There’s a lot to be said about horror’s insatiable urge to never let a good IP to go to waste, although the rebooted I Spit on Your Grave saga does at least signpost its intentions based on the title alone.
The 1978 original was one of the most controversial of its time, subjected to protests, bans, and boycotts due to its graphic depiction of physical and sexual abuse. Not the sort of thing demanding to be reinvented for modern audiences, then, but somehow they’ve churned out another four of them.
Upping the ante, the first three follow Sarah Butler’s Jennifer Hills, traumatized by an assault she’d been subjected to years previously. Each subsequent chapter gets grimmer, darker, more savage, and outright stomach-churning at points, so it would be stating the obvious to say the ongoing series is one for die-hard gorehounds only.
In I Spit on Your Grave III: Vengeance is Mine, the protagonist has changed her identity and city of residence, and has even joined a support group to temporarily stave off her bloodlust. Of course, this doesn’t last for very long when her friend’s murderer is set free and determined to pick up where he left off, leading to Jennifer making it her mission to ensure they pay for their crimes in the most horrific fashion imaginable. Again.
Not for the faint of heart, Vengeance is Mine has clearly appealed to streaming subscribers made of stern stuff, though, seeing as FlixPatrol has named it as one of the most-watched movies on Starz. Difficult to watch from a storyline and violence perspective, hard to stomach for the fact it’s not very good, I Spit on Your Grave III does at least carry on the mantle left behind by its predecessors by virtue of being unrepentantly grisly.
Published: Aug 7, 2023 11:46 am