— by JESSIKA OWENS —
Self preservation is the strongest human instinct, and revenge is the strongest motive. When author Jennifer Hills (played by Sarah Butler), retreats to a cabin to work on a book, she attracts some local town folk who are depraved and out for blood. Jennifer is attacked and humiliated in a night-long event. Unfortunately for her attackers, they don’t manage to kill her but she is soon forgotten. Jennifer survives, and is on a hellbent revenge path from hell. I can’t help but think of “The Brave One” when thinking about a woman’s revenge, but then I remind myself, this is a horror film.
“I Spit On Your Grave” is a remake of an infamous cult classic film from 1979, which was originally titled “Day Of The Woman” but received a title change for a re-release in 1980 and it became “I Spit On Your Grave.” The original has since been given the nickname “Spit ’80.” Having seen the original recently, I will say it’s almost impossible for this remake NOT to be toned down. “Spit ’80” was grim, gritty, violent, everything a grindhouse film fanatic expects. From viewing the trailer for the 2010 version, it’s pretty obvious that this film is aiming to please the teenage and young adult masses, so my guess is, while there will still be a lot of blood and guts, a lot of the torturous elements will be spoken of and described and not so much as seen, much like the scene in “Saw” where Dr. Gordon saws off his foot. If you look at the scene, they only show the saw touching the foot for a couple seconds with some blood, the rest of the scene focuses on the other character’s reaction and the pain in Dr. Gordon’s face. I expect a lot of this from a remake of this nature.
The taglines and one liners in this trailer seem a bit corny to me. This woman was tortured and left for dead — witty lines are not on her priority list. Granted the 1979 version had its corny dialogue in place, but with a remake, aren’t you supposed to want to build off the original to make an improved vision? I definitely plan on seeing this film, but I certainly don’t plan on it being carnage candy day at the theater. Not to say that it’s going to be awful, it might surprise with its direction and cinematography, but my inkling is that once you see the remake, you’re going to have an insatiable urge to race out and watch the original, it’s not a cult classic for no reason.
Not for the family or faint of heart, but I think spitting on graves is pretty immoral and thus the title clues you in on what it is you’re in for, might make you drudge up a buried hatchet of your own.
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Follow Jessika Owens on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessika.
Pretty nice post.