A film that Roger Ebert once memorably called “A vile bag of garbage” there’s nothing funny about the sadistic exploitative pile that is I Spit on Your Grave. Showing rape is always a controversial move in any kind of film but I think it can be justified if done with artistic integrity, this on the other hand is just sick. I think you can tell I’m offended considering that I’m acting Sto (intentional typo) serious right now. This film has divided horror fans for years but to anyone who actually likes this film all I can say is “You are fucked up.”
I Spit on You Grave is probably the most infamous of the nasty “revenge/rape” sub-genre that somehow materialized out of the late 70s, mostly because of this film. In this case it’s a young woman named Jennifer (Camille Keaton, the grand-niece of Buster Keaton) who travels out to a cabin in the woods to work on her novel but instead gets humiliated and raped by a gang of blue collar bozos. I don’t know what Director/Writer (yeah right) Meir Zarchi (who was later married to his rape star Keaton, eww) was trying to accomplish, but if this is supposed to be some artistic statement then it’s been long lost in a sea of senseless violence. This may as well be a porno with all the sex scenes but it’s even lower on the food chain considering how cruel and disgusting a film it is. Even when the main character gets her murderous revenge on the men it’s in such a demeaning way, engaging in sex with them again to get her grizzly vengeance.
I have trouble putting it into words so I recommend you just check this link to this old Roger Ebert review, he sums up this sadistic shlock just right.
Ebert’s Review
And you can believe this film has already been remade! See you next time for hopefully a more uplifting review.