I Spit on Your Grave (1978)

Usually, this blog is supposed to be a lighthearted, jovial place where we poke fun at the silly little movie we are watching. Sometimes I'm impressed. Sometimes post deviate into a 3 paragraph swearing fest. Depends really what utter garbage I just subjected myself to. This week though, I'm afraid I'm going to have to change the tone a little bit. Before I continue you should know that I Spit on Your Grave is notorious for the mean thesis of the film revolving around the horrific gang rape of it's protagonist and her subsequent revenge story. I take no joy out of having to cover I Spit on Your Grave. I'm not approaching this movie with excitement or trepidation. I don't condone or support this kind of cinema. It wasn't morally right in 1978, nor has it ever been right since. I think, to pass it off as "art" or even "exploitation cinema" is in poor taste to be honest. That being said, despite my preconceptions and despite the movies reputation preceding itself, it still does find itself as a entry on the list of movies considered the worst and therefore, I do have a duty to at least cover it, and tick it off the list. But I wanted to be clear going in as to what my moral position and opinion was on the subject matter before I got started. None of the screenshots I feature in this post will depict anything involving any graphic subject material and I am choosing to limit the detail in my plot run down for this one.

Jennifer (Camille Keaton), a writer, arrives at a summer house she rents in order to plan and work on her first novel. Her arrival piques the interest of gas station attendant Johnny (Eron Tabor), his 2 bum friends Stanley (Anthony Nichols) and Andy (Gunter Kleeman) as well as mentally disabled grocery deliverer Matthew (Richard Pace). Jennifer is repeatedly annoyed and harassed by Stanley and Andy which leads them abducting her and her being violently sexually assaulted, initially by Johnny and Andy and then later, back at the house by Stanley and Matthew who is essentially egged on by the others to do it. Realising she could go to the police, Johnny pressures Matthew into going back to kill Jennifer but he's unable to do it, instead smearing blood on the knife to convince the others he killed her. After Jennifer heals up over the next 2 weeks and presumably manages to rebuild some of her completely shattered mental state, Johnny becomes increasingly unsettled and sends Stanley and Andy to go by the house and survey the scene. Whilst passing they are stared down by a very obviously still alive Jennifer by the river, and back at the petrol station the trio beat up and kick out Matthew for failing to do the job. Perhaps spurred on by seeing Stanley and Andy again, or perhaps because it was something she was plotting all along, Jennifer picks up a gun and drives into town, stopping by at the local church first to ask God for forgiveness before driving to the gas station where she first met Johnny and friends and then watching as Matthew is sent on a delivery. She hatches a plan by arranging a delivery which Matthew, despite his extreme trepidations, is tasked with delivering. He takes a knife with him but is obviously terrified when he arrives at the house, however Jennifer leads him down to the lake, seducing him and when Matthew lets his guard down as they have sex, Jennifer slips a noose around his neck and strangles him to death, hanging him from a tree, before positioning the bike to make it look like suicide. The following day she returns to the gas station and collects Johnny, on the pretence that she has fallen for him. She drives them to a secluded meadow where, at gunpoint she orders Johnny to strip naked. As a naked Johnny pleads with her not to kill him and tries his best to justify his actions, Jennifer appears to believe him, dropping the gun and taking Johnny back to her house where they share a bath and as Jennifer explains to Johnny how she killed Matthew, with Johnny laughing it off claiming she has a fantastic sense of humour, Jennifer produces a knife she has hidden beneath the bath mat and castrates Johnny in the bath. Later that day, after Johnny doesn't return to the gas station, Andy and Stanley set out along the river to the summer house intending to ambush Jennifer, but when Jennifer surprises Stanley by sneaking onboard his motorboat and pushing him over, she seizes control of their boat and proceeds to torture Stanley by driving circles around him with Stanley seemingly unable to swim. Andy, appearing on the bank, rushes in to try and help and tries to drag Stanley back to shore but Jennifer comes speeding passed and quickly dispatches Andy with a well placed axe shot to the back. Begging for his life as the motorboat drifts gently towards him, Jennifer watching on, Stanley grabs hold of the motor to stop himself from drowning and as he continues to beg, Jennifer repeats the threats he made against her with "suck it, bitch" and then engages the motor cutting Stanley, presumably, to shreds in the water as she speeds away gazing into the middle distance.

Watching this movie to me, felt like having to have a civil conversation with someone I intensely disliked. Like I am trying to be the better person here. Trying to rise above it and be professional. I would be lying if I said I didn't at least find this movie engaging. Despite it's highly gratuitous violence, and despite the morally disgusting premise that forms the foundation for the movie, I can at least appreciate that there was at least a tiny bit of effort put in to make it a cinematic production and not just a incredibly bad taste total snuff porn.

Camille Keaton is excellent. Every inch believable in what she does and portrays the horrifying ordeal that her character goes through perfectly. Compounding that she has this outstanding cold gaze that comes into play in the latter half of the movie that just compliments the mentally damaged character that she goes on to be. To accept a role in this movie, with the subject matter like it is, and in context; she spends a good 2/3rds of the movie naked, was an incredibly brave move that I think maybe 90% of actors would have absolutely not touched with a barge pole. But her acting here is brilliant and she really brings the gritty ordeal alive, looking so peaceful and so fragile with it but eventually morphing into an absolute coldblooded, unflappable killer.

Unfortunately though, the rest of the cast left a lot to be desired and the other male roles, except maybe Richard Pace as Matthew, were all pretty much just vanilla jocks and murder fodder. There was very little distinguishable characteristics between them and although they did mostly just fine in places there wasn't really anything that set them apart from anybody else in any other role and they were pretty forgettable. As aforementioned, Richard Pace's character Matthew was pretty much the only other person to have any kind of personality and maybe the only other memorable character in this movie.

Productionwise things were a bit of a mixed bag, it was difficult to understand some of the dialogue sometimes and a couple of times I had to rewind it to catch what a particular line was. The sound production in general felt a bit all over the place and amateur. Certain scenes felt like the dialogue had been overdubbed... poorly... recorded in a tin shed... but I don't know if that was just the streaming version I watched or the finished article? Cinematography though, on the other hand, was really good and the movie made use of quite alot of different artistic and interesting angles which, genuinely, given the subject matter actually really surprised me. But I honestly found myself really appreciating some of the shots. Especially the Matthew grocery scene where he knows he's got to deliver something back to the house:

It was also pretty clear that dialogue and story really played second fiddle to the violence. The dialogue was stunted, and ill fitting. Even scenes where Jennifer talked to somebody before she murdered them felt kinda awkward and staged. The only part where any script writing really stood out for me was Johnny's death scene as he panics wildly in the bathroom crying out cos he knows he's gonna die. Aside from that the dialogue was pretty low rate to be honest and it all just felt really un-natural.

I think though, in closing, we need to address the elephants in the room. Does this movie glorify rape? Well I am inclined to say no given the grizzly end that the four men end up coming to. I wouldn't say you necessarily come out of this feeling that rape is a good idea... although any portrayal of any kind of scene like that in a movie is one too much. I accept that there are scenarios that movies should confront head on and that sometimes it is the purpose of a movie to ask you a difficult question. But does it need such graphic portrayal so as to be a catalyst for the ensuing revenge plot? I am inclined to say no. No it doesn't need it. I don't think it needed it then and I don't think it needs it now. And is the gratuitous violence just a little bit too much? Well, perhaps ironically, I'm inclined to say no it isn't. I think it's 100% revenge porn, and there is this horrible undercurrent that you are supposed to get some kind of satisfaction from watching these men horrifically murdered, but I don't think it's too much. I think it's supposed to be a counterbalance as a kind of justification for how horrible the preceding 30 odd minutes are. But I don't think the violence is a sole reason here for grounds to ban the movie. Much rather it's the context upon which the revenge plot is built upon. I don't plan to ever watch this ever again. I didn't enjoy it. But I am glad that I at least gave it a chance and that I can now tick it off. I wouldn't encourage you to watch this, not even out of morbid curiosity. I don't consider it art, but I do respect that there was a genuine effort put in with the cinematography and the acting performances of it's lead to make it a cinematic production. But owing to the subject matter, I can't in good conscience say you should watch it. No rating.