1. I Spit On Your Grave (1978)
As Day Of The Woman, Meir Zarchis film played a few Drive-ins in 1978 but did little business until distributor Jerry Gross retitled the picture and gave it a wider release. It was this version that attracted the ire of Roger Ebert, who called it a vile bag of garbage and claimed the narrative was nothing more than a series of attacks. Ebert has a point: Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton) is raped not once but 3 times over the course of 25 minutes, and when she decides to take revenge on her attackers, the retribution is too pat to be credible. Were asked to believe, for instance, that Jennifer who the men believed dead could still be able to seduce each attacker before killing him. It is a movie so sick, reprehensible and contemptible, Ebert concluded, that I cannot believe it is playing in respectable theaters. Nevertheless, the film proved successful and remains one of the best-known rape-revenge movies, even spawning a 2010 remake.
Ian Watson
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
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