I Spit on Your Grave is one of Roger Ebert's least favorite films. In fact, he liked it so little that he put his review of it in a book called "I Hated Hated Hated this Movie." I like reading Roger Ebert's reviews, but I don't usually agree with him. Trolling through the Warehouse this Friday night, I saw it was in stocks and I decided to watch.
The main reason I picked it up, actually, was because the DVD has running commentary by the legendary Joe Bob Briggs. Not being from Texas, or having the pleasure of reading Joe Bob in syndication, I found Joe Bob hosting the "Joe Bob Goes to the Drive In" on the Movie Channel in the 80's. Joe Bob was famous for reviewing/introducing horror & exploitation films, and he'd finish up the review by telling us how many people were killed, how many breasts you'd see, and the like. Whenever an unusual weapon was used in the film, he'd add the suffix "-fu" to it, such as "Chansaw-fu." Great stuff.
In brief, this film is a rape-revenge film, where after 20 minutes of tranquil Connecticut countryside, the heroione is cornered in the woods and brutally gang raped several times. The various rape scenes run for over 25 minutes. Very graphic. Very brutal. Because this is a revenge flick, she returns the brutality by killing and disfiguring the bodies beyond recognition.
Worth seeing? Well, you'll never see it on TV- the movie channels won't even show it- so there's some cachet in saying you've seen it. Without the Joe Bob commentary, the film is largely unwatchable, but with JB, it's fascinating. He's got theories on the feminist angle of the film, on the culpability of each of the individual rapists, and, if you can believe it, more than a few laughs, like a twisted MST3K. Atsukan says check it out.
The main reason I picked it up, actually, was because the DVD has running commentary by the legendary Joe Bob Briggs. Not being from Texas, or having the pleasure of reading Joe Bob in syndication, I found Joe Bob hosting the "Joe Bob Goes to the Drive In" on the Movie Channel in the 80's. Joe Bob was famous for reviewing/introducing horror & exploitation films, and he'd finish up the review by telling us how many people were killed, how many breasts you'd see, and the like. Whenever an unusual weapon was used in the film, he'd add the suffix "-fu" to it, such as "Chansaw-fu." Great stuff.
In brief, this film is a rape-revenge film, where after 20 minutes of tranquil Connecticut countryside, the heroione is cornered in the woods and brutally gang raped several times. The various rape scenes run for over 25 minutes. Very graphic. Very brutal. Because this is a revenge flick, she returns the brutality by killing and disfiguring the bodies beyond recognition.
Worth seeing? Well, you'll never see it on TV- the movie channels won't even show it- so there's some cachet in saying you've seen it. Without the Joe Bob commentary, the film is largely unwatchable, but with JB, it's fascinating. He's got theories on the feminist angle of the film, on the culpability of each of the individual rapists, and, if you can believe it, more than a few laughs, like a twisted MST3K. Atsukan says check it out.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
~cheers