Whoops... this isn't Bambi!
I don't consider myself a cult movie buff, but I do enjoy a good gore and exploitation flick from time to time (who doesn't!?). I may have gone in a little over my head this time, though. I was in the mood for a zombie gut-muncher, like Dawn of the Dead, but I decided to watch the infamous I Spit on Your Grave instead. Nothing like a good 'ol rape-and-revenge movie to cheer me up when I'm home alone on Saturday night. And besides the fact that it sends horror nerds into drooling fits, I'd actually heard I Spit on Your Grave was a decent flick.

There were a lot of exploitation films made in the 70's. Many of them had the same exact plot as I Spit on Your Grave. A woman goes somewhere secluded for vacation. She is then raped, humiliated, and left for dead. Barely surviving the ordeal, she vows to take revenge on her attackers and carries out the deeds in always amusing, over-complicated ways. What sets I Spit on Your Grave apart from similar fair, I believe, is the violence. Not necessarily because the violence is realistic, but because of the whole mean-spiritedness of film. There's not much to laugh at. Even a group of drunken frat boys would probably move to lighter fare. This movie has a real edge to it. The rape scenes in particular are difficult to watch. Not that rape should ever be easy-viewing, but I Spit on Your Grave is a far cry from Casper and Jenny's scene in Kids

Best Part? Penis Removal.
By far, the best part of the movie is the notorious bathtub scene. I say 'best' not in the sense of fun to watch, but effectiveness. After seducing her attacker into a bathtub, our heroine makes use of a conveniently placed kitchen knife and does away with the unlucky guy's manhood. I couldn't sit still while watching it; I kept on shifting around on the sofa. Like Joe Bob Briggs said "The most likely thing that'll happen after a man watches this flick-especially the bathtub scene-is he won't be able to walk straight for a week."

Like many low-budget movies, I Spit on Your Grave made use of multiple titles to sell itself. When it was released under the title Day Of The Woman, a few misguided folks championed it as a "feminist horror movie;" a long shot by any stretch. Just because the protagonist hangs, castrates, impales and runs over her attackers doesn't make this a particularly empowering movie to me. I will say this though, never once was I ever rooting for the bad guys, the rapists. In most horror movies I cheer on the bad guys. I Spit on Your Grave, however, takes all the fun out of that. I really hated the bad guys by the end of the film and was not disappointed at all when they met their end.

Think Before You Rent
That this movie isn't for everyone goes without saying. But if cheap exploitation and 70's drive-in smut is your thing, you'll no doubt find I Spit on Your Grave a cut above the rest.