There are a few things in the horror world that consistently work, even though they have been seen before. One of those things is an old-school gas pump. There is just something about those numbers circling around that lets the audience know that the character is in a bad zone. The other, sure-fire, cringe and gasp, creepy, hard to watch tactic is the pulling of teeth on film. My first experience with such a scene was in “The Tommyknockers.” Another fantastic example of this was in “Bug.” Totally effective. This gross-out style is the No. 1 reason I have been looking forward to seeing the remake of “I Spit On Your Grave” for at least six months.
A bloodbath of revenge and torture is what we are in for with this movie. From the clips that have surfaced, we can really get a feel for the style and orchestration of the plot. From that eerie shot of a very old gas pump, to the anticipation of the main character, Jennifer (Sarah Butler), pulling out the teeth of one of the men who tortured her, beat her up, raped her, and left her for dead, I’m anxious to see how this measures up to the original. I expect the violence and rape scenes to be toned down, but I really hope it’s not toned down too much. Not I’m not depraved or anything, but the way I see it, we need to see it as an audience, so that we can get angry as hell at the bad guys, thus making Jennifer’s revenger all the more sweet.
The clip in which Jennifer states that her boyfriend is on her way made me chuckle, as it was very reminiscent of the scene in “Scream” where Casey (Drew Barrymore) is trying to convince Ghostface that her boyfriend is on his way to beat him up. Classic moment in cinematic history, although in the case of “Scream” it was so iconic because the characters were part of a prolific satire, one in which they knew they were in a scary movie. I only hope that “I Spit On Your Grave” can bring that kind of intuitive nature to the screen and really make us connect with the Jennifer, because if we don’t connect with Jennifer, then her plot to bring the sickos who brutalized and humiliated her to justice will not impact our emotional connection nor will we be inclined to care what happens in the end. And what good would an exploit film be without a killer ending? No pun intended.
“I Spit On Your Grave” is scheduled to be released in limited markets Oct. 8.
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Ways to know your in trouble: a hot girl whose next paragraph contains the words lost, cabin, alone, and plenty of other troubling words. This looks like it could be a cool thriller and I will see it when it comes out!
LOL Right Adam! But that’s the thing, people didn’t know they were in a scary movie until Scream! but then the problem became how the heck do they get OUT of said movie! hence Scream 4…