The Movie
I remember working at a video store in the 1980s and there were a couple of "controversial" VHS tapes that we had to think twice about displaying with all of the mainstream movies. One was Faces of Death (coming when to Blu-ray?), the other was I Spit on Your Grave (originally released as Day of the Woman), which I finally got around to borrowing.
It's an exploitation film running purplish-red with fake blood, and teased by a poster and tag line that promise perverse thrills. Jenny, a big city gal taking a summer rental in the country, gets more than she bargained for when a bunch of restless locals take a fancy to her, brutally raping her. They mistakenly believe her dead, and she gets on with her life, still in the cabin where she was attacked, and without ever contacting the police. But when the boys come sniffing around again, she hardens her heart and blatantly plies her womanly wiles, using the rapists' wild male egos against them as she sets upon a violent path of revenge.
Made-for-TV movies about rape were fairly common in this era, but they were all dramas and none with the frank depiction of the act as we see here, which is likely why it was reportedly banned from exhibition. And I hate to say it, but the film's box office failure in certain markets could be blamed on the then-radical theme of a woman alone exacting her own deadly justice. I'm glad we now live in a world where women can kill with impunity.
The Picture
The beauty of shooting even a low-budget movie on 35mm film (here with Eastmancolor) is the ability to pull out all sorts of impressive nuance years later. Despite evidence of negative dirt (white speckles) in the 1.78:1 master, natural detail in the rustic location scenery is good, and Jenny's red dress or red-topped boat really pops against the green forest. Tones are pleasantly warm, the grain modest except in some more problematic dark scenes, wherein blacks can also go from dull to downright mushy.
The Sound
Much of the film appears to feature re-recorded or pre-recorded audio, sometimes noticeable for the poor-quality matchups, either in the synch or the artificiality of the choices. Some voices have been rechanneled in this new Dolby TrueHD 5.1 presentation, which includes birds chirping and cicadas making a joyful noise in the rears, while the engine of a circling motorboat pans all around the room, even during the end credits. Other than that, neither the remix nor the enhanced resolution are especially noteworthy, and bass is minimal.
The Extras
Anchor Bay is generous with the audio commentaries, each with a distinct flavor: writer/director/producer/editor Meir Zarchi brings his serious, heavily-accented, first-hand account of the film's creation, while author/historian Joe Bob Briggs shifts between movie trivia and good-hearted mockery. One such bit of trivia is the alternate title sequence (Day of the Woman), included here in a 16-second HD clip to preserve the original name for posterity.
"The Value of Vengeance: Meir Zarchi Remembers I Spit on Your Grave" (29 minutes, standard def) combines an on-camera interview with frequent film clips, weaving tales of the compromises made and the long history of the project.
Final Thoughts
Still an interesting time capsule of late-'70s exploitation cinema, I Spit on Your Grave arrives more or less intact on this respectable (you know what I mean) Blu-ray edition.
Product Details
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