6.16.2006
I Spit on Your Grave (1978) 
aka "Day of the Woman"
The original title for this movie was Day of the Woman, which sounds like a weepy self-empowerment drama on the Lifetime channel. Later, the producers wanted to sound more hardcore, so they changed the name to I Spit on Your Grave. As dry as Day of the Woman sounds, it sucks a lot less than the other title. This movie isn't too bad if you're into straightforward exploitation and shock.
Jennifer Hill (Camille Keaton) decides to take some time off, and drives up to a secluded lakeside cottage to concentrate on her writing and work on her tan. The cottage sits a few feet away from the lake, in the middle of a small town. Guess what happens in small towns? Nothing. And guess what happens when a hot city girl comes into a small town? Some rape happens. That's what this movie is all about, after all. At first, it's a bit slow. So you'll probably say to yourself, "Get on with it, already!" But you'll regret that, because once the action gets started, it won't take a smoke break.
The characters in this movie are 100% stereotypical. You got your two brainless redneck hooligan boys (Gunter Kleemann and Richard Pace), you got your geeky clumsy Woody-Allen-slash-Gilligan-type idiot (Anthony Nichols), and leading the three you got your much older, dirty sleazebag of a shady mechanic (Eron Tabor), complete with overalls and train conductor hat. Now, granted, the movie was made in 1978, but that's no excuse for such lame characters. These four guys play big roles, so I think a bit more effort and thought isn't too much to ask, is it? Unless...oh, wait, I see what's going on here. All the brainpower went into the rape scenes! Of course! Forget creativity. Forget depth of character. Let's just make a movie about a girl getting raped, and then...getting raped, again!
Now if that's the whole premise of the movie then let's at least try to be open-minded and see how well it was done.
I will say that the most wrenching thing about these rape scenes is the absence of music. It's deadly to show a rape scene without any audio aids to make it somewhat more bearable to the audience. Sorry, there's no Enya to soothe the hurt. Now, if that was their point - to make it more brutal - then it worked. After the first rape scene, Jennifer recovers and drags herself through the forest to find her cottage. Phew, thank goodness she's okay! Man, those boys are going to get it when she gets bettOH GOD! Here come the boys again - so are they going to kill her this time, or what? Nope, they can't - she still needs to plot her revenge.
But oh Christ, No.
Jennifer gets re-raped.
After the second rape, she crawls back to her cottage and goes for the phone. Ha! Those guys better watch out because now she's twice as pissed andOH FUCK, not again. The guys are in her cottage, and she gets re-re-raped. The third time around was the hardest to bear, but I had to keep watching because this girl deserves her revenge more than mothers having their newborns ran over.
The next thing I remember is Jennifer kneeling down in front of an altar, praying for forgiveness in advance because she's about to return the favor. First, she takes the nerd's life by seducing him and hanging him. Next is the very gory bathroom scene (video clip below), where she wins the leader's trust and gets him into a bubble bath to execute a handjob-tug-cut-rip-yank-and-pull maneuver. They teach this move at the "Self-Defense School for Battered Ninjas." Last are the two shirtless, suspender-sporting hick boys. They get diced up by a mini-motorboat engine fan. It wasn't that nasty but I have to say that the leader's punishment made it all worthwhile. In conclusion, these dudes got it way worst than Jennifer. I felt really bad for the girl during all the rape scenes but I felt much worst watching these guys get tricked and murdered. Yes, I felt bad for the dudes but they definitely deserved it. The punishments were as gory as birth but done nicely without any mercy.
Overall, this was a harsh and negatively moving experience. If you can bear horribly-developed characters and ecka-ecka rape remixes, then this movie is okay the first time around. Other then that, have fun trying to hold your lunch in.
Note: I decided against linking to any additional screenshots because, well, it's all rape and blood. Not cool. I have a clip (below) that's enough to justify the whole movie and to give you a very good idea of the mess you're getting yourself into.
Director and Cast
Director: Meir Zarchi
Jennifer Hill: Camille Keaton
Johnny: Eron Tabor
Matthew: Richard Pace
Stanley: Anthony Nichols
Andy: Gunter Kleemann
Related Links
Additional information: IMDB Movie Page
Detailed information: Wikipedia Page
Sique Rating: 4.7
