Directed by Meir Zarchi
Starring Camille Keaton, Eron Tabor, Richard Pace, Anthony Nichols, Gunter Kleemann

This is one that the title alone is remembered sometimes more than the movie. It is one that activists and critics love to point out as cruel exploitations and the way women are treated in horror films. But obviously, they have never seen the film before they lay down their criticism. Because if they have, they would have realized that this is not shown from the point of view of the rapists, but of the victim and of the heinous crime that rape is. That didn’t stop both Siskel and Ebert from trashing it, not only hated the film but Ebert called it “sick, reprehensible and contemptible.” No kidding, Roger. When you have rape as the subject matter, what do you expect? All fun and games? One would have to do is listen to the audio commentary from Joe Bob Briggs and to hear some of the silly stuff that has been said about this title, as well as making you really see the film for what it is.

The story is simple. Camille Keaton is a writer from New York that rents a house in the woods to start writing her first novel. Shortly after arriving there, she is attack, beaten, and repeatedly raped by four local young men. One of them is a slightly retarded man, who the others keep egging him on to take his turn, so he won’t be a virgin. They pay no attention to this poor naked girl as she lies there, covered in dirt, bleeding, and crying for help, like it’s no big deal. After each rape, they let her go or leave her there laying in the mud, only to follow her and attack her again. And again. Once she is able to finally make it back to her house, right before she is able to call the police, they attack again. This time, they don’t intend to leave her alive, but leave it up to the slow-minded Matthew to finish the job, which unbeknown to them, he just can’t do. He leaves her laying there but tells his friends that he stabbed her just like they told him to.

Not sure why she doesn’t call the police once she regains her senses, but she doesn’t. She slowly cleans herself up and starts to plot revenge. Deadly revenge. Once the guys discover that she’s still alive, they don’t even seem to be that worried that they could be in trouble with the police. Little did they know that would be the least of their problems. She sets out on her path for vengeance on each of her attackers. The original title of this film was Day of the Woman, which I think is a much more fitting one, but surely not as catchy or memorable as what they went with.

Watching this today, you can feel how dated it is, with the way the guys are, and the fact the rape didn’t seem to be that big of a deal, and that she probably ‘enjoyed’ it. Even though this film is over 30 years old that part of the story still packs one hell of a punch. It’s not the first rape-revenge movie, but it really shows the brutality of this terrible crime and does not glorify it at all. To me, the attitude of the attackers of what they did is almost as terrifying as the crime itself.

While this film is a classic because of the subject matter, and the fact that the title alone is pure exploitation at its finest. There is plenty of nudity from Keaton, but it is never gratuitous because it is during some intense scenes of sexual violence you’ll see. If they really wanted to exploit it, she would have been naked all of the time. When she gets show some skin later in the film, after her recovery, it is all part of her plan of revenge.  So again, it’s there for a reason.

The film isn’t the most fast-paced storyline, but once the rape sequences start, they seem to go on quite a long time, which might be the intention of the filmmaker, to make it feel like it goes on forever, showing the hell she is going through.

Regardless of any of its reputation, it is a very important film in the horror film genre, and really doesn’t get the acclaim that it really should, mainly because it is slapped with that title of a cheap exploitation film. When in reality, it is much, much more than that.

If you do get the chance, I would highly recommend watching the film with the audio commentary by Joe Bob Briggs. Not only is it entertaining, but very informative.