I Spit on Your Grave (2010 film)

Novelist Jennifer Hills travels from New York City to Louisiana to work on her next book in privacy. When she becomes lost while searching for the cabin she has rented, she stops for gas and to ask for directions. The attendant, Johnny, gives her meandering written directions and embarrasses himself trying to flirt with her. Around the cabin, Jennifer spends the following days writing, tanning, hiking, smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. When the cabin's plumbing becomes clogged, it is fixed by Matthew, a stuttering plumber who has social interaction disability. She rewards him with an abrupt kiss of gratitude. Matthew then tells Johnny and his friends Andy and Stanley about his visit. Johnny, whose ego was bruised after the gas station incident, decides that Jennifer is snobbish and needs to be "taught a lesson".

That night, the four men sneak into Jennifer's cabin and taunt and assault her, although Matthew refuses to participate out of sympathy for Jennifer. She escapes into the woods and bumps into Sheriff Storch and Earl, the owner of the cabin she is renting. Storch takes Jennifer back to the cabin, but when he finds her drugs and alcohol, Johnny, Matthew, Andy, and Stanley return; all five of the men gang rape her, including the reluctant Matthew. Stanley records everything with his video camera. Afterward, just as Storch is about to shoot her, Jennifer falls into the river and escapes. When they fail to find her, Storch tells the others to destroy any evidence of their crimes, including Stanley's videotape.

Jennifer begins to stalk her rapists in order to learn details of their lives. Stanley tells Andy and Johnny that his camera has been stolen—along with the videotape of their assault on Jennifer, which had never been destroyed. Later that night, Johnny hears noises outside his house and finds evidence that suggests Matthew had been hiding in the yard. Storch intercepts a videotape sent to his wife and confronts Stanley, Andy, and Johnny to find out who sent it. Johnny and Andy suspect Matthew, but they do not know where he is. Afterward, when they go hunting, Storch kills Earl with his shotgun, saying that he is taking care of "loose ends".

Matthew returns to the cabin where he finds Jennifer. He attempts to apologize to her, but she tells him that it's not enough and strangles him. She next captures Stanley in a bear trap, ties him to a tree, smears fish guts on his face and then leaves his camera to record crows pecking out his eyes, which she pinned open with fish hooks. Jennifer then drowns Andy and burns his face off in a lye bathtub. Next, she ties Johnny to the rafters of an abandoned house and uses pliers to pull out his teeth and a pair of garden shears to emasculate him, leaving him to bleed to death. While torturing them, Jennifer repeats to all of the men the taunts they had used against her earlier.

After killing Johnny, Jennifer visits Storch's family, posing as their daughter's new teacher. She takes the daughter to the park and, when Storch tracks her there, Jennifer knocks him unconscious. When he wakes up, Jennifer stuffs his shotgun into his anus and reminds him that she was just as innocent as his own daughter. She attaches one end of a string to the trigger and the other end to the wrist of the unconscious Matthew, who is seated in front of Storch. When Matthew wakes up, his movements trigger the shotgun, which fires a round that tears through Storch's anus and mouth before hitting Matthew in the chest, leaving both men dead. Sitting outside, Jennifer hears the gunshot and sits quietly listening to the birds while they sing.

• Sarah Butler[7] as Jennifer Hills, a writer
• Jeff Branson[8] as Johnny
• Daniel Franzese[9] as Stanley
• Rodney Eastman[10] as Andy
• Chad Lindberg as Matthew, the plumber with social disorders
• Tracey Walter[11] as Earl, a local landowner whom Jennifer rents a cabin from.
• Andrew Howard[12] as Storch, the local sheriff
• Mollie Milligan[13] as Mrs. Storch, the sheriff's wife
• Saxon Sharbino[14] as Chastity, the sheriff's daughter
• Amber Dawn Landrum[15] as Girl at Gas Station

Principal photography began on November 2, 2009, under Steven R. Monroe's direction.[16] The film was distributed by CineTel, and produced by the company's president and CEO Paul Hertzberg.[17] Lisa Hansen, Jeff Klein, Alan Ostroff, Gary Needle, and Meir Zarchi (director of the original) served as executive producers.[18] Location filming took place in Louisiana.[19] The film was written by Stuart Morse, based on Zarchi's screenplay.

CineTel Films handled the 2010 worldwide theatrical release.[20] The film was part of the Texas Frightmare Weekend on May 1, 2010 in the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Irving, Texas,[21] and part of the Film4 Frightfest on August 29, 2010.[22] The Canadian unrated version premiered[23] at the Fantasia Festival on July 20, 2010.[24] The complete cast and Meir Zarchi, director of the original, were present.[25] An unrated version opened theatrically in limited release on October 8, 2010, in the United States. Coincidentally, another unrated horror film, Hatchet II, opened a week beforehand.[2][26]

Critical reaction to the film has been generally negative, with a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 61 reviews with the consensus simply labeling it as a "Well shot exploitation that has less purpose and utility than in 1978"..[29] On Metacritic the film was assigned a rating of 27, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."[30]

Roger Ebert gave the film a zero star rating, as he did the original, and described it as the "despicable remake of the despicable 1978 film." He stated that it added "a phony sense of moral equivalency... If I rape you, I have committed a crime. If you kill me, you have committed another one. The ideal outcome would be two people unharmed in the first place." While he allowed that the movie was made "professionally," as opposed to the original version that was devoid of skill and artistry, he considered this largely in the service of the truly offensive material, the rape scenes. He summarized, "this [version] is more offensive, because it lingers lovingly and at greater length on realistic verbal, psychological and physical violence against the woman, and then reduces her 'revenge' to cartoonish horror-flick impossibilities."[31][32]

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "In addition to all the obvious things that are disgusting about this movie, I Spit on Your Grave is trying to get us to hate each other. Hate it instead. It makes more sense and the hatred is much more deserved."[33] Critic Andrew O'Hehir also denounced the notion that the film has a message, writing that it "just piles imaginary atrocities on top of real ones, and then halfheartedly claims that it means something. Well, it doesn't."[34]

Some support for the film in mainstream press came from The New York Times, whose reviewer wrote, "Female-empowerment fantasy or just plain prurience, Grave is extremely efficient grindhouse."[35] V.A. Musetto, from the New York Post, also offered some support for the film, stating, "If you can handle it, see it."[36]

Like the original, the film did find cult support. Fangoria magazine wrote that I Spit on Your Grave "...is just as raw and upsetting in its onscreen brutality as the original. Perhaps more so, since the acting is significantly better this time around."[37]

A sequel, I Spit on Your Grave 2, directed by Steven R. Monroe, was produced, and had a limited theatrical release on September 20, 2013. The film's plot concerns a young aspiring model named Katie (Jemma Dallender) who accepts an offer to have photos taken for her modeling portfolio. The events turn into a nightmare of torture, rape, and kidnapping, with a revenge plot similar to the first film.

In March 2015, Anchor Bay Entertainment announced the third installment in the series, titled I Spit on Your Grave III: Vengeance Is Mine.[38] Sarah Butler returned to her role as Jennifer Hills, and R.D. Braunstein directed the film.[39]

• I Spit on Your Grave at IMDb
• I Spit on Your Grave at AllMovie
• I Spit on Your Grave at Box Office Mojo
• I Spit on Your Grave at Rotten Tomatoes