I saw the original "I Spit On Your Grave" when it was released in 1978, and it was one of the 70's grindhouse classics that stayed with me... incredibly sleazy but undeniably entertaining, gross, and yes, even shocking. When I read that the current "Deja Vu" release had cast Camille Keaton, who was the heroine in the original, I was immediately intrigued. I read two external reviews of the film on IMDB before I watched it, and both lauded the film, calling it "strong stuff," and "not for those with weak stomachs." Those reviewers clearly saw a very different film than I did. Clocking in at 148 minutes, this bloated, monotonous albatross was actually painful to watch.
I'm at a loss as to how anyone could have given thumbs up to the film the way it was written, shot and released. Did Meir Zarchi think that by casting Ms. Keaton - who adds nothing to the film and at times is embarrassing to watch - he was going to make this sequel the equivalent of "Gone With the Wind?" His screenplay couldn't have been less than 400 pages long. Every single scene in this film is AT LEAST 2-3 times longer than it should be... the extraneous, redundant, astoundingly monotonous dialogue just goes on and on, until it finally grinds the pace of the film to a complete halt. For a b-film, the actors are believable in their performances, but they just never, ever shut up. Even the ending becomes maddening... the director continues to add more and more small, absurd plot elements to incessantly draw it out. How long did it take to shoot this? With the incessant monologues and additions to the plot it must have been an endless production schedule.
ISOYG-DV doesn't even come remotely close to the creativity or sleaziness of the original... this should have been way over-the-top, as the original was the grandfather of revenge flicks. Instead, it's slow, dull and flat. Even the few special effects are totally unconvincing, and the plot remains disappointingly tame.
This could have passed as a mediocre exploitation film if they whittled it down to about an hour and fifteen minutes, which would have considerably picked up the film's tempo and relieved a lot of the boredom. As it is now, it's an interminable, frustrating mess.
