With the new French exploitation film Revenge gaining a heap of media attention, the majority of it referencing it as an up-dated I Spit On Your Grave, it is pertinent to examine why the original film – and the rape-revenge genre in general – refuses to be buried, despite its being condemned as sexist, misogynistic and demeaning to women.
There is no denying that the original I Spit On Your Grave (1978)—released 40 years ago this year—is one of the most controversial films ever made. With its unflinching subject matter (the brutal gang-rape of a beautiful career woman and her subsequent revenge), its battles with censors, critics, feminists and politicians have ensured that it remains a film that divides opinion and inflames passions. While its reputation would have been cemented by its unique position in the 1970s/80s exploitation era and the ‘video nasties’ scandal, it has also become mythologised by the countless rape-revenge films that have followed.
While I Spit On Your Grave’s remake and sequels have all effectively taken a part in fetishising the film, its imitators – of which there are many – remind us of just how creative, daring and provocative the original was. Meir Zarchi’s film doesn’t need to rely on over-blown non-diegetic music to prompt the viewer how to feel. It doesn’t introduce clichéd supporting characters to strengthen identification with its protagonist. It also doesn’t utilise models for its heroine, thereby eroticising her subsequent rape. And yet, because it was marketed as exploitation, many have been unable to see past this label and have failed to realise that herein lies a genuinely shocking film – but not for the reasons that have seen it pilloried, censored, banned and condemned.
David Maguire’s new book on I Spit on Your Grave (Wallflower Press) is available from Amazon
It is crucial to remember that I Spit On Your Grave was instrumental in making rape-revenge the narrative. And unlike the eroticised route down which most rape-avengers have strutted, the 1978 film actually attempted a serious commentary on sexual violence. For instance, the lengthy rape sequence is so brutal and difficult to watch precisely because it addresses a problem that many rape-revenge films simply fail to grasp, or choose not to – that is the sheer difficulty in realistically showing on screen the reality and trauma of rape. Unlike Straw Dogs (1971), there is no suggestion that the victim enjoys her ordeal. Filmed entirely from the female protagonist’s perspective, the viewer has to endure the ugly grunting faces of her attackers as the assaults play out in real time.
Camille Keaton as Jennifer
Having us identify with Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton) while she is raped is crucial to the film’s pro-feminist agenda. Zarchi initially distances the viewer from the attacks by using master shots to show the four men pinning her down while she is hidden in the grass. Subverting the usual cinematic technique of close-ups of the terrified victim staring up at the camera (making the viewer complicit in the attack), Zarchi instead includes close-ups of the rapists, forcing the viewer into Jennifer’s shoes, i.e. that of the victim. After each rape, a naked, bruised and bloodied Jennifer attempts to crawl away until she is recaptured and subjected to more torture.
Despite being condemned as misogynistic upon its release, the film does clearly reflect the same concerns that second wave feminism exposed regarding male attitudes towards the opposite sex – and their fear of women’s increasing sexuality and freedom. While the attackers’ treatment of Jennifer is utterly appalling, what is equally disturbing is their low opinion of women, as evidenced in comments such as ‘one day I’m gonna go to New York and fuck all the broads there’. These are men who view cities as simply being full of women waiting to be raped. The fact that Jennifer’s beauty is what seals her fate – made abundantly clear when one of the characters describes her ‘damn sexy legs’ and her lying around in a bikini ‘like bait’ – and that once she comes into their lives she cannot escape their constant cat-calls and wolf-whistles – forges a damning critical representation of male attitudes towards beautiful women. While many may argue that horror films (and cinema generally) objectify woman, I Spit On Your Grave bravely challenges such representations of male sexual desire and connects them to acts of sexual violence. This is the whole ethos of the rape-revenge genre i.e. that when women fight back against such abuse, their actions are entirely justified.
Camille Keaton as Jennifer
It is with this in mind that it is easy to understand why the film – and the rape-revenge genre generally – has seen a resurgence of interest in the 21st century. Despite being 40 years old, the ideas of I Spit On Your Grave clearly occupy a key place in the #MeToo era. Its protagonist is harassed for the sole reason that she is a young, beautiful, independent, intelligent career woman—and for this “crime” she is subjected to the most appalling degradation and destruction of her psychical and mental self by men who feel threatened by her. As Jennifer successfully enacts revenge on those who have wronged her, it is not surprising that the film has such a strong female following: I Spit on Your Grave allows a woman, on screen, to redress the balance, albeit using violence. While it is correct that the film and the rape-revenge genre have been responsible for putting images of sexual violence and intimidation towards women up on the screen, they have also provided an opportunity for identification with a fantasy of strong female empowerment.
Check out our post on Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge (2017) here.
To read more about rape and the horror film, check out our posts on The Killing Kind (1973), the episode “Sylvia” from Little House on the Prairie (1981), and Eli Roth’s controversial, Knock Knock (2015).
I Spit on Your Grave is available on DVD:
David Maguire is a programmer for the Leeds International Film Festival’s fantasy/horror strand and author of the Columbia University Press book I Spit On Your Grave.
