faq

I Spit on Your Grave

Buy at Amazon.comThe only reason I saw this movie, let alone heard of it, was from having read Carol J. Clover's Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Before that, I'd never known there was such a thing as a "rape-revenge" movie genre. The plot is simple, and I don't think I'm giving away anything by telling you what happens--it's not exactly a suspense movie: a city woman goes to the country to relax. She gets gangraped numerous times. Then, she plots revenge against her attackers. The film is ambiguous about whether it wants to be titillating or not. The sex scenes aren't the least bit arousing in their choreography, appearance, or sounds, but they're also gratuituously long and graphic--brutal but not realistic enough to be a sort exposé on the horrors of rape. There is an almost, ironically, Disney-esque delight one can take in the simplistic narrative that ends in the protagonists' triumph. Ultimately, though, the film isn't fun enough to enjoy without thinking, and it doesn't "say" enough to satisfy any thoughts one might have upon viewing the atrocities contained within it. --A.Y.