I Spit On Your Grave Remake Makes Waves

31st October 2010

I Spit On Your Grave, Meir Zarchi’s 1978 low budget horror, became one of the world’s most controversial horrors. 32 years on from the original, Steven R Monroe’s remake is stirring up controversy once more.

The 1978 film, originally entitled Day Of The Woman, was heavily censored in America, and banned in several other countries, due to it’s brutal depiction of rape, torture and violence.

Monroe’s remake not only remains faithful to the original, but manages to exceed it in quality.

Jennifer Hills, played by relative newcomer Sarah Butler, plays a beautiful young writer who rents a cabin in a Southern backwater.

Her presence attracts the attention of a group of locals, who, through a combination of lust, jealousy and damaged pride, subject her to an ordeal of torture, humiliation, violence and rape, ultimately leaving her for dead.

But Jennifer isn’t dead, and, after taking time to recover from her ordeal, she returns to exact her bloody revenge on her attackers.

Critics have applauded the new film, asserting that the issues it addresses, such as misogyny, society’s ‘blame the victim’ mentality, and the dehumanising effect of vengeance, are perhaps even more relevant today than they were in 1978.

Jennifer Hills strong lead performance, and an excellent supporting cast including Jeff Branson (All My Children), and Chad Lindberg (Push), help to elevate the movie above the recent glut of ‘torture porn’, and forces the audiences to feel genuine horror, and to ask important questions about how much society has really changed in the last 32 years.

Frozen To The Spot

To celebrate the release of Frozen on DVD this month, Londoners were offered the chance to experience being stuck in a chair lift for real. Passers by were treated to the sight of brave souls stuck in a chair lift high over the rooftops of central London. The participants were actually taking part in a competition to win a skiing holiday, and had to complete a number of tricky tasks in order to win. Frozen, which centres around three friends being stuck on a ski lift for real, was released on DVD on October 18th.

Bizarre Film Club Screening

Bizarre magazine are hosting a free screening of arthouse horror Amer, on 21st October. The screening will be held at The Horse Hospital, Colonnade, London, and tickets can be obtained on the Bizarre website.

Don’t worry if you can’t stand subtitles, the French/Belgian film is practically dialogue free, which adds to it’s surreal nature. Fans of David Lynch and 1970’s Italian Gialli cinema will love the eerie, cerebral feel of this movie, as it follows the female protagonist through her sinister childhood, to adolescent sexual awakening and to adulthood, where murder is always on the menu.

This visual feast of a movie, which echoes the style of Suspirio director Dario Argento, is a true sensory experience, which leaves the viewer in a dreamlike state that will continue long after the credits have rolled.

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