I Spit on Your Grave/Day of the Woman (1978) - Zarchi's infamous, unrelenting rape-and-revenge picture

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A sensation-promising and quite long tagline overheads an image of scantily clad Demi Moore (who does not act in the film, however!) with a bloodied hunting knife in a forest on this great poster for Meir Zarchi's I Spit on Your Grave

Jennifer is a short story writer from New York who arrives at a summerhouse in Connecticut, and her partially bared body induces four local men til beat her up, gang rape her and leave her for dead. But she doesn't die. In fact she wakes up with revenge on her mind!

I Spit on Your Grave is written, directed and edited by debuting Meir Zarchi (Rachel (1960, writer)).

We get to know a repulsive sediment of men through fairly well-acted performances here, and Camille Keaton (The Butterfly Room (2012)) is beautiful as the victimized Jennifer, who exacts gruesome vengeance: SPOILER Especially the castration scene is grim.

Apart from this, the film actually has some fine imagery (cinematography by Nuri Habib (Bipanah (1953))) and is fundamentally ambiguous, - it seems simultaneously feminist and exploitation-minded, - and shocking. The trailer and poster indicates that audiences should be outraged that Jennifer would allegedly not be convicted for her revenge in any American court. The ascertainment is highly speculative, and most will probably also find that it is not her revenge that is outrageous but the crime that precedes it.

 

Watch a short trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 80k $

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[I Spit on Your Grave premiered 23 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 102 minutes. Zarchi has explained that inspiration for the story came from his meeting and helping a rape victim in New York in 1974. Keaton was reportedly chosen from a New York audition out of 4,000 women. Shooting took place from July - August (1978) in New York and Connecticut. 2 crew members resigned during production, because they could not take the portrayed violence. Zarchi limited mention of anal rape to obtain the R rating. Zarchi himself distributed the film initially at drive-ins, without much success, before Jerry Gross Organization eventually distributed it wider in North America, now under the title I Spit on Your Grave, although still to reportedly small results. Gross had the poster made seen above with a then unknown Demi Moore posing with her back to the camera, as she was working on another film for him at the time. I Spit on Your Grave was released in a handful of other markets but didn't find a mass audience before it was released on video. It was banned in many countries, including Norway, Ireland, Australia, the UK, Iceland, Canada and West Germany. Roger Ebert gave it a 0/4 star rating, translating to 3 notches under this one. The film inspired an unofficial 1993 sequel (with Keaton), three remake sequels (2010; 2013; 2015) and finally an official sequel by Zarchi and with Keaton, entitled I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu (2016). Zarchi first returned with Don't Mess with My Sister! (1985). Keaton returned first in Raw Force (1982). I Spit on Your Grave is rotten at 51 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Spit on Your Grave?

Imprint (2006) - Venture far, far abroad with Miike's hard-to-watch Masters of Horror entry

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This poster for Takashi Miike's Imprint clearly indicates that the film is ripe with horrific, grueling images, gore and torture

An American journalist (Billy Drago (Supernatural (2008, TV-series))) is looking for his lost love on a cursed Japanese island, where torture-loving whores with gruesome abortion backgrounds have their home.

Imprint is written by Daisuke Tengan (The Eel/Unagi (1997)), adapting the 1999 novel Bokke e, kyōtē by Shimako Iwai (Rakuen (2003)), and directed by Takashi Miike (Shinjuku kuroshakai: Chaina mafia sensô (1995)). It is the 13th and last episode of the first season of TV movie anthology series Masters of Horror.

Without reservations this is a disgusting film, in fact so much so that one almost agrees with the series' executive producer Mick Garris and the executives at Showtime who decided to shelve it and never run it on TV as part of the anthology. But in the atmospheric, stylized universe conjured up here, and in the extreme imagery that goes along with it also lie the unshakable elements of the cultural clash that is Imprint.

 

Related posts:

 

Other Masters of Horror TV movies: 2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Fair Haired Child (2006, TV movie) - Malone turns out another weak Masters of Horror TV movie 

Dance of the Dead (2005) - Hooper's ugly Masters of Horror nonsense
Chocolate (2005) - Flavors, visions and eroticism in Garris' TV movie thriller
Deer Woman (2005) - Landis and son's solid Masters of Horror entry 
Cigarette Burns (2005) - Carpenter burns out in weird, tiresome TV movie    

Haeckel's Tale (2006, TV movie) - Another bland Masters entry 

Pick Me Up (2006, TV movie) - Cohen's so-so Masters of Horror entry

Takashi Miike: 1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Audition/オーディション (Ōdishon) (1999) - Miike hamstrings your sleep 

 

 

Watch a clip from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: None - TV movie

= Uncertain

[Imprint premiered 25 February (Yubari Interntational Film Festival) and runs 63 minutes. Shooting took place in Japan, including in Tokyo. Miike claims that he checked up during production and thought that he created something within the bounds of what could be screened on US TV, but the film was nevertheless denied screening when completed. Instead it was shown theatrically in Japan as well as through screenings in festivals in several other markets, along with on TV in yet other markets before getting a home video release broadly. It is the only film in the Masters of Horror series to get shelved due to its content. Miike returned with Waru: kenketsu-hen (2006, video) and theatrically with Taiyô no kizu (2006). Drago returned in Seven Mummies (2006). 7.7k+ IMDb users have given Imprint a 6.9/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Imprint?

Paranormal Activity (2007) - Peli's record-breaking found footage horror smash

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The chilling footage from a home surveillance camera makes up most of this poster for Oren Peli's Paranormal Activity

Micah and Katie have moved together in a nice house in San Diego. But strange occurrences begin to take place at night, so Micah begins to document the happenings with home surveillance cameras, as Kate divulges that the supernatural is nothing new in her life.

 

Paranormal Activity is written, produced, directed, photographed and edited by debuting Oren Peli (Chernobyl Diaries (2012, writer)). It is the first film in the Paranormal Activity franchise.

Although the film sometimes almost gets stuck in the conflicts that make its otherwise sweet central couple pathetic, the effects of the simple shock footage, - and especially of the really scary ending, - are impressive and effectively spooky. The marketing and over-all feat of the film must here be taken into account and recognized as incredible. SPOILER The demon overtakes Katie. Mad scary.

 

Related posts:

 

The Paranormal Activity franchise: 2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]  

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) or, Haunted California Idiots 

 

 

A video of scary clips from the film - DON'T watch this if you haven't yet seen the film

 

Cost: 215k $

Box office: 193.3 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 899 times its cost)

[Paranormal Activity premiered 14 October (Screamfest Horror Film Festival, USA) and runs 86 minutes. Katie Featherston (Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)) and Micah Sloat (The Death and Return of Superman (2011, short)) were initially paid 500 $ each for their performances. The film originally had a 15k $ budget. Shooting took place from in just a week from April - May 2007 in San Diego, California. In a hectic period leading up to Paramount acquiring the film's release and sequels rights for 350k $, spending 200k $ by shooting new endings and editing the film, DreamWorks first had a plan to buy the film to remake it immediately, but a decisive screening left an impression that the film was effective as was. Paramount's overtaking DreamWorks meant that the release was delayed for a long period, finally getting a broad release in 2009. It opened #48 to a 77k $ first weekend in 12 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #1 and in 2,712 theaters (different weeks), grossing 107.9 mil. $ (55.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 16 mil. $ (8.3 %) and France with 9.6 mil. $ (5 %). The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit award. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. The film's success, sometimes referred to as making it the most profitable of all time (compared to its budget) spun a franchise of 6 direct sequels so far, as well as an unrelated sequel and a wave of similar found footage low budget horror films. The first sequel is Paranormal Activity 2 (2010), without Peli or the original stars front and center. Peli returned with Area 51 (2015). Featherston returned in Psychic Experiment (2010); Sloat in Paranormal Activity 2. Paranormal Activity is certified fresh at 83 % with a 7.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Paranormal Activity?

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) - Laughton is peerless in Dieterle's true classic

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The popular image of the beastly dark man and the fair, beautiful woman is central on this dark and compelling poster for William Dieterle's The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The disfigured hunchback bell ringer of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral, Quasimodo is crowned the King of Fools at the city's carnival, but the city's fierce Chief Justice condemns a beautiful gypsy by the name Esmeralda, whom Quasimodo has fallen in love with, to death.

 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is written by Sonya Levien (Quo Vadis (1951)) and Bruno Frank (A Royal Scandal (1945)), adapting the same-titled 1831 novel by Victor Hugo (Les Misérables (1862)), and directed by great German filmmaker William Dieterle (Der Mensch am Wege (1923)).

Charles Laughton (Young Bess (1953)) creates one of the most pitiful characters of cinema history with his Quasimodo here and is fantastic in the very vivid and still today deeply riveting film. Maureen O'Hara (McLintock! (1963)) is hard to accept as a gypsy, but this can't put much squeeze on the film, which also has other fine performances: Cedric Hardwicke (Sunday Showcase (1960, TV-series)) as Frollo and Walter Hampden (5 Fingers (1952)) as the Archdeacon. 

There's also grand effects, brutality and grandeur. SPOILER In the end Quasimodo takes his personal revenge on the unjust world, and - incredibly - gets away with it. There is both mystery and depth to this undying classic.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 1.826 mil. $

Box office: 3.195 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.74 times its cost)

[The Hunchback of Notre Dame premiered 31 August (Cannes Film Festival) and runs 116 minutes. Changes were made to Hugo's plot to make sure the film would comply with the strict Hays Code censorship of the time. Laughton brought O'Hara with him on the plane to America, costing an already cast actress her role as Esmeralda. He then alienated Claude Rains from taking part in the film and also struck up enmity with his makeup artist. Shooting took place from July - October 1939 in Los Angeles, California. The film made 1.549 mil. $ in North America and 1.646 mil. $ internationally. Despite this making the film a 'big flop' by the box office standards of Film Excess, it reportedly did leave a profit of 100k $. It was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Sound, Recording, lost to When Tomorrow Comes, and Best Music, Scoring (Alfred Newman (A Certain Smile (1958))), lost to Richard Hageman, W. Franke Harling, John Leipold and Leo Shuken for Stagecoach. Dieterle returned with Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940). Laughton returned in They Knew What They Wanted (1940). The Hunchback of Notre Dame is fresh at 94 % with a 8.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Hunchback of Notre Dame?

The Hunger (1983) - T. Scott's under-appreciated, erotic horror masterpiece

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The sensuous and the menacing meet in this striking, highly detailed poster for Tony Scott's The Hunger

In New York an immortal, beautiful woman lives with her vampire lover, who suddenly starts aging at a rapid speed. An aging-focused scientist is sought out and starts to overtake the man's position...

The Hunger is written by James Costigan (On Borrowed Time (1957)) and Michael Thomas (Countryman (1982)), adapting the same-titled 1981 novel by Whitley Strieber (The Wolfen (1978)), and directed by English master filmmaker Tony Scott (Loving Memory (1971)), whose 2nd feature it was.

Scott's finest film, The Hunger is a visual treat, (cinematography by Stephen Goldblatt (For the Boys (1991))), hyper-stylized with dream compositions and lights, beautiful sound work and music choices, (score by Denny Jaeger (What Waits Below (1984)) and Michel Rubini (Manhunter (1986))). Susan Sarandon (Lovin' Molly (1974)), otherworldly beautiful Catherine Deneuve (Changing Times/Les Temps qui Changent (2004)) and über-cool David Bowie (Zoolander (2001)) give formidable performances. The make-up jobs are unparalleled, the special effects radical and troubling.

The film's handling of its central themes of immortality and love seems to encourage its audience to take on and rejoice in our own mortality. The Hunger is a fierce and absolutely fantastic masterpiece.

 

Related posts:
 
Tony Scott: Stoker (2013) - Chan-wook Park's over-styled American debut revolts and bores in turns (producer)  

Unstoppable (2010) - T. Scott's mechanically exciting final movie
Déjà Vu (2006) - T. Scott cuts a helluva suspense-cake!
Domino (2005) - T. Scott's bounty-hunter biopic a complete misfire, mega-flop  

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Enemy of the State (1998) - T. Scott, Bruckheimer, Marconi ahead of their time in outing NSA in exciting thriller 

Days of Thunder (1990) or, Very Little Thunder

 

 

Scott talks about making the film many years later in a video here

Cost: Reportedly 10 mil. $

Box office: Reportedly 10.2 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 1.02 times its cost)

[The Hunger was released 29 April (USA) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place from March 1982 - ? in New York and in England, including in London. SPOILER The final balcony scene with Sarandon's character was a studio-mandated addition. The film opened #5, behind holdover hit Flashdance, fellow new release Something Wicked This Way Comes, holdover hit Tootsie and fellow new release Valley Girl, to a 1.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 5.9 mil. $ (57.8 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave it a 1.5/4 star review, translating to 5 notches under this one. Scott returned with Top Gun (1986). Deneuve returned in Le Bon Plaisir (1984); Bowie in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983); and Sarandon in The Buddy System (1984). The Hunger is rotten at 55 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Hunger? 

Audition/オーディション (Ōdishon) (1999) - Miike hamstrings your sleep

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+ Best Feel-Bad Movie of the Year + Best Gore Movie of the Year + Best Japanese Movie of the Year

 

Piano string torture and gore galore is promised on this hype-filled, chilling poster for Takashi Miike's Audition

A lonely businessman follows the advice of a friend and makes auditions in order to find a new partner, under the guise of making a fiction film. But the woman he falls for turns out not to be the one ...

 

Audition is written by Daisuke Tengan (Warm Water Under a Bridge/Akai hashi no shita no nurui mizu (2001)), adapting the same-titled 1997 novel by Ryu Murakami (The Mask Club (2001)), and directed by Takashi Miike (Fudoh: The New Generation/Gokudô sengokushi: Fudô (1996)).

The well-made romantic drama develops into a gruesome torture horror, in which the young woman's memories of needle torture appears to be a metaphor for incest. Enormously grim but not without effect or direction, Audition far outshines Miike's other Western break-out cult hit, the equally hard to watch Ichi the Killer (2001).

Audition is a fascinating, dark downwards spiral.

 

Related post:

 

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Watch a 4-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 250k $

Box office: Reportedly 359k $

= Big flop (returned 1.43 times its cost)

[Audition premiered 2 October (Vancouver International Film Festival) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took around 3 weeks in Tokyo, Japan. The film grossed 113k $ in North America (31.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Turkey with 64k $ (17.8 %) and France with 53k $ (14.8 %). The film reportedly had a very small reception in production country Japan and no Asian countries have listed grosses at Box Office Mojo. There is uncertainty surrounding both the cost and total box office number in this case. Miike returned with Dead or Alive/Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha (1999); he directed 4 features, a TV movie, a video and a miniseries that were all released in 1999! Ryo Ishibashi (Black Dawn/Gaiji keisatsu: Sono otoko ni damasareruna (2012)) returned in Rinjin wa hisoka ni warau (1999, TV-series) and theatrically in Brother (2000); Eihi Shiina (Hold Up Down/Hôrudo appu daun (2005)) in Eureka (2000). Audition is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Audition?

Maggie (2015) - Suffering indie zombie downer

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+ Worst Movie of the Year

+ Career-Killer of the Year: Henry Hobson, John Scott 3 

Abigail Breslin looks less than well behind Arnold Schwarzenegger on this very gloomy poster for Henry Hobson's Maggie

Wade's teenage daughter Maggie has been bitten by a zombie in a post-apocalyptic America, and Wade vows to take care of her!

Maggie is written by John Scott 3 and directed by Henry Hobson (The Hangover Part II (2011, title designer)), whose debut it is.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (True Lies (1994)) is fine as protective, (failing) father Wade, but it is just painful (especially for a fan) to watch him as old and sad as he is here. Zombies can be scary and/or funny, - but here we are tasked with taking a dramatic interest in a teenage girl zombie (Abigail Breslin (Air Buddies (2006, video))) and her slow deterioration. Joely Richardson (The Hatton Garden Job (2017)) obviously struggles to immerse herself in the bizarre setup and keep her Southern accent high at the same time.
Maggie is without aim or dramatic punch. It is fatally boring, in fact it bores to the point of zombie-fying its audience.

 

Related post:

 

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 1.4 mil. $
Box office: 1.6 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.14 times its cost)
[Maggie premiered 22 April (Tribeca Film Festival) and runs 95 minutes. Shooting took place in New Orleans, Louisiana. It opened #30 to a 131k $ first weekend in 79 theaters in North America, where it diminished in its 2nd week and was quickly pulled from distribution (by Lionsgate), grossing 187k $ (11.7 % of the total gross), and released as VOD. The film's 3 biggest markets were Italy with 337k $ (21 %), France with 328k $(20.5 %) and South Korea - in a release that didn't come until 2019 - with 269k $ (16.8 %). Hobson seems to have left the film business completely following Maggie; screenwriter Scott 3 is also gone. Schwarzenegger returned in Terminator Genisys (2015); Breslin in Final Girl (2015). Maggie is fresh at 60 % with a 5.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Maggie?

The Giant Gila Monster (1959) - Sullivan shines in Kellogg's low-tech Texas drive-in classic

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Stong colors, a giant reptile monster and rock & roll hits are promised on this poster for Ray Kellogg's The Giant Gila Monster

  
A giant lizard monster wrecks havoc in rural Texas, but local hot rod racing teenage mechanic Chase Winstead is intent on defeating the destructive killer!

The Giant Gila Monster is written by Jay Simms (The Rifleman (1960-63)), based on a story by co-writer/director Ray Kellogg (The Killer Shrews (1959)).
The film objectively speaking could be claimed to deserve a zero ♥ rating, but subjectively speaking this is an absolutely absurd and highly appealing piece of curiosa: Its interesting 'special effects' are based around a Mexican beaded lizard (a reptile that is only related to the actual Gila monster lizard the title refers to), as it attacks a model train in a key action scene. Constantly drunk, quite entertaining rednecks roam in the chummy sheriff Jeff's district. But star Don Sullivan (Seven Guns to Mesa (1958)) as Chase takes the cake! Qualifying as perhaps the cheesiest performance ever put to film, Sullivan is off-puttingly cutesy, gallant and helpful, but his singing is unforgettable: He sings three songs that he composed himself, which may make you laugh, cry or simultaneously laugh and cry. In The Mushroom Song he sings 'And the Lord said, Laugh, children, laugh ...' Hear the divine piece of nonsense here.

Watch an original trailer for the movie here

Cost: 138k $
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[The Giant Gila Monster premiered 25 June (Dallas, Texas) and runs 74 minutes. Produced by drive-in theater owner Gordon McLendon, the film was shot in Dallas, Texas around January 1959 back-to-back with The Killer Shrews (1958), also directed by Kellogg and starring Sullivan. The films were hailed as the first films produced and shot in Dallas and as the first films made to premiere as double features. The theatrical gross is unknown but could have been impressive, since the film received national and international distribution, reaching at least Argentina, Mexico and the UK. Kellogg returned with My Dog, Buddy (1960). Sullivan returned in The Rebel Set (1959); Lisa Simone (Missile to the Moon (1958)) in Wagon Train (1959, TV-series), The Dennis O'Keefe Show (1960, TV-series) and theatrically in her last credit, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) as uncredited 'French Party Girl'. 3,285 IMDb users have given The Giant Gila Monster a 3.5/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Giant Gila Monster?

Spike (2008) - The singing, 'poetic' spike monster scrapes the bottom

[ZERO]

+ Worst Movie of the Year

A spiky beast presides over a dirtied redhead victim on this forest-set poster for Robert Beaucage's Spike

  
A car with 3 women and one man drives off a road, but instead of subsequently searching for help the group spread out in different directions; and a very romantic and pathetic spike monster soon turns out to be in love with one of the women.

Spike is written and directed by Robert Beaucage (Closer to Death (2003)).
It is a film that is hopelessly bad right from the start, as none of the 'characters' are given any meat, before we are meant to care exceedingly about them. Spike soon becomes insufferably dull. Worst is arguably its dialog and entire plot, which is conceived so grotesquely without talent that one almost doesn't believe it.
The film's monster poetizes line after line without the shadow of ability for the art form, - and then starts to sing its 'poetry'.
Timing, photography, - everything stinks about Spike.

 

Related posts:

 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

Watch a 2-minute scene from the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain - likely a mega-flop
[Spike premiered 20 June (Edinburgh International Film Festival, Scotland) and runs 80 minutes. Shooting took place in reportedly freezing temperatures in California in the Spring of 2007. Filming on 16 mm film rather than the much cheaper digital option, Beaucage has offered of his inspirations: "Cupid and Psyche, Hades and Persephone... Beauty and the Beast, as well as horror classics such as Frankenstein and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame". The film was also shown at minor festivals in Masachussets and Los Angeles. It was likely a mega-flop. Beaucage returned with 5 shorts and is announced to helm a project entitled Scream Queens, unaffiliated with the 2015-16 TV-series of the same title. Star Sarah Livingston Evans (who previously played 'Farting Girl' in Look (2007)) has not returned in a feature since. 387 IMDb users have given Spike a 3.2/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Spike?