Grave

A film whose reputation preceeds it,I Spit On Your Grave is certainly a landmark film.Even though I hadn't seen it until recently,I have always been aware of it's notoriety.Mainly I had only heard about how vile and contemptible the film was(I believe even renowned film critic Roger Ebert called it a piece of garbage).However,having finally seen it for myself,I think these comments are completely unfair.Sure,it shows some vile human behaviour,but in a way as to document how horrible a situation(rape)is.Not to glorify it,or sugar-coat it in any way,but to give the viewer an unflinching gaze at the heinous act,in all it's gruesome detail(interestingly,"Saving Private Ryan" does exactly the same thing....and I bet Ebert didn't give THAT a scathing review). The film will always be known for it's infamous(and lengthy)attack/rape scene.In fact,some would have you believe there isn't much more to it than that.Rubbish.I thoroughly enjoyed this movie(I REALLY get off on revenge!)and think that time has been very kind to it.Some of the performances are a teeny-bit shaky in places but other than that it looks great.It is also well-paced,with each of the(brilliant)acts of revenge stretched out for maximum pleasure!Definitely a film I would watch again. On another note,if you have yet to view this film,make sure you get hold of the region 1 version,as the BBFC one is still not entirely uncut(God knows why,they have passed many stronger rape scenes,including the notorious rape in "Irreversible",which is MUCH more disturbing....gotta love the BBFC's arbitrary ruling system!).

the edition:Elite - Millenium Edition- the uncut version with a running time of 101 minutes.- the film is presented in the correct aspect ratio 1.85 : 1- picture restoration is very good with natural colours and a black black- the extras are superb: there are two audio commentaries which both are very good and interesting.Meir Zarchi tells his story of the film, the background, the people involved and the real-life tragedy which actually inspired this film in a quiet voice. And for the first time in this length! Here I learned that Meir Zarchi hates the title I Spit on Your Grave, with which he had nothing to do and which was only due to the effort to get the movie released (as an exploitation movie that is). Also: that the "director's cut" is 100 minutes with 1 minute cut from some early dialogue. And most important: you learn how deeply serious his approach with this movie was and you can only guess how much the aggressive rejection and destruction of his work must have hurt him. Apart from one interview he never talked about this film in 25 years.Joe Bob Briggs does the other commentary. And this one is passionate in his approach to show how insubstantial the arguments of the critics actually are. And he succeeds in a very lively way to show that there is not one scene in the movie to substantiate the accusation of this film being misogynic.I first saw this movie in the heavily cut version. Didn't know then: quite interesting exploitation movie. Some time passed, but I couldn't forget this film and tried long to find a uncut edition. Then I saw it again 3 times in a row with all the audio commentaries (something I never do otherwise).At first I even believed this myth about very bad acting. ARE YOU SERIOUS? Please show me one actress like Camille Keaton who shows the aftermath of rape in such a hurting and convincing way. Jodie Foster? You must be kidding or you never saw the uncut version of Day of the Woman. Monica Bellucci in Irreversible? Well, she is good, but Irreversible is about the male revenge and not about the suffering (and revenge) of the victim.I mean Keaton may not be a "great actor" and she's not even convincing as a writer of short stories in this film, but looking at her just walking back to the house after she's been beaten and raped is one of the toughest and most convincing and real moments of film history. And the decision of Meir Zarchi not to give you any kind of (musical) relief might be the ultimate reason, why there's such an amount of hate against this film.If you decide to watch this film, DO NOT watch the cut version. It just doesn't make any sense and works against the intentions of this outstanding work of art.

First off this DVD states that it's a fuller version. Now I last saw this on TV many years ago but, despite the length of time that has passed, I couldn't find any scenes that were different from those I remembered. This DVD offers 3 sound options, 5.1, 2.0 stereo & the original mono soundtrack. As I don't have an external sound system I found the mono version to be the best but that's just my preference. The picture quality is really good, not HD, considering when this was made.If you've never seen this before it's about a young woman who's rented a remote house for the summer next to a river in rural upstate New York I believe to write her next book. On arrival she stops at a petrol station (a couple of pumps & a hut) just outside the local town to fill up. It's run by a 30 something bloke. His two jobless "layabout" mates are also there. After she leaves the 3 of them are like dogs on heat. You'd think they'd never seen an attractive young woman before! Just then the 4th bloke arrives on his bicycle who's a delivery boy for the local store. He's naieve, a virgin & desperate for freinds & the whipping boy for the other three so does what they tell him to do. This lot have a small boat with an outboard motor which they use to check out the garden of the new arrival & find her relaxing in a bikini. This is like a red rag to a bull & they plan to have some "fun" with her. Chasing her down in the woods they carry out this "fun" stripping & repeatedly raping her. Once recovered she decides to take her revenge on each of them, one at a time, in a particularly brutal way but who would argue with that? Not many I suspect.This was, at that time, the ultimate revenge movie. However in 2010 there was a remake starring Sarah Butler which is more graphic than the original as, by then, audience tolerance & censorship levels were much higher than in the late 70's, early 80's & it's the remake which dates the original somewhat.If you've not seen either watch the original first.