I Spit On Your Grave
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I Spit On Your Grave (also known as Day of the Woman) is one of the few movies directed by Meir Zarchi. The movie was controversial enough to earn an X rating upon its original release in 1978, and earned Zarchi a reputation without him having to make a second film.
Marketed as a mainstream film, it is one of the more gruesome in the shock exploitation film genre.
Controversy and criticisms
When the movie was released, it was under the title Day of the Woman, but the subsequent revivals as a cult classic saw the title changed to I Spit On Your Grave. This was the title that was used when the movie was censored and released under an R rating in the United States in 1981. Many countries, such as Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Iceland, and the former government of West Germany, banned the film altogether, citing that the film glorifies violence against women. Canada had banned the movie for a long time; in the 1990s, the individual provinces were allowed to decide whether or not they'd allow a video release. Since 1998, many provinces (such as Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Quebec) have released the film, albeit with a high rating. In the United Kingdom the film was branded a "video nasty", and appeared on the Director of Public Prosecutions's list of prosecutable movies.
Plot
New York magazine writer Jennifer Hills (played by Camille Keaton, granddaughter of Buster Keaton) is in the process of writing a book, and decides that the only way she can finish it is to go to a log cabin in the country, where she will not be disturbed.
Three local yokels are disturbed by how independent Jennifer is. Late at night, they hatch a plan to abduct her so their friend Matthew, who is mildly retarded, can lose his virginity. The next day, they do so, but Matthew tells the group that he can't do it. Jennifer is then raped three times by the men (twice in the woods, and once more after she crawled home). While she is being tortured, the other men ridicule her book and rip up the manuscript. As she passes out, the yokels order Matthew to stab her in the heart, and then leave. Matthew cannot bring himself to do this, and dabs the knife lightly in blood so it looks as if he killed her.
In the following days, she is shown to be very traumatized by the gang-rape. Slowly, she is brought out of herself and pieces her manuscript together again. It becomes evident that she is intent on revenge, and she vows to kill the men who raped her.
First, she lures Matthew back to her cabin and has him make love to her under a tree. As he becomes oblivious to the surroundings around him, she strings a noose around his neck and hangs him. She then cuts the rope and drops the body in the lake.
She then picks up one of the men at the gas station where they all work. She stops halfway to her house and turns a gun on him. She orders him to take off all his clothes lest she shoot him on sight, but he "persuades" her to give him the gun so they can have sex. Back at her cabin, she masturbates him in her bathtub. As he nears orgasm, she picks up a knife she has hidden under a bathmat and severs his penis. Calmly, she leaves the room and locks him in from the outside. He dies due to blood loss and she disposes of him in her basement. She burns his blood-stained clothes in her fireplace.
The two remaining men realize that Jennifer killed the others and depart in a motorized boat, headed for Jennifer's cabin, with an ax in hand. As they attack her, she escapes with the boat and the ax. The two men swim after her, so she turns around and throws the ax into one man's back. The other man swims up, grabs hold of the motor, and asks Jennifer not to kill him. She revs the motor and takes off, disemboweling him. As she speeds away, the credits roll.