I Spit on Your Grave (1978) This Review Contains Mature Content. Discretion is Advised.There are a handful of titles that won't leave me alone. No matter how hard I try, they have remained a part of the cinema conversation, often for being the most controversial films in existence. Not the worst, but the finest examples of how low the art can sink.
Cannibal Holocaust
Faces of Death
The Human Centipede (and its sequels)
Last House on the Left
A Serbian Film
I have now seen all but one of these, and I don't ever see myself watching Faces of Death. Cannibal Holocaust is bad, but
there are interesting things about it. Last House is actually
good effective because it's made with a certain conviction. I Spit on Your Grave is only interesting in terms of the behind the scenes questions it raises.
I'm now fascinated in the backstory of Camille Keaton, who plays the lead and went on to marry the director (Meir Zarchi) after filming was completed. What were her hopes and dreams before landing in this cesspool. How did she get through the days of filming being raped and then being gang raped and then, thinking it was over only to be gang raped again. (I confess, even though the acting is comically bad enough to remove the incidents from reality, I watched much of this section at a faster speed. I have no interest in sitting through such a lengthy sexual assault.) What did the script look like? Was there a script? Were star and director falling in love while filming these sequences?
There's even more mystery years later. 15 years later, Keaton starred in an unofficial/remake playing the same role, going through much of the same ordeal. That same year she married her 2nd husband Sidney Luft, who was once married to Judy Garland. This year, Keaton and her ex Zarachi reunited to film I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu, where the relatives of the men in the first film try to take revenge on her. You know how mothers say to their children "make good choices"? Keaton seems to have done the exact opposite.
I've seen films with worse acting, writing and directing, but not many. I've seen films that were more offensive. (The prize for that may be a remake of Last House
called Chaos that I had to watch while working for Sean S. Cunningham.) Zarchi claims the film was meant to be about female empowerment, but the amount of rape is way out of proportion with the small amount of revenge. To the film's credit there are a couple of good shots and even one effective scare. However, it's mostly a shame that there are so many rape and revenge films out there it's become its own sub-genre.
RATING: 0 Stars