20 Horror Movies That Were Way Too Cruel
3. I Spit On Your Grave
I Spit on Your Grave, a 1970s r*pe-revenge horror, is without question one of the most notorious films of the video nasty era, for good reason. It centres around a writer named Jennifer (Camille Keaton), who is assaulted by a group of men, and she then proceeds to wreak a gruesome revenge on all four of them.
Some video-nasties, such as The Evil Dead and the criminally underrated The Burning, are genuinely awesome movies that really deserve to be seen. I Spit on Your Grave, on the other hand? This is sickening garbage. As well as being a weak film on a technical level, it's a load of sleazy, sexualized, and exploitative violence that'll churn your stomach and might even leave you feeling slightly ill.
Writer-director Meir Zarchi allegedly made this in order to raise awareness about sexual violence, an admirable aim undermined by the completely gratuitous scenes of assault, which literally go on for 30 minutes. Factor in the other problematic elements, such as the retrograde demonisation of working-class American men and an uncomfortable depiction of one of the attackers, who has learning difficulties, and you've got one of the ugliest horror movies of them all.
A more positive counter-example is, funnily enough, the 2010 remake. While no great film in itself, that one is made with more artistry, doesn't show as much and doesn't sexualize its suffering protagonist, so that avoids feeling overly cruel, if only just.