5. I Spit On Your Grave (1987)
I Spit on Your Grave Follows Jennifer, a writer, as she moves to upstate New York - presumably to pen The Great American Novel. However, she has the misfortune to run into a pack of local yokels who make it clear they want a piece of ass. When she is in the forest, they hunt her down and rape and sodomise her in brutal scenes which are almost unwatchable. Barely escaping with her life, Jennifer has a tough and harrowing time coming to terms with her ordeal, but she becomes resolute in her desire for vengeance against the men and visits a church to ask forgiveness for what she is about to do. She lures each man to their death - hanging, castration and being mown into by boat are the flavour of the day. An unbelievably violent film which is still banned in the Republic of Ireland to this day, I Spit On Your Grave has undergone in recent years a critical re-evaluation with many film critics praising it for its ahead of its time feminism. Carol Clover, in her book Men, Women and Chainsaws, believed that the film is thoroughly on Jennifer's side and men watching the film are forced to identify with her rather than the male characters. Whatever the answer about the film's feminist stance, the film is hard for both sexes to watch. So hard to watch, it is no surprise that it ended up on the DPP's list of 39 prosecuted films. Controversial because: it has protracted and vicious rape and sodomy scenes, castration scene.