Meir Zarchi's I Spit on Your Grave is a film whose infamy precedes itself, making it difficult to watch with fresh eyes. Twenty-five years of critical pillorying has shoved the film down to the bottom of the pile, to be held up time and again as an example of the worst kind of cinematic flotsam. Even those who haven't seen it are likely familiar with its reputation, as I was in May when I referenced it in my review of Dead Man's Shoes.
What seemed like a safe assumption at the time, though, has come back to bite my behind. As it turns out, I Spit on Your Grave is not the hateful nadir of cinema. It is, instead, the Unforgiven of the rape-revenge genre, in that it is simultaneously the perfect expression of and the eulogy for the genre. It's as brutal and confrontational a cinematic work as I've yet seen; Zarchi reduces the genre ito its barest elements and in doing so asks the audience to consider why they are there in the first place. It feels strange to say this, but there's more going on within this film than most people are willing to admit.
For starters, it's better made than its reputation would suggest. Zarchi's eye, though rough, allows for several moments of cruel poetry. In particular, there's an extended sequence with the ravaged Jennifer wandering through the woods, her defiled body seen in long-shot surrounded by unspoilt nature, that strikes the eye; it's visual irony writ large, horror in the midst of placidity. Then there's the end to this sequence, a striking shift from the neutral earth tones of the forest to the shocking red in Jennifer's cabin - a forceful contrast which has to be intentional. (Besides, we all know what flaming red signifies in thrillers.) The visual strategies utilized in I Spit on Your Grave often lend the film an unexpected hint of the arthouse; truth be told, this is at times more The Virgin Spring than Last House on the Left.
That's not to say it's easy or pleasant to watch, just to say that its significant displeasures are almost certainly by design. I Spit on Your Grave is rudimentary in its plot structure: Jennifer (Camille Keaton) is a writer who goes up to the country for peace and quiet. She runs afoul of four nasty guys and is raped repeatedly; after a period of recuperation, she takes violent revenge upon her attackers. That, more or less, covers the entire film (the film ends immediately after the last of the rapists is killed). It's the stripped-down, affectless quality of the narrative that seems to stick in the craw of many well-meaning critics, but it's integral to the film's success.
Article comments
1 - Bliffle
I rather like this movie, though I haven't seen it in about 10 years, for it's simplicity and non-Hollywood look. I'll look it up on Netflix.
2 - Iloz Zoc
Very good review. Your analysis on the extended forest scene is something I had not noticed.
The brutality and matter-of-fact approach in this film is unsettling. It is a powerful film, but I hate watching it because of the subject matter.
3 - Douglas A. Waltz
It's good to see someone NOT bashing this film. It's meant to make you uncomfortable. Add to what you said the fact that Camille Keaton is the grand daughter of film legend Buster Keaton, a rather wholesome, household name and the shock value is doubled. Great review, hopefully this will lead to more people wanting to watch this film and experience it for themselves instead of relying on humor.
4 - reggie von woic
when i was 12 somebody gave me this movie because i asked for porn....after this review think i'll watch it again, this time looking out for content.
doesn't it bring Kill Bill to mind, with the revenge on the guys one by one? i think i'll love watching it.
somebody please refer Steve Carlson here to a bigshot newspaper...they're looking for him.
5 - Steve C.
Thanks for the comments, y'all. Glad to see that this film has its champions after all.
Reggie: It's not so much like Kill Bill -- Tarantino's film, though undeniably great, is at heart an entertainment. Zarchi's Molotov cocktail is anything but entertaining. And gawrsh... thanks for the big-ass compliment.
6 - Ian Woolstencroft
Some people maintain that this is in fact a feminist film, sorry but I don’t see it, it’s just a cheap exploitation film and not a particularly good one.
The revenge scenes are poorly executed, with the exception of the castration scene. In fact the killing of Matthew the moron is nothing short of laughable.
It’s no big surprise that no one connected with this turkey went on to do anything better.
7 - Steve C.
Cheap? Yes. Ineffective? No.
And I don't see the revenge scenes as poorly executed so much as dispassionately executed. There's no catharsis or triumph - it's mere plug-ugly frontier justice, and it certainly doesn't help Jennifer feel any better.
The feminism angle I can understand as well (the first half of the film, all voyeuristic camera setups and phallic-dominant low-angle shots, eventually subdued and obliterated by the dehumanizing gaze of the Woman Scorned), but I'm not terribly up on my radical-feminist theory. Someone else will have to extrapolate that.
As always, though, YMMV...
8 - Duke De Mondo
Steve, i've read manys a critique regarding this particular flick and yours is, honest to God, one of the very best i've encountered.
I'm reminded of a section in Carol Clover's "Men, Women & Chainsaws", a brilliant book incidentally, that deals with this and compares it to the likes of The Accused. The crux of her argument is that mainstream films dealing with this subject tend to assume that The Law in all its glory will right any wrongs commited and all will be settled in court. Films such as I Spit On Your Grave detail the rather more troubling fact that for many women (or indeed men), the crime is NEVER punished. It talks about women who have been abandoned by the courts, who are dissilussioned with law enforcement and with the actions of their governments, and have no choice but to fight back themselves, and for this reason as many femininsts praise Zarchi's film as condemn it. Maybe more.
Again, marvellous article.
9 - Steve C.
How'd I miss this comment? Anyways...
Wow, thanks man. Coming from a fellow B-flick addict, and one as erudite as yourself, that means a lot.
Funny you should bring up Clover -- I've owned Men, Women and Chainsaws for about seven years. When I finally got around to seeing I Spit on Your Grave, I'd only made it through the first two chapters (the slasher chapter and the devil-possession chapter). Subsequently reading Clover's fascinating breakdown of the rape-revenge genre and I Spit in particular went a long way towards convincing me that my reaction wasn't completely insane.
10 - Jamie
Thanks for your defence of this misunderstood little masterpiece.
I think that one of the big problems with this film was the context in which it was originally released. Hell, look at that box cover! The film was sold as titilating excitment, and its original audience say it that way. Roger Ebert's disgusted review seems like an appropriate response to seeing the film in this context. He remembers sitting next to people CHEERING during the rape scenes and laughing frequently.
Watching the film now is a different experience altogether. It is not titilating, nor does it seem that it was meant to be. What a nasty, unpleasant experience this movie is! When we compare the movie to other "roughies" (as rape oriented thrillers were called at the time) like "Ginger" or the "Ilsa" series, we see that "I Spit On Your Grave" is a very different animal indeed. This is an uncomfortable, uncompromising film that takes its subject matter very seriously, even though the film lapses into B-movie action from time to time.
Have you heard about Mark Savage's "Defenceless"? It's a similar film, but the "art-house" elements are turned up. It has long quiet passages of nature, and long explicit scenes of violence, and the film has no dialogue, making us consider the events abstractly, even though the movie has a tremendous visceral impact. For anyone who found "I Spit On Your Grave" a valuable film, "Defenceless" is also worth a look.
11 - pixxxie
This is by far the best review of this film I've read. Insightful and original. It's very tiresome to read the same inaccurate criticisms of the film over and over.
Thank you very much.