I Spit On Your Grave was one of those movies in the ilk of 'Cannibal Holocaust' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' which was banned in the UK by the BBFC for many years. Like these films, it has now received a commercial release, albeit after several cuts were made to cut down on the extreme violence portrayed within. And if this is what the film was like after cuts, I shudder to think what it was like before.
The film is about a female writer who decides to take a trip to the countryside to get away from bustling New York and work peacefully on her new novel. This is shattered however, when a bunch of local hicks ritually abuse and rape her. Instead of calling the police, she decides to take matters into her own hands, and uses her body to lure the men to their deaths.
Whilst this may seem like a fair enough plot for a film, the director did not get his priorities straight. The rape scene in this (the cut version) was over 30 minutes long and still featured the repeated beating and abuse of the writer. Whilst he may have wanted to establish how shocking the attack was, it did not have to been drawn out for nearly half of the film. Because of this, several other key elements are lost.
None of the characters have any depth to them, as all the men are just random Hicksville inhabitants who have as much depth as a petri dish and as much intelligence as a sponge. The one exception to this however, is Jonny, the ringleader of the rapists. With Jonny we find out more about him and his family, as he is quickly established as an evil peice of work. He shows no remorse for the rape, he feels that she was asking for it by 'flaunting' her body in a bikini.
And thus we move onto the murders. It seems the director wanted to see Camille Keaton naked for as much of the film as possible as even after the rape she uses her body to murder the rapists. Jonny, the ringleader recieves the goriest, most horrible death when his penis is sliced off with a knife while he is in a bath. This was by far the high point of the film, as it shows him getting his just desserts. The other deaths merely pale in comparison, especially the last two which seem like throwaways because the director was running out of time. Also because of this the film ends abruptly with no real feeling of closure. It would have been nice to see the results of what happened after the deaths.
The film was long and drawn out at times since there was no music apart from within the film (Church organ, generic hick #324 playing harmonica). This makes scenes with such boring things as walking along a railway track REALLY boring as there was nothing to see other than Camille slowly walk closer to the camera. You never realise quite how much music adds to the mood of a movie until you actually view a film with a distinct lack of it.
The acting for the most part was mediocre at best, but usually dredged down arounf the terrible level. As mentioned earlier, the rapists, with the exception of Jonny were generic hicks and as such anyone could have played the role, acting experience or not. The standout performance by far was Camille Keaton who portayed greatly the role of an abused woman with inner anguish to release. As previously stated however, we get no real information as to what she does after the murders.
The film focuses far too much on the lead actress' body throughout the movie and not enough on establishing characters/proper conclusion. This film is not really suitable for anyone to watch in my opinion, as the rape scene is simply too long by far and makes the whole film worthless. Best to avoid. 2/10
The film is about a female writer who decides to take a trip to the countryside to get away from bustling New York and work peacefully on her new novel. This is shattered however, when a bunch of local hicks ritually abuse and rape her. Instead of calling the police, she decides to take matters into her own hands, and uses her body to lure the men to their deaths.
Whilst this may seem like a fair enough plot for a film, the director did not get his priorities straight. The rape scene in this (the cut version) was over 30 minutes long and still featured the repeated beating and abuse of the writer. Whilst he may have wanted to establish how shocking the attack was, it did not have to been drawn out for nearly half of the film. Because of this, several other key elements are lost.
None of the characters have any depth to them, as all the men are just random Hicksville inhabitants who have as much depth as a petri dish and as much intelligence as a sponge. The one exception to this however, is Jonny, the ringleader of the rapists. With Jonny we find out more about him and his family, as he is quickly established as an evil peice of work. He shows no remorse for the rape, he feels that she was asking for it by 'flaunting' her body in a bikini.
And thus we move onto the murders. It seems the director wanted to see Camille Keaton naked for as much of the film as possible as even after the rape she uses her body to murder the rapists. Jonny, the ringleader recieves the goriest, most horrible death when his penis is sliced off with a knife while he is in a bath. This was by far the high point of the film, as it shows him getting his just desserts. The other deaths merely pale in comparison, especially the last two which seem like throwaways because the director was running out of time. Also because of this the film ends abruptly with no real feeling of closure. It would have been nice to see the results of what happened after the deaths.
The film was long and drawn out at times since there was no music apart from within the film (Church organ, generic hick #324 playing harmonica). This makes scenes with such boring things as walking along a railway track REALLY boring as there was nothing to see other than Camille slowly walk closer to the camera. You never realise quite how much music adds to the mood of a movie until you actually view a film with a distinct lack of it.
The acting for the most part was mediocre at best, but usually dredged down arounf the terrible level. As mentioned earlier, the rapists, with the exception of Jonny were generic hicks and as such anyone could have played the role, acting experience or not. The standout performance by far was Camille Keaton who portayed greatly the role of an abused woman with inner anguish to release. As previously stated however, we get no real information as to what she does after the murders.
The film focuses far too much on the lead actress' body throughout the movie and not enough on establishing characters/proper conclusion. This film is not really suitable for anyone to watch in my opinion, as the rape scene is simply too long by far and makes the whole film worthless. Best to avoid. 2/10