“Don’t Mess with My Sister!” (1985)

Studio:
Starring: Joe Perce, Jeannine Lemay, Jack Gurci, Peter Sapienza
Directed by: Meir Zarchi
Rated: Unrated
Running Time: 85 min.

Synopsis: A bored husband messes around with a belly dancer and gets a man killed while his wife finds out and sicks her brothers on him.

REVIEW

Chris Woods

This film is from director Meir Zarchi and is the follow up to his controversial film I Spit on Your Grave, but Don’t Mess with My Sister is a Disney film compared to his cult classic debut film. The film is about a guy, Steven, who works for his wife’s two brothers at a junkyard as their accountant and hopes one day to be partners with them in their business. He’s also going to night school in the hopes that his education will get him a better job. Steven seems very unhappy with his life. He can’t stand working for his brother-in-laws and also is bored with his marriage.

While at his surprise birthday party, he is taken with a belly dancer at the party that his wife got him. She also happens to go to his school, so the next day he tries to make a move on her and offers her a ride to her next dancing job. Turns out to be a private dance for some big rich guy. He gets a little rough with her and Steven, who is waiting outside for her, hears the commotion and jumps in to save her. Steven ends up beating the hell out of the guy and living him for dead. The two flee the scene and go back to the belly dancers apartment to get it on.

Feeling guilty about everything that happened the night before, he hears on the radio and reads in the paper a rich man was found dead in his home. He goes to confront the dancer that got him into all this trouble when meanwhile the wife’s best friend happened to catch the dancer going into Steven’s car and tells the wife. She goes nuts and sicks her bothers on her husband. Pretty much the rest of the film has the brothers and wife confront Steven and Steven tries to talk the belly dancer to turn themselves in. The film ends inconclusive and never really delivers.

Zarchi should have stopped after making I Spit on Your Grave. You can’t top that film and even if this film was a little bit better, he still couldn’t have topped it. What Don’t Mess with My Sister lacks is the rough, down and dirty grittiness that I Spit on Your Grave had. The film has some promise in the beginning and does have a good cast of actors. The group of characters in it are a big Italian family and they portray them very well and are likable. The film also takes place in New York City, but really doesn’t showcase the town well like other films have. There is a cool scene on the subway towards the beginning but that’s about it. With some interesting moments in the beginning, in the end the story never goes anywhere. You’re waiting for chaos to break out at any moment and it just doesn’t happen. The film was a real let down.

After this film, Zarchi never directed another one again. I never heard about his second film until I bought I Spit on Your Grave and the film came with it. I just can’t believe it was made by the same filmmaker that made one of the most brutal films of all time.