Rape-Revenge flicks aren't really my cup of tea. I mean, they're okay, and are sometimes far more entertaining than they should be. But nothing to jizz over, in my opinion. But like every exploitation sub genre, there's always that one movie which stands out. The one which defines the sub genre, and the one which all the others are compared. As far as this particular sub genre goes, that'd be the forever notorious I Spit On Your Grave. Filmed in Connecticut by Meir Zarchi, and starring Camille Keaton as an easy going writer, just looking for a little inspiration and relaxation, but is plunged into a nightmare, one day, and is changed forever because of it. An unflinching look at a long, grueling rape, the recovery, and eventually, violent retribution. Technically, not a great movie, and not exactly a gorefest one might expect, but there's just something about this film that hits a nerve. Love it or hate it, you'll never forget I Spit On Your Grave.

So, this writer, Jennifer Hills, is traveling from the big city out into the sticks to write her new book. If not for a retard named Matthew, she mght have actually gotten somewhere. Matthew is a grocery delivery boy, and when delivering Jennifer's groceries, he develops a crush on the semi-flirty Jennifer. Nothing wrong with that, but after bragging to a bunch of ass holes at the gas station that he saw her tits, these Connecticut rednecks get all riled up about pussy, and get all up in Matthew's shit about being a virgin. And before we know it, a raping has been planned. A raping which is supposedly meant to rid Matthew of the burden that is his virginity. Wow! For a bunch of dicks who clearly hate Matthew, they sure are going all out, just so he can get his dick wet. But as we suspected, these good 'ol boys are planning on making a day of it. But virgins first, as they say..

The next day, the rednecks gang up on Jennifer, and get her into a vulnerable position to hold her down. Now applying all sorts of peer pressure to the man-child to take advantage of this opportunity, he just can't rise to the occasion, at first, so, the rest of them go to town on Jennifer, who, I might add, does a great job of selling the following scenes as painful and traumatizing. At one point, she actually looks like she's going insane. Not unlike Marilyn Burns from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. As we get back around to the retard's turn, he finally gets it up and sticks it in, yet Jennifer doesn't even give his sorry little prick a whimper. Not able to finish, Matthew gets nervous and quits. The other three go on to beat and berate Jennifer. And after having their fun, they try and stick the dirty work on Matthew. They now expect the retard to stab Jennifer in the heart to cover their asses. The idiots don't even go back in the house with him to make sure he does the job. And once again, the tard chokes up and lets her be. Once the guys find out, a few days later, Matthew is officially out of the rape clique. But now that Jennifer is getting the chance to recuperate and make her next move, Matthew may have much bigger problems. Same goes for the other three. Jennifer has lost a part of herself, and no longer gives a fuck. Going to the cops is apparently out of the question. Only bloody, uncompromising vengeance.

I look at I Spit On Your grave in two different ways. One, overrated as an extreme film. And two, a film undeserving of much of the hate it's gotten in the past. Again, because it's not really THAT extreme. Sure. It is pretty harsh, at times. There is a 22 minute rape scene which the entire movie is based on, but it's off and on, and isn't all that graphic. One of the revenge scenes is arguably more disturbing. This film was once condemned to no end by critics who saw the film as nothing but an evil story with no moral, told from the rapist's point of view, with no self awareness. Obviously, nothing could be farther from the truth, as the men who raped Jennifer were portrayed as nothing more than obnoxious and ignorant. Besides also being a bit of an "Evil hicks vs. city slicker" Horror flick that was so popular in the 70's, I Spit On Your grave is a women's lib movie at its core. And the original title of Day Of The Woman is a good indication of that. Maybe the hate this movie has gotten had something to do with the unpleasant retitle, which sort of made this movie into something it was never meant to be. But what I Spit On Your Grave is, is a success. It's harsh, it's raw, and like Jennifer Hills, it doesn't give a fuck. 6/10