I Spit on Your Grave.....

[bleeding heart]

....the remake, not the seventies original, which I think I saw but don't really remember..

(Spoilers Alert!....not that it matters.....)

It's a pretty depressing movie, and not especially good. A young writer rents a place somewhere in RuralLand, and is brutalized by the local redneck knuckledraggers.

After a rape scene that goes on seemingly forever, she manages to escape, barely alive.

Then she comes back and enacts a brutal revenge on each man in turn (including the local sheriff, Who Was In On It.)

The whole thing is quite vicious, and certainly not for everybody.

Oh...also, the mentally-challenged young man who was goaded into enjoining the rape by his friends--but who ultimately took to the challenge with some gusto--is also dispatched violently.

So, happy stuff all around.

It's a revenge fantasy in the purest sense...a genre with which I take no exception, except that this movie is just so unpleasant, and not terribly well-done...as a viewer, you don't even sympathize with her, really...during her lengthy assault, sure, but in the second half she's an emotionless killing machine. OK, fine....but revengeful robots without emotion aren't exactly conducive to empathy.

What's slightly more interesting than the somewhat banal movie itself is the meta-discussion surrounding it (more accurately, surrounding the original...though my understanding is that it's more or less the same in tone, and in narrative arc: culminating in castration scene...which is in effect also a "rape scene," as is plainly the intent.)

Apparently, among film school academics, historians, and general buffs, there have been ongoing sociological discussions about this thing since its release in 1978 (originally under the title "Day of the Woman"). Much of the debate has centred around, secondarily, class (the well-to-do ravaged by the irredeemable lower orders, in the ancient formulation); but primarily, gender, which I suppose is quite understandable.

The main debate seems to be whether the film (whatever its merits as a movie on its own terms) is feminist, or reactionary and anti-feminist.

My two-bit response is that it's obviously both at the same time. Like many a seventies exploitation film (and continuing seamlessly till present, at least for this remake), there is both an intentional political slant (usually, though not always, in the "progressive" direction) but within the Exploitation form, which is somewhere between apolitical and openly reactionary.

It sounds confused and contradictory because these movies tend to be confused and contradictory.

But if you're not in the mood for pondering how less-than-stellar movies reflect culture and ideology, but are looking for an entertaining escapism with lots of thrills and fun!....stay away. At least don't let the kiddies watch the nightmare-fodder.

Edited May 2, 2014 by bleeding heart

[bush_cheney2004]

Any remake of this classic "cult" film will never rise to the level of controversy earned by the original version. Short of screening an actual 70's snuff flick, I don't know anyone who would not be viscerally impacted in some way by watching it....if they can. The rape-revenge story line is not very original, but the brutality and violent depictions are so over the top it borders on the absurd.

[overthere]

Thanks for the headsup.

I watch a lot of movies, almost all at theaters, and I can now give this one a wide berth.

[August1991]

Any remake of this classic "cult" film will never rise to the level of controversy earned by the original version.

What's the connection to Boris Vian?

[bush_cheney2004]

What's the connection to Boris Vian?

None that I know of....Vian died at the screening of "....Graves" according to Wiki.

On the morning of 23 June 1959, Boris Vian was at the Cinema Marbeuf for the screening of the film version of I will Spit on Your Graves. He had already fought with the producers over their interpretation of his work, and he publicly denounced the film, stating that he wished to have his name removed from the credits. A few minutes after the film began, he reportedly blurted out: "These guys are supposed to be American? My ass!" He then collapsed into his seat and died from sudden cardiac death en route to the hospital

[overthere]

None that I know of....Vian died at the screening of "....Graves" according to Wiki.

On the morning of 23 June 1959, Boris Vian was at the Cinema Marbeuf for the screening of the film version of I will Spit on Your Graves. He had already fought with the producers over their interpretation of his work, and he publicly denounced the film, stating that he wished to have his name removed from the credits. A few minutes after the film began, he reportedly blurted out: "These guys are supposed to be American? My ass!" He then collapsed into his seat and died from sudden cardiac death en route to the hospital

Clearly Boris was assassinated by the CIA on the spot for his anti-American rhetoric