Don't Mess with My Sister!

Don't Mess with My Sister! (1985) * (out of 4)

Steven (Joe Perce) is stuck working at a junk yard for his wife's two brothers who are always picking on him and not paying him what he's worth. One night at a party being thrown for him, Steven strikes up a conversation with dancer Annika (Laura Lanfranchi) and soon after they are involved in an affair. When the wife finds out she informs her brothers who aren't happy with Steven.

Writer-director Meir Zarchi crashed onto the scene with his notorious I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE but it took him several more years before he came back with his second feature. With a title ilke DON'T MESS WITH MY SISTER! fans were expecting soem sort of exploitation trash but that's not what they got and this film has pretty much been forgotten. To be honest with you, I'm really not sure what Zarchi was trying with this picture but it certainly doesn't work.

Once you get past the fact that you're not getting anything like I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, this film lets you down even more because there's really no point to anything you're watching. There must have been at least thirty times during the film where I wondered to myself what I was watching and what the point was. This is basically a drama about a man who gets tired of his wife and her brothers so he cheats on her with a questionable person. I won't ruin what happens but it's certainly not evough to warrant a feature length film.

The film clocks in at just 84-minutes and there's really not a bit of energy throughout. Zarchi really doesn't click as a director here as everything just comes across very flat and without much energy. It certainly doesn't help that some of the performances are really bad and get unintended laughs at times. Through in the fact that there's really not any violence, gore or nudity and you're left with a film that just isn't going to have much appeal.

DON'T MESS WITH MY SISTER! is a pretty poor film no matter how you look at it. I'm really not sure what the director was trying to do or why he thought this material would be something worth making.

It's fairly clear straight from the beginning why this second and last film by director Meir Zarchi isn't nowhere near as notorious and widely banned as its predecessor "I Spit on your Grave" … Heck, after seeing this film, you'll even wonder how these two films could possibly have been directed by one and the same person. And, last but not least, you'll also be extremely grateful that Zarchi retired from the horror/cult movie industry immediately after the release of this piece of garbage. "Don't Mess With My Sister" is shamelessly promoted as a revenge-thriller (it can even be found in box sets that are entitled "The Sweet Revenge Box" or "The Retaliation Collection"), but it's actually a intolerably dull and shockingly ordinary family drama. Who seriously cares about the random divorce issues of an unsympathetic couple and their ugly and constantly interfering family members? A dumb guy, who got forced into marrying the ugly duckling sister in order to obtain partnership in her brothers' filthy junkyard business, develops a crush on a sexy blond belly dancer and gradually considers leaving his wife. So what! Good for him, I would have left her even without the belly dancer coming along. Besides, the Mrs. booked the belly dancer herself as a birthday present for her hard-working husband, so actually she only has herself to blame. Anyway, that's basically the entire story. No vengeance, no sleazy payback or even self-righteous suicide to enjoy here! There's exactly ONE murder sequence in the entire film and that isn't even relevant to the plot. If, after experiencing the phenomenon called "I Spit on your Grave", your expectations were highly set on seeing bloody castrations or revolting sexual violations, you will feel robbed like rarely ever before. There's nothing positive to say about "Don't Mess with my Sister"… It's dull, ugly, fake and wannabe-engaging and totally retarded.

this movie sucks two thumbs down...ehhhh...way down

Steven is a scrap-yard bookkeeper who's working for his wife's brothers and attending night school to get his accounting degree. His life takes a turn for the worst when he falls for and finally hooks up for the night with the belly dancer that was hired for his birthday, which just happens to go the same school. This leads to trouble for Steven, as his wife and her brothers find out about it and trouble suddenly occurs.

Well, I was expecting way worse. I just don't know. Maybe because I knew what I was getting myself into, but I didn't think it was all that bad of a low-budget flick, as its made out to be. I guess people were expecting another ultra-relentless exploitation foray in the shape of "I Spit On Your Grave". But this follow up is far from it and on a totally different level. You could probably blame all of this on poor and ill-conceived advertising that treats it like one.

Instead "Don't Mess with My Sister" is playing for an oddball, if raw drama that deals with family values, infidelity and a working class trying to make ends meat. After the controversy of the begin all and end all "I Spit..", Zarchi was probably trying to gain some respectability here. I expect that killed it for most viewers, but still it's quite a competent display by director / writer Meir Zarchi who keeps it on cruise control and strings along many different spontaneous developments amongst his own vogue. The impulsively junky plot could have gone towards a sleazy and brutal revenge angle, but Zarchi skewed away from this and the results weren't awful, but modest. The sultry music score by Todd Rice was simply oozing and controlled photography by Phil Gries got down amongst the grit. Acting from the no-name cast was more than suitable and Joe Perce's performance as the straight-mannered Steven was adequate and believable. Sure, it's far from great, but was I kept interested and entertained for it short running time. It does lull about in spots and the (lack of an) ending isn't much, but it delivers on those fronts that count if you're not looking for too much.

Simply it's not all that bad, if you know what you're getting. Which is a kooky drama.

Don't Mess With My Sister was a pleasant surprise. Those expecting the vicarious, somewhat questionable thrills of the director's I Spit On Your Grave will surely be disappointed, but those that appreciate a true auteur style will be amply rewarded. It's a shame that mostly brain-dead gorehound fans of Grave are the only ones that see this film. It's got style and mood, and the acting is great considering the low budget. To me it had the same feel of early Scorcese. I think the marketing of the film as some violent revenge drama is to blame. Don't let that put you off from seeing this film. Basically it's a wonderful character study and simple story of working class Italians in 70's New York. A couple of days in the life of an average Joe that go horribly wrong. Think After Hours or Mean Streets on a much smaller scale. I really liked the ambiguity of this film. It's no epic, but rather a nice little existential fragment of a movie.