I Spit on Your Grave

I Spit on Your Grave (1978)

Runtime: 101 minutes

Directed by: Meir Zarchi

Starring: Camille Keaton, Eron Tabor, Richard Pace, Anthony Nichols, Gunter Kleeman

From: The Jerry Gross Organization

Until last night I had never seen I Spit on Your Grave, and that’s no April Fools joke. This admission will be surprising due to my viewing of the original Last House on the Left plus films like Thriller: A Cruel Picture & Ms. 45 in the past. The title’s been familiar to me for ages yet due in part to its lack of easy availability on the streaming front, the trigger was never pulled… or in this case, the knife was never plunged into the heart. However, Arrow’s streaming site just put the film on their service; as nothing was on the agenda for last night, the infamous cult classic was finally experienced… or perhaps it should be “endured.”

Camille Keaton portrayed Jennifer Hills, a New York City writer who rents a cabin in bucolic rural Connecticut to write her first novel. Immediately she runs into a quartet of horrible human beings. This is a trio of real A-holes who utter the vilest misogynistic comments plus a mentally handicapped dude who tags along. It’s not long before the harassment starts then a LONG segment of repeated sexual assault. Besides the raw, visceral nature was the length. Your opinion on whether the attack needed to be this graphic or be that large a percentage of the runtime will determine your opinion of the movie.

Ratings have always been all across the board—Ebert despised Grave while a number of people just on Letterboxd find it to be a classic.
Me… while I am unsure if the intent for the segment necessitated such a presentation, the goal of upsetting the viewer was incredibly successful at least for my tastes, and the sweet, sweet revenge was satisfying. As the filmmaking wasn’t always great-to say the least-and the majority of the acting is best described as “inexperienced,” thank goodness then that Keaton was in the lead role. A lesser actress & the film would have lost me as the first half would have lost me, never to win me back once the revenge occurred.

Anyone’s opinion of the film is valid, whether love, hate, or somewhere in-between. While it is not something for me to watch again (at least in full) due to its content-and rape/revenge movies by design are rarely tackled by me-the film wasn’t a disappointment in terms of “entertainment” and also infamy. Kent, Connecticut and the surrounding environs are at least scenic woods and are charming as long as you don’t connect them with this film in particular.

I Spit on Your Grave had a sequel released just several years ago, along with a remake which itself spawned two sequels. The chance of seeing those are low, although my opinion could always change. Oh, and this was originally released as… Day of the Woman, which isn’t a great title. A few years later another distributor came up with its current all-timer of an unforgettable title. Note that I’ve heard the woman in the famed poster of the film where only her back is seen is none other than… DEMI MOORE! No kidding.