I hate I Spit On Your Grave but like this movie.

First, I don't know why people call it Day of the Woman because all of my life, I've known it as I Spit On Your Grave.

Anyway. I watched both ISOYG and TLHOTL around the same time in my teens. I didn't think too much of them and was only watching them for the shock value. Recently, for whatever reason, I decided to watch them again and man it's crazy how opinions change over the years.

I absolutely hate I Spit On Your Grave. To me, it embodies everything terrible about this genre of film making that went on back in the 70's. Don't get me wrong, I love my fair share of movies from that scene, but there are so many that are just awful and slapped together to make a quick buck over a weekend. I Spit On Your Grave was just one of literally dozens and dozens.

No plot, no story, hardly any dialogue, no motive for the villains to do what they do, stupid choices made by the characters etc. etc. I can't imagine the script (if it even had one) being longer than 5-6 pages. It's possibly the least amount of effort you could put into making a "film" and I'm sure if you listen hard enough (y'know, since there is no music) you can hear the director masturbating to the gratuitous rape scenes that make up the majority of the film. Nobody remembers what actually happens in between the rape scenes and the revenge at the end because everyone and everything in the movie is so vapid and uninspired that you don't care. But how can you care when it's obvious the director himself didn't really care. It was just another terrible grindhouse flick that only has any status because of Ebert and would be forgotten by everyone except the hardcore horror buffs and people who get off to simulated rape and violence.

Anyway, I didn't mean to go off on that rant but I really hate that movie and see nothing redeemable about it. However, the similar film The Last House On the Left, I actually really like. I can't really place my finger on why I think it's better, but I do know that there were at least two very powerful scenes that stuck with me that I think about all the time. One being the scene where Krug and the others are trying to get all the blood and dirt off of their hands after he's done with Mari. She gets up, zips up her pants and immediately throws up which catches their attention, and she slowly walks towards the pond completely lifeless. The gang looks at each other and then Krug looks down at the ground. It's almost as if, for even just a second, the veil comes down and they see what terrible, terrible people they are and what they've just done. Watching Mari float around in the pond with that sad music playing just killed me. It makes me want to cry thinking about it.

The other scene is the final shot with the police busting in and finding the parents crying and holding each other, everything covered in blood, realizing that not only have they stooped to the levels of the people who killed their daughter, but that it won't bring her back either. To me, even though the violence was a bit too gratuitous, its scenes like this that at least gives the violence a little bit of purpose.

Now, it's not a perfect movie by a long shot. I still don't even know if I can call it a good movie. The slapstick humor should have been toned down and the second half of the movie suffers from really really stupid plot points like finding Mari in the woods even though she died in the pond. I know she was originally supposed to still be alive and they just edited around it, but that just kind of proves my point even further and makes the writing seem lazy. The acting is pretty terrible, barring Krug who was a great evil villain (and also musician in real life). I really wish he was in more movies.

I do keep in mind that this is Wes Craven's debut so I guess that helps to overlook the problems. All of that said though, for all the similarities and comparisons to I Spit On Your Grave, I feel this movie actually had some merit and it did have an impact on me. Still, most people like both. Also for the record, I'm no Craven fanboy. I only like Hills, House and Scream really although I liked him as a person when he was still alive.

Anyone else feel the same way? What is it that makes these two films that seem similar on the surface so different in your opinion, or do you consider them both equally good/terrible?