I Spit On Your Grave(1978) Tomorrow at Midnite

Just as I was in the process of taking a hiatus from disturbing rape/revenge grindhouse classics, Spectacle has to go and show one of the classics this Friday for their Midnite Movie. Seeing as it has only been a couple months since I watched the original for the first time, and frankly have seen enough of these types of movies to last me for the next few months, I will not be attending. It doesn't mean you don't have to, though. For most of you exploitation aficionados, I Spit On Your Grave(1978) is old news and is probably something you first watch in second grade as a primer to Cannibal Holocaust. For the rest of you trash newbies, Grave will either disgust you, bore you, or both depending on the level of depth you look into a film. Regardless, if you haven't seen it, tomorrow night is a good time to do so. Besides, no genre-film nerds repertoire is complete without seeing the original at least once.

Spectacle says - "How often does a supposedly trashy, exploitation film, a perfect example of the rape/revenge subgenre, get its biggest defense from a feminist horror film scholar? How often do you get the chance to see Buster Keaton's grand-niece, defiled and humiliated, wreck serious Medieval revenge (‘70s style) on country bumpkin, scum bag tormentors?

Camille Keaton gives an unforgettable performance as Jennifer Hills, a New York City-based writer who journeys up to the woods of Connecticut to focus on her work, only to be attacked by a gang of white trash pigs and left for dead... until she licks her wounds and gets down to business.

Banned in a dozen or more countries and described by critic Roger Ebert as a "a vile bag of garbage without a shred of artistic distinction," Meir Zarchi's notorious and reviled film also received lengthy coverage (and praise) in Carol J. Clover's seminal feminist study, “Men, Women, and Chainsaws”.

It may be one of the most appalling motion pictures ever made, but it is also a grossly misunderstood one."

Friday, June 3rd at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Savage Streets(1984) Friday at Midnite

With the exception of seeing The Exorcist at a very early age, my most prominent memory of Linda Blair was playing a young vigilante bent on her sister's revenge in the movie Savage Streets(1984). Now understand that this was close to 30 years ago since it was released on cable/VHS. I can't really recall the medium it was released on, because I wasn't even old enough to get funny feelings in my points. I do remember that it probably wasn't a movie I should have been watching at the age of ten, and it was the first example of rape/revenge film I had ever seen, and it kind of shook me up for years to come. Over the last several years, I had wanted to see if the film still gave me the same feelings of "disgust" I had experienced decades back, the only problem is I couldn't remember the title. It was only recently that I discovered the name of this lost memory, unfortunately there is only so many movies I can watch with the current levels of cinema obsession my life currently works with. Judging by the trailer, I don't even understand why this possible piece of garbage shook me up, but it sure looks like a bunch of fun to watch.

This week there is no reason for me to put off seeing Savage Streets because Spectacle Theater is going to be screening it Midnite on Friday. I've put off lots of movies I write about before, but I don't really know if I can in this case. The best part of it is the cost is only a 5 spot.

Spectacle says - "Los Angeles circa 1984, B-movie scream queen, Linnea Quigley, plays the sacrificial virgin that spawns big sis, played by pea-soup spewing veteran, Linda Blair, to seek revenge on a posse of scumlords called The Scars.
Get ready for a very anti-PC, camp-romp of Reagan-era trash fodder. An outrageous depiction of high school life via BIG HAIR, BIG BREASTS and BIG FIST-PUMPING ROCK SCORE! You’ll be certain to chant out “Justice For One” while exiting the theater. Not to be missed!"

Friday, May 13th at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Killing More Creeps with Death Wish 3(1985)

It's nice to be able to count on AMC to provide me with the right kind of entertainment a guy like me needs when he's sitting at a dive bar drinking whiskey shots and Pabst Blue Ribbon. No, I'm not speaking of The Walking Dead or Mad Men, although I was quite impressed with the former(and zombies do go with said whiskey and cheap beer indulgence). If you've been paying attention at all this week, then you would have noticed the AMC is running a Death Wish marathon. Yeah you heard me correctly, a Death Wish marathon. So while you were out enjoying "weather" and talking about useless Brits getting married, I was watching Paul Kersey take down punks with over-sized weapons while fueling myself with Wings and booze.......America!!!

A couple of months ago I covered Death Wish 2 after having watched it back-to-back with the original. I have held a special place in my heart for Charles Bronson for a while now, but it was only recently that I had screened the Death Wish series. Hearing that the first two were the best, I decided to take my time with the third to avoid disappointment so quickly after seeing the second. Three months later and I finally got my turn or the Bronson-mobile, and I didn't even have to pay for it. I just happened to be lucky enough to catch Death Wish 3 on AMC last night after my afternoon 90210. For all of you people out there that told me the first two were really the only ones worth watching, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Death Wish 3 was by far my favorite of the series, and I saw part of the fourth, so I know it doesn't get better from there on out.

If you've haven't seen it, I should probably summarize it for you:

Everyone's favorite vigilante and World's Unluckiest Man, Paul Kersey, makes his way back to NYC, to visit his war buddy after living in "Exile" out in Los Angeles for the last several years. As we all know from the first two movies, death and sadness follow Kersey around like a venereal disease. Paul just happens to get to get to his friends apartment as he and his wife were slaughtered by the neighborhood hoodlums....go figure. This unfortunately leads to Paul being taken into custody(more bad luck). The Department Head, who's name I can't remember or even care to, remembers the name Kersey being associated with the vigilante justice that lowered Manhattan's crime-rate, even if it was temporary, just a few years before. Since then, said Department Head has been given the duty of an area of Brooklyn known affectionately as East New York, and he can't seem to keep to piece. You see, East New York is rundown and overrun with gang violence that would make Somalian ghettos look like the suburbs. Since Department Head doesn't feel that he, nor his squadron, can really do anything to help out the pathetic vestiges of good residents left in the area, he conscripts Kersey to help clean up. And Kersey only knows one way to deal with punks, or in this case, creeps.......superior firepower!

The Third installment of Death Wish got a bunch of shit from the critics for being to unrealistic and over the top. From what I've read, even Bronson was embarrassed by the direction it took. Bully for them, because everything that was hated about Death Wish 3 was what kept my eyes glued to the screen. Non-stop violence, big guns, Kersey's ability to bed a women by the second date...it was all here. Best of all were the roving gangs of punks, and you know how much I love that shit. Yes, I agree the plots of the first two films were better scripted, but who needs a fucking storyline with this much action. By the third installment, I would just expect Kersey to have a free pass to smoke punks anywhere he went in the world and I would have been happy and Three actually gave me that, even though it was restricted to an area of Brooklyn that is still one of the worst neighborhoods in America.

I agree with the "unrealistic" criticism people give it, but that's the kind of shit that makes a great action/revenge movie. People don't watch these type of films to relate whole-heartedly, they do it to live that kind of fantastic lifestyle, even if it is just for 90 minutes. Death Wish 3 was just to good to limit to a review and one blog entry. I think I'm going to have to give it further thought tomorrow. I don't rate movies very often, but in this case, it's a 5 of 5 bar none.

They Call Her One Eye(1974)

I have inadvertently been watching a lot if revenge flicks over the last couple of months, and not those of the overcoming underdog variety where the geek gets the girl, although there have been a couple of those too. I'm talking about the down and dirty rapey variety with innocents being pushed over the edge. The ones where the victim becomes the aggressor, and makes her abuser pay tenfold for his crimes. Yes folks, I'm talking about some of the hardest exploitation films to watch, and not because they ate badly made. Within the last month I jar watched both I Spit On Your Grave(original and new release) and Last House On The Left. Two important genre films I had avoided for so long due to subject matter, but finally brought myself to watch lately due to a girlfriend's love of horror and to get it over with. Neither were as horrid as I had heard, and I'm kind of glad I got them out of they way just for conversation value in the future. That conversation is for another time and place because this post is about a movie I wandered upon without putting it into the same closet with the previous revenge flicks. I had been watching Grindhouse trailers on Youtube, as I do quite a bit, and came upon the exploitation/ruffie/revenge masterpiece They Call Her One Eye(1974) aka Thriller: A Cruel Picture, but I like the first title better. It just screams 70's trash. I can't really lump One Eye with the previous mentioned movie because even though it was similar in subject matter, stylistically and direction wise it blows the other two out of the water. It was actually a well made exploitation piece.

They Call Her One Eye is the story of Friga, a young, country girl who has a bit of an issue with her communication skills. You see, Friga is mute due to a traumatic encounter with a scary old bum 15 years previous. Her parents have spent their entire life and funds doing everything they could to help Friga get past the pain, but nothing seems to work, including regular therapy sessions in the city (I'm assuming it's Stockholm). When Friga misses the bus to therapy one day, she is picked up by a sharp-looking playboy who goes by the name of Tony. Upon arrival into the "City", our young lech has convinced the extremely silent Friga out to an expensive dinner and drinks, which lowers the trauma vitims shields to the point where she agrees to go back to his ultra-modern bachelor pad for a nightcap. What she doesn't know is that Tony's intentions aren't very good, as the mickeyed glass of wine he feeds her will attest. When Friga wakes up a couple days later, she is a bit angry to find out that Tony has not only been feeding her heroin, but also has big plans to force her into prostitution. Unfortunately for her first John, Friga isn't going down without a fight, and mangles the old pervert's face like a feral cat. Of course, this makes Pimp-In-Charge Tony a bit mad, so he takes out his frustration on her left eye, rendering her broken with an eye patch and no depth perception. On top of that, she has also been forced heroin so many times during the "breaking" process that she has become a junkie. How will she ever get out of this one?

Thankfully, all One Eye needs is saved cash tips and one day a week, over time, to train in Badassery. With a little judo, defensive driving and firearm instruction Tony and all her abusers are about to find out that you can only push someone so far before they come back at you with a sawed-off shotgun!

I got a lot more out of One Eye than I thought I was expecting. As I said before, it was actually a well made movie with a decent storyline and direction. The acting could have been better, but considering that most of the cast were sex filmed trained, it held up. I was especially impressed with the use of ambient and synthetic noise in the background used in place of actual dialog throughout most of the movie. Whoever scored this movie did a great job of portraying terror on film. I could actually feel myself getting anxious during the high tension scenes, and that doesn't happen very often.

One thing you have to remember is that this film is Swedish and from the 70's. If you don't know what that means I'll tell you in two words.....full penetration scenes. We're not talking about run-of-the-mill American exploitation overrun with breast and boob shots, we're talking full on fucking, even if a stunt dick and vagina were used. It was still the real thing, which is what Swedish Cinema in the 70's was known for. So if you get freaked out by real sex on film, They Call Her One Eye is not for you.

The film also could have saved itself 10 to 15 minutes on the duration if less slo-mo was used. I understand that the slow motion helped with dramatic impact and action sequences, but it got to be a little too much at times. It was like that long, drawn out joke in every episode of Family Guy. The joke that goes on for two more minutes than it needs to just to annoy the audience. This is how I felt through at least one action sequence.

All and all, I got something I wasn't expecting while watching One Eye, a good movie. If you crave something more from your exploitation than boobs, gore, and Pam Grier, I would recommend it in a second. If sex on film scares you, don't bother. If you love bad-ass women with eye patches, go for the gold!!