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Return to Horror High 1987 ★★★
The type of 80s slasher that's best enjoyed when you do not take it all that seriously. A perfect watch for when you are a bit uner the weather as yours truly is today.
A dull killer reveal, but also pile of campy fun with a few good kills (if not fake) and the meta nature because of the film set.
And lest we forget Clooney's glorious mullet.
I Spit on Your Grave 1978 ★★★½
When watching the 2010 remake, it occurred to me that I had never seen the original. So I kept it in the back of my mind and last night, while rummaging through my watchlist and streaming services, the opportunity popped up.
Seeing the film got me thinking about an impression I get from similar ventures, being a horror classic from the seventies getting a reboot in the naughties (or later). The reboot often seems to be more slickly made while also more explicit on the gore. The original, on the other hand, is perhaps less explicit on the blood and guts, but more gritty and/or mean spirited. Proving that it stems from the decade that spawned Taxi driver and Last house on the left.
The premise may look and feel sleazy and the low budget production makes it look "less good". I get that. From a certain mindset, you could indeed call this a poor man's Deliverance and simply move on.
For me, it did not look that way.
The script and the cinematography really got across Jenny's innocence and how she just went about her business. In shril contrast with the thick headed (at times even primitive) single minded way of thinking of the men involved.
The execution of the rape scene was discomforting on various levels. As a viewer, you sense the pain that she must be in. In a stroke of genius, the movie seems to let up for a minute, only to land a second and a third punch, each one somehow harder than the one before. Leaving you as a viewer shocked, apalled and thoroughly disgusted.
From the remake, I remember that the revenge scenes were more drawn out. Here it is shorter, with more time focused on how she gives the men involved a false sense of security. The result, however, is still the same and you can still tell that Jennifer relishes in her revenge. Either from the way she toys with Stanley and the speedboat or from the way she lures in Matthew. Special mention for the way Johnny gets it. A good example of "what you don't see is scarier than what you do see".
Well recommended for fans of gritty seventies stuff.
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