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Posted on May 24, 2018

I Spit on Your Grave: The Original Rape-Revenge Film

Guest Post

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.

Posted on May 22, 2018

Revenge and the Power of the Gaze

Guest Post

In the era of the Women’s March and the #MeToo Movement, Revenge (2017), directed and written by Coralie Fargeat, is a must-see, a film critical of the male gaze, hyper-masculinity, and rape culture. It reverses the gaze and empowers its female protagonist, Jen (Matilida Anna Ingrid Lutz), who seeks retaliation against her rapist and his wealthy enablers.

The plot of the film is rather simple. Jen is the mistress of 1 percenter Richard (Kevin Janssens), who takes her to an isolated location via helicopter. He invites his rich buddies along, Dimitri (Guillaume Bouchède) and Stan (Vincent Colombe). Stan rapes Jen when Richard is not around, assuming that she wanted it because she danced with him once.

Posted on May 20, 2018

Feral: Another Reason Not to Go Camping

Dawn Keetley

Feral (2018) is directed and written by Mark H. Young, with help in the writing from Adam Frazier. It follows six young people—most of them seem to be in med school—on a camping trip in the California forest (it was filmed around Los Angeles). The film does not spend too much time establishing the stories or characters of the campers before they hear strange noises in the woods. Is it an animal seeking revenge on Gina (Landry Allbright) for her fur coat one of them suggests? (And I have to say that a long fur coat seems a strange article of clothing to take on a camping trip but Gina, generally, seems unprepared for the trip). Shortly afterwards, at about 14 minutes in, one of the group is attacked by a savage human-looking creature—the “feral” of the title. And from that point on, the group is on the defense and making the usual bad decisions—splitting up, leaving each other alone, falling asleep on watch, and refusing to kill people–things—they should clearly kill.

Posted on May 17, 2018

Tucker and Dale vs Evil: Smart Horror to Rewatch This Summer

Guest Post

Tucker and Dale vs Evil is a perfect summer horror film. Horror movies set during summertime immerse audiences in physical activities—swimming, hiking, vacationing, camping—ideal plot devices for dropping heroes in the fight of their lives. Which is perhaps why, for many of us at least, Jaws (1975) keeps us out of the water, and Friday the Thirteenth (1980) compels many camp counselors to rethink their summer vacations.

But maybe more terrifying, though, are the types of rustic antagonists that audiences encounter in scary movies about rural America. Their summer getaways, although beautiful, offer up some nasty locals. Think Leatherface swinging his chainsaw, the banjo-playing rapists of Deliverance (1972), or the motel owners in Motel Hell (1980) who turn their guests into world-famous sausages, and we can begin to understand why city slickers prefer sweltering urban summers to provincial dangers.

Posted on May 14, 2018

Island Zero: Indie Creature Feature

Dawn Keetley

Island Zero is directed by Josh Gerritsen and written by Tess Gerritsen, the best-selling crime author of the Rizzoli and Isles series. While undeniably low-budget, Island Zero has a lot going for it –including excellent writing and direction and some stellar performances—especially by Laila Robins as the local doctor, Maggie. There are also some powerful location shots as the director mines the Maine island of Islesboro for its bleak beauty.

Island Zero quickly puts us into the realm of a quite conceivable dystopian scenario as it follows a marine biologist, Sam (Adam Wade McLaughlin), who is trying to figure out why the local fish population seems to have vanished—“sudden unexplained collapse of the fishery” he calls it. His wife, also a marine biologist who vanished mysteriously at sea four years ago, had been studying fishery collapse—a phenomenon happening all along the eastern seaboard. When she disappeared, she had been working on the theory that the fish were being eaten by an apex predator that hadn’t yet been identified. Sam, still grieving, has picked up her work and has become convinced not only that she was right but that the mysterious predator has moved up to Maine.