger long on scenes of incredible violence.
I've also read that the woman's whole character is pretty 2D - she gets raped, exacts her revenge, the film ends.