Ronin Flix is pleased to commemorate one of the most controversial feature films of all time with a new 3 disc Collector’s Edition “I Spit on Your Grave” Blu-ray Box Set just in time for the holidays. This box set features a new 4K scan and restoration of director Meir Zarchi’s 35mm original camera negative of “I Spit on Your Grave,” along with a newly restored original mono soundtrack.
Additionally, this box set also includes “I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu,” and, for the first time on Blu-ray in North America, “Growing Up with I Spit on Your Grave,” plus a collection of special features including a new location featurette hosted by writer Michael Gingold, new cast interviews and deleted scenes, an exclusive making-of featurette, rare and behind-the-scenes photos from the set, home movies, reversible cover art (“I Spit on Your Grave” only) and more.
In all the years reviewing movies for home entertainment, this is the first review I am doing of the movies themselves but also the Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Box Set itself. I have received many box sets over the years but this particular one is actually extremely well presented. The box set includes the aforementioned two movies, the 1978 cult classic “I Spit on Your Grave,” and its 2019 follow-up, “I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu.” Also included is a behind-the-scenes making-of documentary titled “Growing Up with I Spit on Your Grave,” where we have the opportunity to listen to the film’s creator and director, Meir Zarchi, on how he came up with the idea for the original, and we get to listen to select cast members recounting their time on the film, including its star, Camille Keaton.
Disc 1: “I Spit on Your Grave” (1978)
The movie that started it all. Released in 1978 under its original title, “Day of the Woman,” Meir Zarchi’s cult classic went on to spawn three remakes and a direct sequel, which he directed in 2019. The film had a very difficult time trying to secure distribution back in the late ’70s due to its graphic violence and explicit depiction of sodomy and rape against the movie’s protagonist, Camille Keaton. Film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert both called it one of the worst movies ever made with Ebert calling it “a vile bag of garbage…without a shred of artistic distinction. Attending it was one of the most depressing experiences of my life.” Most other critics shared those opinions while some called it a misunderstood feminist film.
In a nutshell, Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton), a young, attractive writer, lives in Manhattan and decides to spend the summer in an isolated cottage in Kent, Connecticut, right next to the Housatonic River where she plans on writing her first novel. When four local degenerates realize she is staying in the cottage alone, they brutally rape her, sodomize her, and beat her half to death. When they leave, they instruct one of the group, Matthew (Richard Pace), a mentally disabled man, to kill her so she won’t be able to identify them later on but he cannot do the deed. He tells them he killed her to get them off his back and they leave and get on with their lives. A few weeks later, Jennifer has physically recovered from her nightmare and slowly begins to formulate a plan. Over the next few days, she lures each man into a trap and then kills them, one by one.
Pretty straightforward but it is the shock element of the rape scenes that is disturbing. Camille Keaton, who plays Jennifer, spends most of the film in a daze, walking around naked. After being brutally raped in the woods, the men leave and she slowly makes her way back to her house, beaten, bloodied, and completely broken down but before she has time to call the police, the men attack her again and by the time they are finished with her, she is knocked unconscious and raped while she is out cold. I find it ironic that the rape scenes are shown in full detail while most of the violence towards the men later on, is mostly implied. I don’t want to say the movie is tame, but by today’s standards it feels somewhat dated, but that doesn’t take away from the helplessness Jennifer endures with four men forcing her against her will. This is basically a female “Death Wish,” with Ms. Keaton taking on the Paul Kersey role but the difference here is Paul Kersey didn’t go through the physical and mental torture Jennifer did.
“I Spit on Your Grave” falls into the “Exploitation” genre, although many also list it under the “Rape and Revenge” sub-genre, and as a result, it feels like it was made specifically for that purpose, to exploit a young woman and show her ordeal in horrendous, minute detail. Naturally, it was made by a man, as are most of these types of pictures and as I stated earlier, director Meir Zarchi has no problem showing Jennifer being brutally raped but when it comes to her exacting revenge on the men, most of the violence is suggested, with very little actually shown. This did not sit right with me. If Jennifer’s nightmare was visible for the whole world to see, her retaliation against the men should have been equally as palpable. The lack of professional actors and production quality takes away from the overall story but much like Tobe Hooper’s 1974 “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” which was shot on a meager $140,000 budget, “I Spit on Your Grave” feels very much like a snuff film, with the lack of skilled performances, in many ways, reinforcing the low-budget viewing experience, and for a lot of people back in the ’70s when it was first released, wondering if the events herein were actually real.
In the end, “I Spit on Your Grave” is nothing more than titillation, a male-dominated film that takes its pleasure by inflicting pain, mental suffering, and torment on an innocent woman. There is absolutely nothing redeemable here, even Jennifer’s retribution against the men feels forced. Based on what we see her subjected to, I doubt she would have had the ability to reconcile herself within a few weeks, let alone build up enough courage to sexually entice the men back to her house, one by one, so she could kill them. Her revenge was added as a means to an end, in order to move the story forward, and it never feels authentic. There is very little about the film that is convincing, and while the rape scenes are shocking, they amount to nothing more than just that: shock value. During this pandemic, there are different ways to spend your evenings, believe me, watching “I Spit on Your Grave” shouldn’t be one of them.
Disc 2: “I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu” (2018)
While there was a remake of “I Spit on Your Grave” in 2010, followed by two direct sequels, “I Spit on Your Grave 2” (2013), and “I Spit on Your Grave III: Vengeance is Mine” (2015), Meir Zarchi decided, over forty years later, to direct a follow-up to his original 1978 film, and the result is one of the worst movies ever committed to celluloid. While Roger Ebert placed that moniker on the original, I’m sure if he were still alive, he would agree with me that this title would take that crown from its predecessor. Even though the star of the original, Camille Keaton, returns in a supporting role, the film is a travesty in every sense of the word. I always try to find at least one redeemable aspect for every movie I critique and only Pedja Radenkovic’s cinematography is worth mentioning. There is no direction whatsoever, it’s as if Zarchi set up his camera, put his actors in front of it, and then yelled “Action!”, hoping they’d be able to read his mind for the smallest shred of guidance and motivation. His actors are all over the place and the performances are absolutely horrendous. Even the talented Maria Olsen, who appeared in “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief,” “Paranormal Activity 3,” “American Horror Story,” and Rob Zombie’s “Lords of Salem,” is totally devoid of any character development and spends most of her time nonsensically screaming and gleefully contemplating her antagonists’ murders. Even Camille Keaton, who at least brought some humanity to her character in the original film, is completely wasted in a role that amounts to nothing more than a glorified cameo. Why this film was even made is beyond me. Meir Zarchi has directed only three films in his career, the original “I Spit on Your Grave,” “Don’t Mess with My Sister!” in 1985, and this unwarranted sequel to the 1978 original, which premiered in 2019. It is a total carbon copy of the first film and makes no apologies for doing so.
Forty years after the events of “I Spit on Your Grave,” Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton) is a renowned author and has written a bestselling memoir based on her rape and is also a successful rape counselor. Her daughter Christy (Jamie Bernadette), is one of the world’s most famous models, and after the two have lunch together one day, both women are kidnapped by the relatives of the men Jennifer killed all those years ago. Becky, (Maria Olsen), the wife of the leader of the gang who raped Jennifer, is the boss of the kidnappers and intends to slowly kill Jennifer and her daughter. When Jennifer manages to escape, the gang beats up and rapes her daughter Christy but soon thereafter, she evades her attackers and then turns the tables on them, killing them similarly to the way her mother killed her assailants over forty years ago.
“I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu” has no artistic integrity whatsoever. The only element of the movie that is competent is the cinematography, but that is it. Meir Zarchi is not a good filmmaker and he is an even worse writer so I hope to God he never picks up another pen or stands behind a camera ever again. Everything about this movie is abominable. With a runtime of two and a half hours, most scenes are drawn-out, just for the sake of extending the run time. Characters talk to each other about nothing in particular, and some of these scenes go on for close to ten minutes. They don’t add story exposition or character development, they’re just a way for Zarchi to say he made a two and a half hour epic, which is nothing to brag about because I’ve seen 10-minute shorts with exemplary content and evolution that would put him, and this EPIC film, to shame.
Disc 3: “Growing Up with I Spit on Your Grave” (2019)
The third and final disc in this box set is a conventional behind-the-scenes documentary called “Growing Up with I Spit on Your Grave,” which was directed by Meir Zarchi’s son, Terry. It includes never-before-seen footage and exclusive interviews including deleted scenes, on-set photos, home movies, and more. Thankfully, the documentary is actually interesting and shows you a little about Meir’s life as a child living in Tel Aviv in Israel and how he made his first film as a teenager. Some of the anecdotes from him, as well as some of the stars of “I Spit on Your Grave,” are insightful and offer a more interesting time actually making the film as opposed to the finished result. Two interesting details from the documentary stand out. The first is how Zarchi came up with the idea for “I Spit on Your Grave.” He recounts living in New York and was taking his kids to a local park along with a friend of his when a bloody, battered woman emerged from the bushes. Both men covered her up and took her back to their car where she told them she had been raped by some men. After taking her to the police station, he says the apathetic and unemotional response from the police officer dealing with her case, was very unsettling and once she was taken away by the paramedics, he never saw her again.
He immediately began writing his script and based on the dispassionate reaction from the police, decided that instead of Jennifer, the movie’s protagonist, trying to contact the authorities after her rape, that she would take matters into her own hands, hence, her retaliation against the men. The other interesting story is that the woman who appears on the poster and artwork for the original “I Spit on Your Grave,” is not the film’s star, Camille Keaton, but none other than a young Demi Moore. She was just starting out in Hollywood in the early ’80s and her manager secured the job for her. In her memoir, ‘Inside Out,’ she confirmed that it was indeed her.
The box set comes in a large rectangular black box, with the Ronin Flix logo on the top, and inside, there is a newly commissioned 44-page booklet featuring exclusive historical photos and liner notes by horror writers Michael Gingold and Meagan Navarro, plus 2 fold-out mini-posters and 2 replica VHS box-style magnets – all laid to rest in a deluxe custom slipcase with original and newly commissioned artwork by Adam Stothard. Also included are a new 4K scan and restoration of Meir Zarchi’s 35mm original camera negative of “I Spit on Your Grave,” along with a newly restored original mono soundtrack, and the quality of the transfer is stunning. Some of the scenes looked like they could have been filmed yesterday, let alone 40 years ago. The packaging of the box set overall, and the quality of the new 4K scan, are definitely worth $69.99, with the initial print run limited to 5,000 copies. It’s just a pity the films don’t live up to the excellent quality of their exterior, visual presentation.
Now available to own on RoninFlix.com
