DVD Reviews

I Spit on your Grave - Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Feb 8, 2011, 16:43 GMT

UNFORGIVING. UNCOMPROMISING. UNMERCIFUL. UNRATED. The original version was reviled, condemned, and banned around the world for its on-screen depictions of depravity and violence. Now experience the acclaimed remake that dares to go even further: Jennifer Hills (a fearless performance by Sarah Butler) is a big-city novelist who rents an isolated country cabin to write her new book. But when she is brutally raped by a group of sadistic rednecks, Jennifer has ...more

The 1978 controversial film gets a modern day redo.  It has some improvements to the storyline, but still covers the same horrific ground.  It also seems to draw some influence from more modern torture porn films, but it’s not like the villains don’t deserve what they receive. 

Jennifer Hills (Sarah Butler) travels from the big city to an isolated cabin in the country.  She’s going to work on her novel in the secluded location.  She asks for directions from gas station manager Johnny (Jeff Branson) and his ham-fisted attempts at flirting don’t go over well. 

He’s laughed at by station regulars Stanley (Daniel Franzese), who videotapes everything, and Andy (Rodney Eastman).  When she finds the cabin, she has to call Earl (Tracey Walter) who she rented the cabin from when the toilet clogs up.  He sends the slow Matthew (Chad Lindberg), who is a bit slow, to fix the clog.  She’s so excited that he’s fixed it that she gives him a kiss. 

Matthew is embarrassed and runs out of the cabin.  Matthew is friends with the trio from the gas station and they begin to stalk Jennifer.  They decide that Jennifer will be Matthew’s first sexual encounter, but not before they have their way with her. 

They come to the cabin one night and threaten her.  She finally escapes and finds Sheriff Strotch (Andrew Howard), but when he returns to the scene of the crime he’s more interested in dissecting her story than tracking down her assailants. 

Eventually, the villains return and violently abuse Jennifer, leaving her for dead.  However, a month goes by and she returns after biding her time to get her revenge. 

There was a time when if you admitted that I Spit on Your Grave was in your video collection that you’d get funny looks.  In the age of Saw and its numerous sequels, that controversy has subsided. 

Maybe the filmmakers thought the time was right for a remake of the 1978 shocker.  They do some things right, but the results are still difficult to watch.  This new version certainly has better production values and the acting is also more professional. 

The rape sequence is still difficult to watch, although the original might still have more shock to it with its moments of thinking the heroine is safe only to have her assaulted again.  There is still a twist to this scene that I think the remake uses to better advantage.  [Possible spoiler] It gives a reason as to why the authorities were not contacted and actually is an update that improves on the original [/spoiler]. 

I did have a bit of a problem that our heroine disappears from the screen for a certain amount of time and we don’t see how she survived her escape.  In some ways that implies a possible supernatural turn.  It’s just an implication, even though one character has a vision of a ghostly vengeful Jennifer. 

Perhaps the original makes a bit more sense in that department.  There’s also the last half of the film where Jennifer turns into Jigsaw with her orchestrated revenge by setting up traps and elaborate death producing set pieces.  It makes her revenge much more grisly than anything that happened in the original. 

It does keep the bit that will make the male population shiver, but adds an equine twist that turns up the gore content.  Every murder actually turns up the gore content in comparison to the original. 

I Spit in your Grave is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.35:1).  Special features are in high definition unless noted.  They include a commentary from director Steven R. Monroe and producer Lisa Hansen, the 16 minute (SD) “Revenge of Jennifer Hill” making of, 11 minutes of deleted scenes, 4 minutes of trailers, and a 19 second radio spot.  Disc two is a digital copy. 

Both the original and the remake can be a very disturbing experience.  I’d think that if anyone came out of either unmoved in some fashion, whether that be admiration that revenge is undertook or disgusted by the graphic rape, then you might want to check for a pulse.  This remake is a slicker and perhaps sicker imagining. 

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