I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (2010) (a review)

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (2010) (a review)

This is a remake of the cult classic 1978 film of the same name. Hard to believe anyone would want to remake that movie, but these are strange times I guess.

The story? A woman off in a cabin by herself is raped again and again by locals, including the shariff, and left for dead. But she comes back and takes horrible revenge on her attackers.

Was it good?

Wow. Um, I'm not sure "good" should ever be used on a movie like this. The original is one of the most over-the-top brutal films I've ever seen. It doesn't ever hold back -- not in the prolonged and brutal rape sequence or in the horrible ways she takes her revenge one by one on her attackers.

This film is less brutal...but it's also less effective. Let's be honest, this story isn't about depth, it's about revenge. The movie (and the original) made both her attack and revenge at brutal as yet realistic as possible. Here, while the attack is still somewhat real, her revenge is very over-the-top with her body going missing and then leaving clues because she's become a mystery...oooohhh. It just makes the second half, which should the the "hell yeah" part, just seem silly. There are also elments in thsi version that push it toward a psychological thriller -- once her body isn't found after the rape (she falls off a bridge), the guys start getting notes that make them think she is still alive and they begin to turn on each other. Also, during the attack there are elemnts of psychologic torture as well as the physical. However, those don't make the movie better. They just make it less primal. And ultimately that's the problem with the film -- for the brutal nature of the movie, it actually holds back. for it to be effective it would have to be willing to push beyond what people have seen before, not pull back into "psychological thriller" territory.

One other odd note -- one of the attackers in the film is Daniel Franzese, who played Damian in MEAN GIRLS ("too gay to function"). It's definitely weird once you recognize him here.

I wouldn't say either version is good, but the original is definitely more effective and more disturbing.

***AVOID ***