Revenge

May 20, 2010 by Editor
Filed under Film Reviews

I Spit On Your Grave (1978)

Written & Directed By: Meir Zarchi

Review Written By: Ken Knight
Mondo Film & Video Guide Feature Contributor
IMDb.com Link

Also billed as “DAY OF THE WOMAN” this controversial, mondo-violent film starring the beautiful Camille Keaton was banned in just about every civilized country except the USA and still remains so to this day in it’s truly uncut version. A female writer (Keaton) decides to leave the city for upstate New York to complete her novel in peace+ quiet. That seems fine until some local guys find her sunning herself one day and decide to take the liberty of chasing her around which results in a graphic gang-rape which included the local semi-retarded man bullied into doing so by the other men. Disturbing as these events are the ramp-up begins when the female writer decides to extract bloody revenge on her tormentors and thus begins the “vigilante” aspect of this violent film and so one guy gets his balls cut off while another is hanged when he least expects it, then there’s a hatchet…and I won’t spoil the rest for you!

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is more than just a lurid video box cover, the type of film you wouldn’t have seen in a theater even back in the 70’s (unless perhaps it was on New York’s 42nd Street!) It’s also a film with a limited cast so you’re not inundated with a smorgasbord of players to sort out, and this makes the star Camille Keaton the main focus of this film’s action. I gotta hand it to Camille for her unique portrayal of the victim-turned-vigilante where some of those scenes had to be damn difficult to pull off! Available on DVD nowadays, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is a one-of-a-kind “rape-revenge” film that would not likely be re-made in our current time due to the subject matter and political-correctness(imagine a film today portraying a retarded dude in a bad light as this one does?). I give I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and actress Camille Keaton a thumbs-up with the butcher knife in my other hand!

Ken Knight is the author of the book – The Midnight Show: Late Night Cable TV “Guy-Flicks” Of the 80′s. The book is available now through www.amazon.com You can email Ken Knight directly at The Mondo Film & Video Guide at kenknight@mondo-video.com