Weird Dave Review: I Spit On Your Grave

A friend from work, one Ryan Wooley, shares similar tastes in movies as I do. We chit chat about movies every now and then, and recently we've been talking about cult movie fanatic Joe Bob Briggs. He hosted a show on TNT called MonsterVision that I recall seeing and enjoying, though I have little actual memories of what he said. Just impressions. So conversation turned towards what Joe Bob had done lately, and the only thing Ryan could think of was some commentaries - specifically one for I Spit on Your Grave. It just so happened that Ryan owned a copy, so he "graciously" let me borrow a copy. I popped it in one Tuesday evening and here's my review.

Format: TV Room

Screening Date: 10/12/2010

Run Time: 1 hr 40 min

Director: Meir Zarchi

Release Date: 1978

Attendance: Weird Dave, Griffie (partly), Joe Bob Briggs (commentary)

Review At A Glance

Enjoyment 4/10

Presentation 7/10

If you're not familiar with this movie, I Spit on Your Grave (originally billed as Day of the Woman) is a rape-revenge story. That ... pretty much sums it up. I think it holds the record for longest continuous rape scene in cinematic history, with it clocking in around 25 minutes or so. That 25 minutes was long, brutal, and difficult to watch.

Or at least it would have been had I been watching it without commentary by famed cult movie personality, Joe Bob Briggs. Now, normally I'm not one to watch movies with commentary tracks (or at least not normal ones - RiffTrax is the big exception!). But watching I Spit on Your Grave with Joe Bob Briggs commentary was like watching the movie with Joe Bob in the room. He had a very natural way of speaking, and actually watched the movie and commented on things as they happened. He posited questions and provided some interesting information, and I learned he knows WAY too much about the rape-revenge genre of movies.

I'll be honest I don't feel very qualified to really rate or even comment on the movie itself. It's brutal ... and that's about all I can say. It's very realistic, which means it's pretty hard to watch in terms of content - but in terms of quality it is well done and easy to follow. Joe Bob definitely made this movie worth watching, and I really feel that commentary tracks done by people who were NOT involved in the making of the movie in question tend to provide the best experience.

Should you see this movie? Hard to say. Should you watch Cannibal Holocaust? I put these two movies in the same category (the difference in my own experience being I didn't have Joe Bob Briggs around to help watch Cannibal Holocaust) - they're both well done movies about an abhorrent subject matter. Doesn't mean they shouldn't get made, but I don't think they're for everyone. Or even most people.

Should you watch this movie with Joe Bob Briggs commentary? I would recommend that. He's clearly a fan of the drive-in movie style of film and knows a good deal about it, so he's interesting without being overwhelming and informative without being boring. He even straddles the line between riffing the movie and admiring it. While clearly a fan of movies in general Joe Bob was critical of a few scenes in I Spit on Your Grave that I would have to agree with (a few scenes dragged on much too long).

I Spit on Your Grave. A rape-revenge movie. Pretty much sums it up.