7) I Spit On Your Grave 2
I Spit On Your Grave 2 is some of the most vile, repugnant, reprehensible horror filmmaking I’ve ever seen – and not in a good way. The original film, the one made in the 1970s, pushed boundaries by making females the dominant sex in the horror genre, something that could be utilized for shock-value entertainment at the time. Fast forward to the recent remake, and you’ve still got a horror film about one woman’s disgustingly repulsive night of being raped, and the vengeance she seeks. Fast forward again to this year’s sequel to the said remake, and you’ve got a film that not only displays just how much of a one-hit wonder the original I Spit On Your Grave is, but how sadistic it is to utilize such a horrifying scenario to repeated “torture porn” fame. A film franchise can’t be built on rape and hedonism. It just can’t be.
I Spit On Your Grave 2 is far too much of our main character’s kidnapping and sexual assault, and far too much emotionless revenge. At this point, creator Steven R. Monroe has thrown away everything that made Meir Zarchi’s original such a cult hit. This time around, we’re given a character savagely broken down with little connection, and then a destructive path of Kill Bill style retribution with equally abysmal build-up. Monroe simply wants to create the most gut-wrenching, vomit-inducing kill sequences possible, like a low-rate Saw franchise rip-off. The problem is, he’s doing so utilizing something as absolutely horrendous as rape, and we’re forced to sit through every excruciating, draw-out second. Gross, disgusting, and inconceivably insensitive – and this is coming from someone who sat through 90 horror movies this year.
I can’t express how sad I am that these movies are spawning a franchise, and I seriously hope the buck stops right here. If there’s another I Spit On Your Grave coming in the near future, you better believe I won’t be happy about reviewing it.