I Spit On Your Grave: Revenge Is Not So Sweet
Published on September 29th, 2010 in: Feminism, Halloween, Horror, Movie Reviews, Movies |Michelle Patterson wrote 10/4/2000:
M,
You’ve obviously thought a lot of this movie and about movies in general. I get that.
It’s just not for me and I wouldn’t want to ever see this again. I don’t know if I can be a friend to a person who owns this movie, let alone someone who respects it.
I hope you can understand where I’m coming from and that there are plenty of other movies for me to watch, like, and respect. Also, this all started on account of getting ready for Halloween. I’d like to get back to having fun watching films and not necessarily thinking about rapists and murderers other than those who wear a hockey mask or have knives for fingers.
~M
Michelle Patterson wrote 9/21/2010:
M,
Understandable. I think the more experience you gather in life the more you’ll, maybe not exactly LIKE this movie, but at least you’ll know where it’s coming from and that maybe it deserves a little more respect than what it’s received from you, overall. It’ll take time.
Movies are meant to be personal and that means we all get our own thing from them.
Just promise me that you’ll watch it again at some point and let me know where you stand then. I’d love to know your opinion.
Hopefully, we’ll talk again very soon.
~M
At first glance (and judging by reviews at the time of its release and some opinions of it even now) I Spit On Your Grave appears only to be gratuitous and knee-jerk response cinema. Holding the low-esteemed title of “longest gang-rape scene in a movie” isn’t necessarily something of which to be proud, but the way in which it is represented both from the viewpoint of the victim and the perpetrators is something much more complex and ugly. Interestingly enough, the original (and the director’s preferred) title was Day Of The Woman, which was changed for a re-release of the film in 1980.
In its multi-dimensional representation of the relationships created from a horrible circumstance, there are viewpoints that make us feel wrong and in turn we judge what is in front of us on screen. We judge the filmmaker and anyone who would choose to be party to this. Only, within the confrontation there is one of the most truthful and realistic results of a horrific crime.
The rape victim’s vengeance is earned, yes, and it’s also powerful in its rudimentary, even simplistic mentality of what a victim has a right to do. Yet, especially in this movie, the revenge doesn’t lend itself to violent retribution as straight catharsis; instead it is a slow process of the inevitable. The Catch 22 of rape vengeance films, unlike other vengeance films, is that the pay-off never feels like one.
After living through something so terrible, along with the main character, we need a release. Only the release is acceptance and learning to use the same brutality in order to find a sense of peace. In this instance, there is no attempt to find titillation in any of the crimes committed.
They are are heinous and cold and exhibit the true face of each character within the film. Nobody wins and everybody loses. This does not allow for any real entertainment value; it is a morality lesson that continues, to this day to find literal fault-lines among people who can understand what the filmmaker was trying to prove and who understand that the audience who gets off on the crimes on the big screen are the “real” monsters.
The remake of I Spit On Your Grave from Anchor Bay Films premieres at the Calgary International Film Festival on October 1, 2010 and hits US theaters on October 8, 2010.
4 Responses to “I Spit On Your Grave: Revenge Is Not So Sweet”
September 30th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
Very cool piece. Well done.
It’s incredible to me that this brutal, micro-budget grindhouse flick is still so endlessly discussed 30-plus years later. It certainly says something of it (and, to be honest, it says something of the influence wielded by Siskel and Ebert; whose declaring it the worst film ever made surely aided it in not simply being forgotten). It is definitely not a film one forgets having seen.
Given the probably hundreds of films I want to see which I still have not, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I’ve seen this one 3 or 4 times during my life; once as a kid where my reaction was not unlike that of the 23 year old you, once in my late teens or twenties for whatever reason, and once accompanied by the terrific Joe Bob Briggs commentary on the original Anchor Bay DVD release (which does sincerely, albeit irreverently, defend the film – quite sincerely, for example, arguing it’s a far more powerful, and no more exploitative, exploration of its subject matter than The Accused).
I’ve certainly heard and read the film defended before, but rarely by a woman, and rarely so articulately. As one who’s always found the film to be rather worthless apart from being a particularly grim cultural curiosity piece, I likely won’t view it again to re-assess (as by now it’s surely time for me to move on to one of the hundreds of less rapey films I’ve still yet to see), but your arguments are well made.
While watching the trailer for the remake just the other day, it struck me that they seem to be focusing more on the victim’s revenge. It certainly could be argued that in this very strange context, this is the enlightened approach. I won’t see the film to find out, but I suspect this remake may be aiming for a pretense of a more soul restoring type of revenge.
While in the original, I always found the fact that her vengeance is given about 1/3 the amount screen time as her degradation a bit conspicuous, I always appreciated the last scene — where she’s a hallowed out husk, blank-eyed and broken, having been granted no closure nor peace — as being the one moment in the film with real artistic value. It’s truly startling. Even if one doesn’t agree with what it’s saying, you do have to admit it’s saying something. I suspect the remake won’t even accidentally stumble upon such an ugly truth.
September 30th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
I agree. Great analysis! Rape scenes are one of my horror movie dealbreakers so I don’t know that I could even get through this movie, but I appreciate you taking it seriously and explaining why.
LLM
March 30th, 2011 at 8:44 pm
[…] for me, the deadline for the piece didn’t correspond with when the remake would hit theatres. Revisiting the original with a different approach led to an appreciation, of sorts, to what it (accidentally) revealed about the nature of the basic […]
October 11th, 2013 at 11:59 am
Interesting read about a topic with many conflicting views, though this bit confuses me: “Then, the rapist just slowly plots her revenge and does it in the sickest ways ever. “
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