I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE

Directed and Written by Meir Zarchi
Produced by Meir Zarchi & Joseph Zbeda
Photography by Yuri Haviv
Cast: Camille Keaton, Eron Tabor, Richard Pace, Anthony Nichols & Gunter Kleemann

1978/100 mins/Color/2.0 DD
1.85:1/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Elite Entertainment DVD

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is without a doubt one of the most well known infamous genre film ever. It is also a film banned in many countries. The beautiful Camille Keaton (yes, she is the granddaughter of that Buster Keaton) is a writer who left the city for a house in the woods where she would be able to write her first novel. At first things look great but the film takes a vile and savage turn when she is brutally raped and beaten three times by four locals in what have to be the longest rape scenes ever put on film. While there is no actual visual penetration we sure can feel her pain. A few days later, Keaton decides to avenge herself by killing those fucks one by one.

Originally titled DAY OF THE WOMAN (at one time it was called THE RAPE AND REVENGE OF JENNIFER HILL), the film came out in '76 and vanished quickly into obscurity. It was in '81 that Jerry Gross (who introduced movies like MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY and DR.BUTCHER M.D. to the American crowd) bought the film's rights and changed the title to I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and gave it it's now famous tagline; "This woman has just chopped, broken and burned five men beyond recognition... but no jury in America would ever convict her!". What's funny about this tagline is that no one gets burned or that there was only four men but it didn't matter. The people who hated this film turned out to be the reason it became a hit, famed critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert warned people not to see it but what happened is that everyone wanted to see what the buzz was about.

Unlike what some critics might want you to think, in no way is I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE glorifying rape. It don't present rape as a nice or fun thing. The whole rape/revenge subgenre was huge and a very profitable market back in the late '70s but none of them were so vile and ruthless as this one.

Remember, this is not a film for everyone and it sure ain't no film to show your girlfriend! On an interesting note, it is during the filming of the movie that director Meir Zarchi and star Camille Keaton got romanticaly involved, talk about a weird setting!

Elite's presentation is quite stunning. It sure doesn't look like the film was made back in 1976. The colors are bright and sharp, there is no sign of compression or artifacts whatsoever. The film is presented in a 1.85:1 ratio. As for the audio we get a good sounding, but nothing exceptional, 2.0 DD track. The menus are simple and without any animation or music. Extra wise we get the theatrical trailer presented full screen. The film is separated in 21 chapters, comes with an inlay card and in a keep case. The highlight of this disc is that it's the full uncut 100 minutes version with the original dialogues. Elite Entertainment released a Millenium Edition of this film in early 2003 with loads of extras... including a commentary track with Zarchi! So this new edition would be the best to get.

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Review by Kim Dubuisson. All Right Reserved. 2003. ©