I Spit on Your Grave (aka Day of the Woman) is a Violent Film Indeed
| Tweet | |
|
|
I Spit on Your Grave is a violent exploitation film depicting rape, beatings, torture and gratuitous nudity. So, why watch it? Michael has some thoughts.
Written by BHM Contributor Michael Saunier
June 26, 2007
Release: 1978
Written and Directed by: Meir Zarchi
Starring:
Camille Keaton as Jennifer Hills
Eron Tabor as Johnny
Richard Pace as Matthew
Anthony Nichols as Stanley
Gunter Kleemann as Andy
Where does one begin with this movie? For starters, I Spit on Your Grave is an extremely graphic and disturbing movie. It is most definitely not for everyone.
I Spit on Your Grave is the story of Jennifer Hills
(Camille Keaton), a writer from New York city, who retreats to the
country to find some peace and quiet in order to finish writing a
novel. Upon arriving in the nameless remote location, she encounters
four guys at a gas station. Jennifer gets out of her car to stretch her
legs after the long trip but the ringleader of the group sees her
strutting 
around as an
invitation for a sexual encounter. He leers at her but does not react.
Once settled in her lakeside retreat Jennifer spends her time in a bikini lounging in a hammock or in her canoe. The men from the gas station begin harassing her from their boat, leading up to the moment when she is lounging in her canoe and the men begin circling her and hollering. After a fair amount of time harassing the writer, they tie a rope to the front of her canoe and tow her to a remote part of the lake. This is when Jennifer’s nightmare truly begins.
The men have kidnapped Jennifer in order to allow the mentally challenged Matthew (Richard Pace) to lose his virginity. At the mercy of the men she is stripped, raped, left to wander in the woods, and then raped again. After the second gang rape she stumbles, dazed and physically damaged, back to her rental house.
Just as Jennifer is
reaching out for the phone to dial 0 it is kicked away by the men who
were hidden in her house. She is raped twice more and beaten, and her
manuscript is destroyed. The men leave her motionless body and go
outside, but decide to send the dimwitted Matthew back into the house
to stab Jennifer through the heart and cover their tracks. Matthew
fakes the killing and leaves the girl without further harm.
Jennifer wakes and plots revenge on the group. She hunts them down one by one and preys upon their sexual depravity to exact her revenge. The men die like dogs for their crimes at the hands of their one-time victim.
I wouldn’t hold it against someone if they decided to pass on I
Spit on Your Grave. The movie’s first hour and twenty minutes is
simply hard to watch. I love horror and all that 
goes along with it,
but I’m not crazy about the intensity and clear depiction of the rape
and beating of Jennifer Hill. She is naked, bloody, beaten, and raped
for the vast majority of the film, which made me feel a bit ashamed.
The characters in I Spit on Your Grave are not developed well and the plot description above sums up the film precisely. So if I Spit on Your Grave is overly brutal and the plot and characters are thin, they why should you see this film? I have a couple reasons for you.
One, the murder scenes are excellent and you find yourself rooting for Jennifer when she slams an ax into one’s back or leaves another bleeding to death in the bathtub. Two, I Spit on Your Grave is a shock standard in the horror world. You might want to see I Spit on Your Grave just to witness the origins of the shock genre. This movie was banned in many countries and is talked about by horror fans to this day.
Many reviews cast stones at this movie for its lack of plot, characters, and use of gratuitous nudity. They have valid points, but the creative murder scenes and the sense of satisfaction that I feel when these degenerates are killed balances the scales nicely. Love it or hate it, I Spit on Your Grave is a highly controversial film that many consider a classic. Questions or comments about I Spit on Your Grave? Contact us!
Take me to Horror Movie Reviews!
Horror Movie Freaks is the FREE eZine from Best-Horror-Movies.com that will give you the new horror releases, the new horror news and the new horror reviews that you CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT!!
Subscribing is easy, painless and free.
Do it NOW!!
