First things first – it takes a lot to shock a horror movie buff like me.
Growing up, while the other kids were watching Spider-Man or Harry Potter, I was binge-watching the likes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hostel and the Human Centipede. And for Halloween? You guessed it – I got myself dressed up as the big man himself, Michael Myers.
And while I like to think I’ve gone through pretty much every Hollywood horror film out there in my 26 years of existence, there was one flick that I failed to pop into my DVD player: I Spit On Your Grave.
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Released in 1978, the brutal “rape-and-revenge” film follows writer Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton) who heads out of the city to work on her novel in an isolated cottage. Things take a harrowing turn though when four local men rock up and brutally gang-rape her before leaving her for dead. Traumatised but alive, Jennifer then seeks revenge on the men that hurt her.
(Image: Everett/REX/Shutterstock)
As expected, its release ruffled plenty of feathers all over the globe back in the ‘70s. It was dubbed the worst film ever made by critics and at first, the movie was banned in UK cinemas – before getting extensively edited.
So, in a bid to see what all the fuss was about, I decided to finally watch it. And as soon as the vintage grainy opening credits start, it’s hard to stay focused knowing what’s around the corner.
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Within minutes I felt sick and anxious, just waiting to hear the screams of the female protagonist. After turning it off for a brief moment, I pressed play once more – and I was soon going to regret it.
Once Jennifer arrived at her cabin, it didn’t take long for the sickos to show up and attack her. The hard-to-watch rape scenes take up pretty much 35 minutes of the film, and the rest of the flick is Jennifer getting her revenge.
Some might ask if it’s really necessary for that many minutes of the graphic scenes. But as viewers, we are supposed to feel dehumanised like Jennifer.
This is every woman’s worst nightmare come to life and played out on screen. If director Meir Zarchi wanted the audience to walk away feeling some kind of way – he most definitely did his job.
A testament to her resilience, Jennifer survives her attack and starts to plan her revenge. She tracks down her rapists one-by-one and kills them off.
Two of them get chopped into pieces by a speedboat on a lake while another is hung from a tree with his underwear hanging by his ankles. And in a memorable and gruesome scene, Jennifer castrates a third man in the bath – making Saltburn’s now-iconic bathtub scene look timid.
It’s not really a fun watch and it’s a somewhat rather unpleasant piece of cinema. Although, there is a feeling of satisfaction and joy in watching Jennifer get her revenge on the gang of psychos.
Despite the amount of violence and brutality, I wouldn’t call I Spit On Your Grave a really bad movie, more of a somewhat difficult one. Although the majority of the time I watched through my fingers, it does has an interesting plot, an epic final girl and plenty of jaw-dropping moments.
But it is most definitely not for the faint-hearted.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
