★★★★★
The original I Spit on Your Grave has continued to arouse passionate and polarised responses from audiences since its release in 1978. Banned in nearly every country at some point, and with numerous versions still censored today, it may come as a surprise to many people that it is being released once again as a Collector’s Edition. Perhaps even more significantly, the film has recently been remade (due for release in October of this year) and is sure to reignite the debate over its content and its worth as a movie once again. For these reasons it would be impossible to review this film in a vacuum and not discuss its impact on film and film audiences since its original release.
I Spit on Your Grave is a film about revenge. It follows Jennifer Hill (Camille Keaton), an aspiring young writer, who retreats to upstate New York to work on a novel. She encounters four local men who repeatedly rape her, beat her, and then leave her for dead. These horrific events are the catalyst for what follows as Jennifer exacts revenge upon her assailants by subjecting each of them to a sadistic and brutal death. It is the nature of these choreographed kills, along with the intense and prolonged scenes of rape that precede them, that have made this film so notorious.
Regardless of the negative press the film has received - and probably as a result of it - I Spit on Your Grave has been hailed as a "cult classic of epic proportion". The ongoing debate that surrounds the explicit and graphic nature of its content is arguably what propelled it to the cult status it maintains today. So why is it that it causes such a stir and why is it still a talking point today? As a student of film one would assume it is because of the way in which it deals and presents such disturbing subject matter and the turbulent responses it generates as a result of it. So why did its director, Meir Zarchi, choose to shoot the lengthy scenes of rape in such a 'matter-of-fact' way? Why did the film impact upon audiences in the way it did; especially when you consider its release was four years later than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), hardly a clean cut rom-com? All of these questions have helped cement the film’s place in film history.
The vast majority of I Spit on Your Grave is a stark account of rape and violence, and in turn explores how such terrible events affect their victims. The lack of music and standardised filming techniques only make the content of the film more difficult to watch for an audience as there is nothing standing between them and what unfolds onscreen. For many people such stark reality is unbearable and unnecessary and as a result it fails as a means of entertainment. But surely film isn’t always about sanitised entertainment; at times it has to be about the journey you are taken on and the emotions you are forced to experience.I Spit on Your Grave certainly tests one’s emotions, and it does so whether we like it or not. It makes us witness the pain and humiliation of rape, and encourages us to embrace a darker side of human behaviour in revenge. All of this may be too much for some and may well be excessive in its depiction of such vile acts, but if we are to document the sometimes despicable reality of our world, why is it repeatedly glossed over and made safe? Is it to ensure that we are entertained?
Appreciation of this film comes down to whether an audience wants merely to be entertained or whether they want more from film, and to be taken on a journey? The inclusion of footage previously unseen in the UK reinforces the already provocative impact that I Spit on Your Grave has on people. It is truly unforgettable. However, don’t expect Hollywood effects and intense heavy metal music accompaniment, and certainly don’t expect any Oscar-worth acting performances; Just expect to be affected.
Russell Cook
