MACABRE MOVIES: I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978) + VIDEO

 

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978)

Starring Camille Keaton, Eron Tabor and Richard Pace

Written and directed by Meir Zarchi

Anchor Bay Entertainment

Is I Spit on Your Grave misogynist trash or feminist horror? That question has been asked ever since director Meir Zarchi put out Day of the Woman back in 1978. You likely know it by its more outrageous title, which distributors used when they re-released Day in 1980, minus the MPAA-induced cuts which bowdlerized much of the brutality from Zarchi’s rape-revenge story.

You likely know the story even if you haven’t seen the film. Star Camille Keaton (What Have You Done to Solange?) plays Jennifer Hills, a budding writer from New York who rents a cottage in the country for the summer to write her first book. She quickly gains the attention of four bored local ne’er-do-wells whose campaign of harassment escalates into gang rape. Jennifer barely survives the assault and wreaks bloody revenge on her attackers. End of film… but not end of story.

 

Spit was famously derided by Siskel & Ebert for its exploration of man’s darkest impulses and became the target of feminist critics for what was perceived as Zarchi’s misogyny, mostly because of the extended rape sequence which sees Jennifer assaulted by all four men, one after the other. Maybe that’s why I avoided the film for so long. Having endured the awful rape scene in Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible, I had no desire to see another one.

But last summer saw the release of the Spit remake, and I had the opportunity to see the film and interview the cast during the Rue Morgue Magazine-sponsored Festival of Fear. The remake was, if not exactly entertaining, at least a trial by fire which I survived and horror fans, rightly or wrongly, sometimes judge a fright film’s worth by its ability to induce panic, anxiety or disgust. And when both films arrived at my home on DVD last week, the time seemed right to subject myself to a horror classic, albeit one I had deliberately avoided.

First, I Spit on Your Grave is hardly misogynist. Simplistic in its politics, amateurishly acted at times, yes. But hateful towards women? No.

Yes, Keaton gets naked early on, during a skinny dipping sequence, but as astute film writer Joe Bob Briggs notes in his entertaining commentary, Zarchi doesn’t focus in on every bead of water on Keaton’s naked form – he instead shoots it from across the lake. When we do see a nude Keaton up close, it’s when she’s being brutally assaulted, covered in dirt and blood. Sexy? No. In fact male viewers can use their penile response to this sequence as a direct barometer of their moral health.

 

Jennifer’s subsequent seduction of her assailants prior to their murders has been much criticized – and the remake rather cowardly, in my opinion, removes this aspect from her revenge – but Zarchi is making the point that these men are delusional. Could a woman they raped and left for dead possibly want them sexually? Of course not, but they think so, thus revealing the extent of their naiveté about both women and sex. (The campfire scene, where they discuss women and sex, is particularly illuminating as to their literally retarded understanding of both topics.)

Anchor Bay’s re-issue includes an interesting interview with Zarchi who gives a history of the film’s release and defends himself well. He also contributes a separate commentary alongside Briggs, the latter rightly praising Zarchi’s style on a budget and provocative choices.

I’m not sure if I’ll want to see it again – I Spit on Your Grave is still a relentlessly ugly movie – but it’s a film made, for better or worse, without compromise.

 

Rating: 3.5/5

 

And for more insight about the Spit remake, here are my interviews with that film’s cast and producer: