I Spit On Your Grave

Summary

“Lying in your canoe, just lying… like bait.”

Ronin Flix is one of the most intriguing film distributors to arrive on the scene in the last few years. I have bought their films on a frequent basis; drawn in by their strong attention to detail and love of films from yesteryear. I applauded their release of Death Warrant, but was just as enamored by their release of The Mechanic, Death Wish III, and other titles of that ilk. With their release of I Spit On Your Grave, Ronin Flix has released one of the most notorious and unsettling rape/revenge films from the Seventies. This is a notorious film for good reason, and it is just as hard to watch as when it was released in the Seventies. I had never seen the film, but I decided to go ahead and check it out the other night.

A novelist, Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton,) leaves New York City to find some peace and quiet in the country and get some writing done. She stops at a gas station and asks the gas attendant, Matthew, how far it is to Park Hill Lane. She talks with the attendant about her plans to stay for the summer on the edge of the lake, while his two idiotic friends Stanley and Andy play in the grass nearby. She goes to her lake house and takes a quick skinny dip and floats naked for a moment on a small canoe. She returns to the house and showers. Her groceries are delivered by a halfwit who asks her if she is staying alone and what she is doing. She explains that she is writing a novel and staying alone. The halfwit, Ron, goes back to the gas station and tells the guys he saw her naked. They all hang out in that night discussing girls and the New York City woman. The next day they pass by her place on the lake as she sits in a hammock writing fiction in a swim suit. That night, as she sits in bed reading, she hears noises from the gang outside. They are whistling and howling. When she goes to investigate, no one is there. The next day, while she is enjoying the sun in her canoe wearing only a swimsuit, the two idiots from the gas station ride by on their fishing boat, grab the rope to her canoe, and drag her into the wetlands. The gas attendant is there. They strip her and call for the halfwit. He participates in holding her down but doesn’t rape her. The gas attendant rapes her. She leaves fully nude and makes her way across the swampy and forestry covered terrain. The three men who assaulted her find her in the forest and assault her again. They leave her naked in the forest and set her canoe to drift. When she arrives home, the monsters are there again to rape her, including the halfwit. Stanley beats her badly and they leave after tearing her manuscript in half. They send the halfwit to kill her, and he simply wipes the knife on her bloody cheek and returns as if the job is down. Jennifer recovers from the attack and soon seeks bloody justice. 

I quickly realized that my review of the film will not be able to have an actual recommendation of viewing the picture based on the difficulty I personally experienced watching the film. First and foremost, this film is obviously not for the faint of heart. It is extremely X rated. This is the rape revenge picture that was essentially the golden standard for how bad it could get. Roger Ebert called the film “sick, reprehensible and contemptible.” Siskel called it “hideously violent.” They aren’t wrong. The film is repulsive, but then again, maybe it should be. I will explain my thoughts on that below.

The rape/revenge genre had been shown to be a solid moneymaker by Wes Craven’s The Last House On The Left, and this film takes things a few steps further as one might expect six years later. While the film may not be as emotionally disrupting as a picture like Irreversible, the subject matter is grim as hell. I find rape to be an abhorrent thing, so seeing it simulated (numerous times) is extremely hard to view or tolerate. This film naturally caused an uproar for how callously it approached showing these things, because it seemed cruel to show these things at all. It is certainly grotesque and horrible and cheap and difficult to watch. It’s gross. This film is horrible in the sense that the rape scenes make my skin crawl. Rape is evil, and it is shown for the evil it is in this film. I had a lot of trouble watching those scenes. Then again, I think someone would be incredibly hard pressed to say that the film is in any way a celebration of rape. Is it possible that showing rape for how disgusting it is actually makes more sense than being tasteful when approaching the subject? I don’t have the answers there on whether or not a film like this should even exist, but it is worth debating. I also think that the film is as exploitative as I have seen. Camille Keaton is literally nude for roughly one third of the picture. I applaud her bravery as an actress, but can’t quite figure out if the director and writer needed to push things as far as he did for the film’s themes to come together.

What is beyond debate is that the revenge portion of the film is wonderful. The denouement that follows the initial evil actions feels absolutely cathartic. In some ways it reminds me of how hard it was to watch the “torture-porn” sequences in Hostel, and how rewarding it was to see the revenge enacted in that film. In this film, you feel as if you have been put through so much that you just want to see the evil bastards get their just desserts.

One thing I like about the film is that the settings of the picture are very down to earth and real. The film does not try to become atmospheric with anything showy, instead choosing to show regular places at times when no one is around. The effect causes tension that feels very real. The film is low budget, but the director and cinematographer both had good eyes.

I Spit On Your Grave has long been a controversial film. It’s merits (or the merits of the rape-revenge genre in general) are debatable. I know that I had a tremendous amount of difficulty watching this picture and will not be revisiting it any time soon. Ronin Flix has done a remarkable job on their restoration of the film for fans of the picture.

Video

I Spit on Your Grave has been granted an excellent transfer of the film from Ronin Flix using an MPEG-4 AVC encode of a brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negatives. The color scheme is vibrant and fine detail is pretty good. This was a low budget film, but Ronin Flix have done a great job in bringing the best out of the transfer. There are some moments of specking or banding, but I can’t imagine a fan of the film being less than thrilled by the transfer. The film has never looked better, and unless a fan is wanting a UHD copy of the film (which are available) this is the definitive Blu-ray presentation.

Audio

The audio has been restored as well as possible, but the source itself was recorded in such low quality that it can not be brought to normal standards. That said, the work done by Ronin Flix at times is very impressive. They have included both DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 tracks for viewing the film. I preferred the 5.1 track.

Supplements:

Jennifer’s Journey – the locations of I Spit on Your Grave featurette hosted by writer Michael Gingold,

Audio Commentary with writer / director Meir Zarchi

Audio Commentary with Film Critic Joe Bob Briggs

The Value of Vengeance – Meir Zarchi Remembers I Spit on Your Grave, 

Alternate Day of the Woman Opening Title

Theatrical Trailers

TV & Radio Spots

Stills Gallery 

Slideshow with Rare & Behind-the-Scenes Photos from the Set

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 3.75/5

Supplements – 4.5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

I am going to rate this movie basically based on its technical merits, because it is not a film I think I would ever choose to watch again. In order to rate this release, I need to be somewhat unbiased by my feelings towards the picture, because it has no replay value for myself. It is an incredibly difficult viewing experience and I fully understand why the film has been called repulsive. I also think that means that the film is effective – if brutally effective. It is damn hard to watch, but the final act of the film is certainly rewarding. This is a controversial film for good reason. It’s certainly exploitative – one of the most exploitative pictures I have ever seen – but it also would be ridiculous to pretend that this film makes rape seem appealing. If anything, it makes murder sentences for rapists appealing. The video quality is a home run considering the low budget filmmaking on display, and the audio is as well restored as could be expected. The special features are well appointed with all the prior features from the Anchor Bay release ported alongside some new features. I can’t say that I recommend this release to newcomers because I am morally conflicted by what I saw, but I can highly recommend purchasing this release if you are a fan of this film. Ronin Flix have done an amazing job on the video transfer and the array of supplements.