Starring: Camille Keaton, Eron Tabor, Richard Pace

Directed and Written by: Meir Zarchi

The Story: Until I actually bought this DVD I had never seen this movie or knew much about it....except that its pretty much hated as a trashy, pointless exploitive violent movie. Well, it is. But so what. I would have gotten around to this flick sooner or later, but since its my pick for the Rogue Reviewer's Shocktoberfest, I decided to do it now. the movie does have some shocking moments and some that actually scared the hell out of me. Think I'm kidding? watch the brutal rape scene and the fate of the gas jockey, Johnny. I might laugh in the face of Jason, or kick Freddy Krueger in the nuts, but I damn sure wouldn't screw around with the film's heroine.

The movie is about Jennifer (Jenny), a young, beautiful writer, who rents a summer home in the country so she can have peace and quiet to write her novel. Unfortunately she catches the attention of a group of thugs and one imbecile (Matthew, who is clearly mentally handicapped) and they decide to gang rape her. The rape scenes are brutal and made even me wince. After recovering from her ordeal Jenny wreaks bloody vengeance on the men that raped her. While there are some hard to watch parts in this flick I have to wonder what the hullabaloo is about. If you read the user comments on the IMDb you'd think this was the most disgusting movie ever made. I guess it was in 1978. How times have changed. I don't know if its because I'm not a woman, or because I've been jaded by almost nonstop fantasy violence in popular entertainment, but I had to ponder this: If this movie were about a man being brutalized, recovering and then ruthlessly killing his enemies would it be reviled like this one is? Think hard, droogies. The answer is no, of course. I can probably think of at least three movies off the bat where a man is tortured and comes back fighting...and we all cheered.

That's what really gets under my skin about this movie. Johnny, the local gas station owner and his hick friends get what they deserve after raping Jennifer and I hear people complaining because the rape scenes were disgusting and the revenge stuff was ludicrous. Hey, if you watch a movie called "I spit on your grave" don't expect the f***ing Count of Monte Cristo. Yeah, the rape scenes were brutal and disgusting. Its rape for Pete's Sake. It was terrible to watch, even in a movie, so I think the film made its point. The revenge stuff was ludicrous. Jenny killed her tormentors too easily for it to be taken realistically. The poor girl can't weigh more than a buck 0-5. The rapists were fantastically stupid, but they'd have had to be brain dead in the real world to be killed by this tiny woman. But then again no one really freaked out when Arnold mowed down a freaking brigade in Commando, or when Steven Seagal came back from almost dead and whooped everyone's ass in Hard To Kill.

Well, I don't think that I anyone can comment on this movie without bringing up the demise of Johnny. Or at least the method Jenny uses to kill him. Without this part no one would even give the movie a thought....so if you don't know what it is I'm going to spoil it for you. Jenny robs him of his manhood and its another part of the movie that's hard to watch. Especially if you're a guy. After watching this scene numerous times I've made a mental note to myself. Never ever take a bubble bath with my wife unless I'm absolutely sure she ain't pissed at me for anything.

A lot of people I know comment on the fact that Jenny didn't call the police after her rapists left her supposedly dead. Instead she opted to kill them in cold blood. Why would an otherwise friendly and peaceful woman go to such lengths for vengeance. I think we're missing an important consideration here. Maybe she was just F***ING CRAZY! Trust me, I know some crazy freaking people. and you never realize they're crazy until you get 'em mad. (Reading this Phil? I might go bananas one day at work if you all keep messin' with me! :))

If you just want to slide your brain into neutral you'll probably like watching this movie...at least until the rape scenes and Johnny's death. Those parts are bristling with "uneasy-watchingness". Still, it is October....if you want a fright and you haven't seen the movie this will most likely deliver.

Best Lines: "A man is just a man." - Part of Johnny's excuse for what he's done to Jenny. I hate it when guys say that to cover up being a jackass without morals or scruples.

 Are you kidding me?

1.) When Jenny first gets to her summer home, I can understand her thrill to see the beautiful lake out in the back. But then she rushes towards it, strips down buck nekkid and goes skinny-dipping. Hey, fine. I don't have a problem with that, really, except I wonder...how many people would actually do that? Last time I went skinny dipping I got caught...oops....said too much.

2.) Movies and television have probably done more to make "country folk" look like stupendous morons than real life country folk morons could hope to. It would be obvious to practically anyone with a few brain cells to rub together that if you're gonna orchestrate a gang rape in broad daylight that perhaps some sort of mask or disguise might be a good idea. These imbeciles even call each other by name while doing it. In real life they might as well have provided blood and semen samples to the DA before committing the crime!

3.) The 2nd rapist....what the hell was this guy doing? Its such an ugly scene I feel smutty just commenting on it, but this guy looks like he's being electrocuted while...uh...committing his crime. Its a hard part to watch also because Camille Keaton's portrayal of a woman being brutally raped is....chilling. I had a hard time watching it, my droogs and her screams will haunt me for days.

4.) Dumb, dumb, dumb! How dumb can this guy be? Johnny is concerned that Jenny might blow the whistle once he discovers that Matthew didn't kill her. When she shows up at his gas station she coaxes him into the car with the lure of sex. Well, gosh, Johnny....didja think that maybe she might want to kill you for being the  ringleader in her gang rape and beating? Johnny obviously doesn't know a thing about women. One thing they're good at is revenge. (Yeah, that was a sexist remark, but I grew up in a matriarchal family. I think I'm right)

5.) What I don't get is how Johnny's friends, other than Matthew don't seem to have any jobs. Is life that easy in the country? They just hang out all day at Johnny's gas station? Even Matthew has a job and he's a fruitcake.

6.) Jenny asks Johnny why he doesn't feel any guilt over what he did to her, mentioning his wife and kids. I wonder if she will feel guilt knowing that she's deprived the wife of kids of a father and provider. Hey, Johnny might have been a asshole but someone's gotta put food on the table.

Nudity and Sex: Oh, hell yeah.

Huh?:

What the devil!? Was Jenny pumping iron in the days of her recovery? I mean, she ain't that big, yet she hauled Matthew up in a noose by herself. Ever try to lift a full grown man? As practically dead weight?

For a guy that runs a gas station, Johnny is lax in his safety department. Why would he be smoking a cigar next to the damned gas pumps?

Johnny tries to turn the tables on Jenny by claiming she basically "asked for it" by showing off her sexy body. Of import is his comment that she was in a bikini when he and his friends rode by in a motorboat. Yeah, you're right, Johnny. The harlot! How dare she wear a swimsuit on her property and lay in a hammock? The slut. Cheezanrice, ain't there no women folk out there? Are these losers that hard up that the mere sight of a woman in a bikini in a hammock gets them all hot and bothered?

That must have been one sharp ass knife Jenny used on Johnny's...uh, little Johnny. He doesn't notice that he's been deprived of the tiny fireman until the blood plops out into the bathwater. (Guys, that is REAL HORROR!) Hell, I bumped that part of my anatomy into a table once and cried like a baby for ten minutes. I'm thinking of wearing some kind of protective codpiece.

The Final Judgment: The nitty gritty is this....I Spit on Your Grave is not as good as The Accused. I've seen the comparison written about in the IMDb. But lets be honest. Did you think it would be? Is it shocking? Yeah. Even in these times the rape scenes are uncomfortable to watch and the unmanning of Johnny downright scary. (especially when Jenny calmly locks him in the bathroom and plays opera to drown out his screams of terror.) Is it worth watching? Well, that depends. If you're curious about it, by all means. If not you'd better think about it. The plot is simple, there's no characterization really (we don't even get to know Jenny that well before she gets raped and goes off) and the payoff is light at the end. If you like bad movies you'll want to check it out. And if you want to be shocked, I think it will deliver a mild jolt to the most jaded of us. The Infernal ones grant it four devil heads.