Out this week on Blu-ray and DVD are two versions of rape-revenge classics I Spit On Your Grave. The original 1978 film was directed by Meir Zarchi and starred Camille Keaton as a writer on vacation in the woods who's attacked by a band of loathsome backwoods louts and has vengeance. Attacked by critics, this drive-in exploitation favorite still packs a nasty punch. I was rather dreading the 2010 reboot but it's really quite good. Ostensibly, the story is the same: Sarah Butler plays Jennifer, an author who rents a remote cabin on the lake in the woods and is set on by a group of redneck punks who sexually brutalized her. But director Steven R. Monroe (with a script by Stuart Morse) does something crafty halfway through (which I refuse to divulge but it did surprise me). The revenge in this film is amped to the max and involves everything from fishhooks and bear traps to lye and large shears, and there is something effectively nasty about all of it. The loathsome hillbillies (Jeff Branson, Daniel Franzese, Rodney Eastman) are particularly odious and their payback is savagely satisfying.
Out this week on Blu-ray and DVD are two versions of rape-revenge classics I Spit On Your Grave. The original 1978 film was directed by Meir Zarchi and starred Camille Keaton as a writer on vacation in the woods who's attacked by a band of loathsome backwoods louts and has vengeance. Attacked by critics, this drive-in exploitation favorite still packs a nasty punch. I was rather dreading the 2010 reboot but it's really quite good. Ostensibly, the story is the same: Sarah Butler plays Jennifer, an author who rents a remote cabin on the lake in the woods and is set on by a group of redneck punks who sexually brutalized her. But director Steven R. Monroe (with a script by Stuart Morse) does something crafty halfway through (which I refuse to divulge but it did surprise me). The revenge in this film is amped to the max and involves everything from fishhooks and bear traps to lye and large shears, and there is something effectively nasty about all of it. The loathsome hillbillies (Jeff Branson, Daniel Franzese, Rodney Eastman) are particularly odious and their payback is savagely satisfying. Comments...
