 GROWING UP WITH I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (2019) Dir. Terry Zarchi, 102 mins It’s not all that often we get to look at a documentary here at Film Gutter, but this one feels mightily relevant in delving into the myths and truths behind one of the most notorious extreme horror films of all time. I Spit On Your Grave in and of itself barely needs an introduction – in fact, some time back we did a full month on the topic, taking in reviews of the original, the remake trilogy and the unofficial sequel, Savage Vengeance (or as its title card read, Savage Vengance). And this documentary, made by the son of the original director Meir Zarchi, sets out to explore the origins, fan reactions, critical response and indeed moral panic surrounding ISOYG. Documentaries sometimes don’t make for the easiest things to review, and for today I’m going to zoom in on two elements – the actual look and feel of the thing, as well as the information and background that it provided. From the get-go this movie doesn’t look all that great – it’s obviously filmed fairly cheap, and some of the digital stuff does look pretty poor. The interviews in and of themselves all look fine, though maybe there could be a bit more visual interest created with more camera angles and the like. However, I don’t want to be too hard on that element because it’s obviously a real passion project by Terry Zarchi, who produced and directed, and it feels to me like he really does want to explore this topic almost as a sort of catharsis, of dealing with the many contrary emotions that this movie must have brought about. Most of the junior Zarchi’s work has been in casting, with this being only a third time behind the camera – and those movies spread pretty wide apart – so there’s a definite sense this meant something to him personally, which I have to applaud. In terms of offering fresh insight into the movie and its history, I feel like it does a decent if not spectacular job there – some of this I was familiar with, although I’m not a novice or a newbie where it comes to these movies. There were some interesting insights here though – for example, one of the actors deciding never to act again after this experience, and Camille Keaton – naturally one of the main interviewees here – offers plenty of fascinating on-set stories, as well as some of her experiences beyond the movie as the star of this film. Parts of the movie looking at the distribution and the controversy surrounding it – including Siskel and Ebert’s brutal reviews and efforts to get the movie pulled – were familiar to me but ultimately had to be covered in the interest of fullness. I was pretty stunned to learn that the model on the well-known poster for the movie was in fact a young Demi Moore – not world-shaking, but an intriguing nugget nonetheless. Overall, this is a solid effort as a study of one of the most infamous movies ever released, for all that a higher budget might have helped. It could also have done with a slight trim, feeling a bit overlong at nearly an hour and three-quarters. All the main players in the movie are here barring a handful who didn’t want to take part, and it certainly adds relevant context and flavour to a viewing of the film – it’d be interesting to watch the original back with all these splashes of extra info in mind. Honestly, I’d like to see more extreme horror movies given this sort of treatment – we have A Serbian Documentary on the way, as well as Revisiting Melancholie Der Engel out there yet to review as well. Maybe these offerings can usher in more critical and analytical looks at some of those films that have stirred so much controversy and emotional reaction over the years. RATING: 7/10. This was a good, even-handed look at a movie with a long and confused history, one that fell at several hurdles before finding any sort of audience at all and has been the subject of intense debate and discussion ever since. If you’re already a fan of ISOYG this will probably present plenty for you, and even those of you with only a passing knowledge of it might even find it an interesting watch. It’s worth your time if maybe it could have been cut a bit shorter. TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE BOOK REVIEW: FROM THE DEPTHS, AN ANTHOLOGY OF TERROR EDITED BY LYDIA PRIME THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR MOVIE REVIEWS |
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