I Spit on Your Grave

If ever there was a candidate for banning a film it's this. It's not giving anything away to reveal that there's a rape scene in this film but be warned it puts anything you saw in "Last House on the Left" the remake to shame. Graphic doesn't even begin to describe what the audience are subjected to by the voyeuristic intentions of director Stephen Monroe as he puts the audience in the front row seat for almost two hours of pure abuse.

But this is a good thing. Surely rape is visceral, brutal and sadistic and this film embodies all these elements. And once the reported revenge begins it's even more brutal than anything done to her.

Superb and bold performance from Sarah Butler in a role that is probably considered by most to be career suicide. When her character takes revenge it truly is the stuff that nightmares are made of and some scenes made me cringe for at least an hour afterwards.

Watch this one at your peril.This is highly recommended only for those who sit through a showing of cannibal holocaust without vomiting. Strong stuff indeed.One of the few examples of a remake vastly improving on the original.

It's not often that I'll favourably compare a remake to the original, but in this instance, I must. I thought the original was a pretty bad film, undoubtedly shocking, and deserving of its infamous name, but the remake I feel captures the essence of the revenge, and desperation of the victim to get her own back.

It is of course shocking, and at times is quite sickening to watch, there were plenty of moments when I had to look away, but you can't help but feel a sense of justice as the tables get turned.

Very nicely produced, and well acted. A remake I know, but worthy of being deemed something of a horror classic, one to give you a fear of Ravens for life. 8/10

I'm a huge horror movie buff. Doesn't matter how low budget it may be I'll still give it a watch. So when I saw they remade the original I Spit on your Grave, I was intrigued at whether it was better than the original which was a low budget B horror movie for it's time. This movie is not for the squeamish at all. This girl did exactly what any other woman nowadays would do had they been in her situation. I think I probably would have done far worse honestly. They deserved every bit of it too.

I remember watching the original 1978 "I Spit on Your Grave" earlier this year and thinking that it packed one hell of a visceral punch while also carrying quite an angry proto-feminist slant. Yeah, it was obviously a low-budget exploitation horror picture with a strong feminist subtext, but it was both shocking and challenging on a deep emotional level - challenging everything you thought you knew about humanity, justice, violence, and revenge & retribution.

Anyone who watches the film with an open mind will indeed find a powerful and angry film, one that takes no prisoners, nor does it try to play it safe for the safety and comfort of the audience. It was meant to shock, horrify, and provoke strong reactions and discussions.

These are things that the original "I Spit on Your Grave" (originally titled "Day of the Woman") and its 2010 remake of the same name, directed by Steven R. Monroe, have in common.

While sharing the same set-up - about a beautiful young novelist from the city named Jennifer Hills (played by Sarah Butler here, Camille Keaton in the 1978 original) who retreats to the backwoods to write her latest novel and is assaulted by a gang of country lowlifes and later exacting brutal, bloody systematic revenge against them - the remake is still very much a very different film. (It's a much better-made film, with better acting, writing and directing, and has better special effects. It's less raw and rugged, but it's somehow slightly more enjoyable.)

For one, the original 1978 "I Spit on Your Grave" and its 2010 remake are very much products of their time; Meir Zarchi, who directed the original and was also involved in the production of this film, was reportedly inspired to make the film after his encounter with a young rape victim back in the '70s. As such, he made a film that while it had an extremely low budget and no-name performers (though Camille Keaton was the grand-daughter of Hollywood acting legend Buster Keaton), was nonetheless compelling, challenging, and shocking. (How shocking, you ask? Well, movie critic Roger Ebert gave the film no stars and has been behind efforts to have the film both banned and blacklisted.) The original film, made in the wake of women's liberation, was also slammed as feminist propaganda - allegedly because it features a lone female exacting vengeance on her all-male gang of attackers.

By comparison, Monroe's film doesn't carry the same visceral punch to the gut that Zarchi's original did. It was raw, brutal, and ugly; and it was also saying something about victims and their attackers. But because horror films have been getting increasingly gorier in the wake of the "Saw" and "Hostel" films and their like-minded imitators in the "torture porn" sub-genre of horror, the violence here is really not all that shocking. The original film got by on its raw intensity alone, an element of the original film that was helped immensely by its low budget, which gave it an almost-documentary-style feel to it. The one drawback, however, was the original Jennifer Hills's all-too-convenient transformation from victim to avenger in too short a time frame.

As such, the 2010 "I Spit on Your Grave" seems to more or less conform to these current torture-porn movie standards, with Sarah Butler's Jennifer Hills character torturing her attackers in elaborately gruesome ways before finally executing them altogether. The one benefit of this is that a much longer time frame passes before Jennifer gets her sweet revenge, which makes her actions and subsequent transformation from victim to victor a little bit more believable. On the other hand, though, she's given to making cheesy slasher movie-style one-liners as she tortures her former tormentors to death.

Overall, while "I Spit on Your Grave" is a better-made film and I enjoyed it more, I didn't get that same level of intensity from it that I got from the original "I Spit on Your Grave." Because it abides more by contemporary horror standards, it lessens the overall impact. It is still, however, a valiant remake that was not a complete waste of time (like most horror movie remakes).

6/10

I recall having seen the 1978 version a long, long time ago, but must confess that I can only recall parts of the movie. So I decided to give this 2010 remake version a go, without having any hopes or expectations to it.

Wow! This movie was wicked. And in more than just one way. The story was compelling, even though it was twisted and perverse. But the movie just sweeps you up and takes you along for a ride, and you want to stick around and see what happens next. Basically, the story is about a young writer named Jennifer, who goes to a small town to write, and she is assaulted and tormented by a group of locals. Leaving her for dead, Jennifer comes back and takes revenge on those who wronged her.

The "I Spit On Your Grave" 2010 remake had me nailed to the chair, especially because it was so brutal. This movie is definitely not for the faint hearted or for those easily offended. I was cringing several times throughout the movie and was curling in the chair in phantom pains as well. The way the brutal scenes were executed and portrayed was just off the charts. It was in a weird way, perfect brutality caught on film. Sounds bad to say, I know, but trust me, watch the movie and you will know what I am talking about. It was like you were right there in the movie yourself.

Most of the people cast for the movie was new faces for me, I think I only recognized a single face, and he didn't even have a big role, that being Tracey Walter (playing Earl). Sarah Butler did a good job with the role of Jennifer, and she really came off quite believable. And credit is due the guys playing the tormentors as well, because they did good job with their roles as well (despite it being the roles of perverse deviants).

"I Spit On Your Grave" really surprised me and left me wanting for more. I actually want to sit down and watch the 1978 movie again to freshen up my memory of that version and compare it to this 2010 version.

Normally I am not keen on Hollywood remakes of older movies, but this one really hit the nail straight on the head, and as the nail tore through the flesh, you will cringe, groan and want for more.

There wasn't much music throughout the movie, or perhaps I just failed to notice it, because I was so caught up in the movie. But "I Spit On Your Grave" doesn't really need a hyped up score to work, because the story is selling (and telling) itself.

The effects in the movie were good as well, though there wasn't an extraordinary amount of effects. But the effects that were used worked superbly and were straight to the point, showing and telling what needed to be portrayed. The movie has just the right amount of blood, guts and gore without turning into a splatterfest.

If you haven't already gotten around to seeing this 2010 remake, then get yourself into gear and sit down to watch it. You will be in for quite an experience. But be warned; this movie is brutal. "I Spit On Your Grave" is definitely a movie that I will be popping into the DVD player again sometime in the future. It was wickedly awesome!