I Spit On Your Grave

Starring: Camille Keaton, Eron Tabor Director: Meir Zarchi Original UK Premiere: 1978 Dvd Release: 26th January, 2004 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: PAL, Special Edition, Region 0 Encoding

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I Spit On Your Grave is one of the few movies directed by Meir Zarchi. The movie was controversial enough to earn an X rating upon its original release in 1978 & earned Zarchi a reputation without him having to make a second film. Marketed as a mainstream film, it is one of the more gruesome in the shock exploitation film genre. New York magazine writer Jennifer Hill is in the process of writing a book & decides that the only way she can finish it is to go to a log cabin in the country, where she will not be disturbed. Three local yokels are disturbed by how independent Jennifer is. Late at night, they hatch a plan to abduct her so their friend Matthew, who is mildly retarded, can lose his virginity. The next day, they do so, but Matthew tells the group that he cant do it. Jennifer is then raped three times by the men. While she is being tortured, the other men ridicule her book & rip up the manuscript. As she passes out, the yokels order Matthew to stab her in the heart & then leave.

New York writer Jennifer retreats to a cabin in the country to write her first novel, but her peace & train of thought is interrupted by four men she meets upon arrival, who go on to gang-rape & commit savagery on her three times before leaving her for dead .

However, Jennifer soon recovers from her ordeal sufficiently enough to enact some very painful revenge on each of her four attackers, one by one...

Banned in the UK until 2001, it was only finally granted an 18 certificate in that year when the BBFC ordered just over seven minutes of cuts to the rape scenes. When this newer version was resubmitted to the BBFC in 2003 with some of the previously cut footage reframed to put Jennifer off the bottom of the screen, they passed all except just 41 seconds of cuts, making this the most complete version we have ever had in the UK. While its still shocking, the reframed footage is noticeably blurrier & the wrongness of the screen layout is very obvious. Also, not being able to see the victim has undoubtedly muted the effect, making her vengeful attacks later seem over-the-top compared to what it might have been had the censored footage been left in its original uncut form, but I guess on this occasion the BBFCs hands are tied & that we should think ourselves lucky that we got the film officially released at all.

Many have accused it of glorifying rape, which is not the case at all. If anything, it shows just how horrific it really is, & how damaging it is, physically & emotionally, to the victim. Meir Zarchi, the Italian director, handled a very difficult subject matter here, & it was even based on a real event.

Other complaints that even the uncut version wouldnt cure is that the acting is a bit hammy sometimes, with dialogue sometimes sounding like its being barked down a hollow tube, & some of the gore isnt quite the right shade of red, but given the time it was made its not miles away from the correct colour, & the bathroom scene is still a ghastly sight.

If you like shocks & scares, youll certainly get some in I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, possibly one of the most complained-about & controversial movies in cinema history!

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