“The rules are simple, just pick your favorite horror film for each day! However, you can’t pick the same horror film more [than] once. So once you pick say THE EXORCIST for your favorite horror film involving the powers of Hell, you can’t [pick] it again for any other day [whatsoever,] including favorite horror film.”
Source: Dollar Bin Horror
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Day 09 – Your favorite exploitation / grindhouse type film
Film: I Spit On Your Grave AKA Day of the Woman (1978) – dir. Meir Zarchi
Today was incredibly difficult to pick only one movie because I love exploitation horror films. I could just as easily have chosen Hostel (2005) or Hostel II (2007), Saw (2004) or its six sequels, Last House on the Left (1972), The Hills Have Eyes (1977), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), or any of the remakes of those three. Ultimately I decided on I Spit On Your Grave because it is the freshest in my mind, having watched it just a few weeks ago, and because it is the purest example of exploitation I’ve seen, even including those listed above.
This rape-and-revenge film set the bar for others in the genre, and the work done by Camille Keaton is commendable. Zarchi wrote Day of the Woman after helping a woman who had just been raped, and the idea stems from that incident: what does she wish she could do? Kill the son of a bitch, obviously. That is what Jennifer Hills does. A brutal and sadistic movie that easily stands the test of time. The choice of not using music in the final version of the film is especially effective, and a choice I wish the remake would have made.
Branden has been a film fan since he was young, roaming the halls of Blockbuster Video, trying to find the grossest, scariest looking VHS covers to rent and watch alone in the basement. It wasn’t until recently, though, that Branden started seeking out the classics of cinema, and began to develop his true passion for the art form. Branden approaches each film with the unique perspective of having studied the art from the inside, having both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in acting. He has been a film critic since 2010, and has previously written for Inside Pulse Movies, We Love Cult, and Diehard Gamefan. His biggest achievement as a film critic, to date, has been founding Cinefessions and turning it from a personal blog to a true film website, housing hundreds of film and television reviews, and dozens of podcasts.
