Review of I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by Filipeneto — 10 Oct 2020

This film is the remake of an older film from the Seventies, which fell into relative forgetfulness due to it's brutality, very graphic and raw. The new film is very faithful to it's predecessor and tells, in essence, the same story.

In the film, young writer Jennifer leaves the city and goes to the countryside, where her beauty stands out and attracts the unwanted attention of a group of men who come together to arrest and sexually abuse her. Repeatedly raped, humiliated, beaten and wounded in her body and in her self-love, she is left to die by the group, which also belongs to the local sheriff, one of the most brutal rapists. Attempts to cover up the crime are evident, but nothing works: she survives and comes back to avenge herself, killing them all in a revenge that only a wounded woman would be able to do.

The film is quite tough and violent, but the degree of rawness and brutality is much lower than it's predecessor of the Seventies. The older film was much more difficult to see, has a greater and more shocking degree of violence and its cast spends a considerable part of the film undressed, which is why I considered this film highly inadvisable for adults who are more impressionable (of course, it's an unthinkable film for young people or children). More than rape, what shocks and disturbs us in this film is the way men who are perfectly inserted in that social environment and even has some prestigious positions - the sheriff's example - manage to be capable of those atrocities and have such awareness of their own impunity. Another thing that strikes us is the way she kills them, with refinements of cynicism and some pleasure, as we see in horror slasher films. The cast consists of a series of illustrious strangers. Still, I liked the work of Sarah Butler and Andrew Howard, both of whom are very committed to their characters.

Technically, it is a film that does not stand out nor has much to present. Not having a high budget, it used what it had. There is a lot of blood, and the makeup work has been done quite well. The film uses a reduced and discreet soundtrack, which lets the plot itself to shine. Cinematography does not stand out, either the sets and costumes.