I Spit on Your Grave III: Vengeance is Mine, Directed by R.D. Braunstein
It is an odd occurrence in the horror world when a movie gets rebooted, then has sequels when the original film didn’t. Unless you count the unofficial sequel Savage Weekend, which I really don’t. It was 2010 and I was walking through my local Family Video and saw a remake of I Spit on Your Grave, a remake of the 1978 exploitation film. A film that includes a 35-minute rape scene, yes I timed it, since it was so ridiculously excessive. My first thought was of course “why?” Did this movie really need a remake? Did House on Sorrority Row need a remake? Did Prom Night? Did Black Christmas? No, none of those did, but hey we got them, and they sucked. Also A Nightmare on Elm Street got one, remember that? I wish I didn’t! A girl I dated at the time told me it was awesome, but she pretty much thought every man was evil, would cheat on her and was a nutcase so I took that with a grain of salt. I was bored one day so I rented it and I found it entertaining, it had brutal death scenes and the rape was probably about half the time so that was appreciated. Then 2013 rolled around and they made a sequel, again I wondered why, but curiosity got me and I watched it. Though not as good as the first, and not as brutal, I still thought it was at least mediocre. Fast forward to 2016, I was hiding out in the bedroom, since my wife had two friends over and I was bored, so I looked on Amazon Prime for something to watch and I saw I Spit on Your Grave III. For a third time I asked why this exists. I tweeted Jack and Nick from “The Jack and Nick Horror Show” asking them the same question, pondering why anyone would make a third installment. About twenty minutes went on and I just said fuck it and ordered the damn thing.
When the movie started it was actually nice to see that the girl from the first movie was back in this one, thus making it a sequel to the first, and making the second one basically a stand alone film. This time she is going to rape victim support classes and talking to a shrink about her whole ordeal with being raped and killing her rapists. In an odd career choice she works as an assault hotline operator in Los Angeles. She has now changed her name to Angela and is now highly aggressive and defensive. She now thinks all men just want to bone her, a lot like that girl I dated…hmmm. There is a guy she works with that has a crush on her and wants to get to know her, nice guy just is interested in her and of course she’s a bitch to him. Honestly I can’t remember the guy’s name but he’s a terrible actor, so wooden.
At her meetings she meets a girl named Marla, and she’s a crazy bitch. I’m not being a pig, she’s literally crazy, regardless Angela and Marla become friends. The two begin to exact poetic justice for the victims in their class. They hunt down a guy that has been raping his stepdaughter and they beat the shit out of him and warn him to stop or they’ll kill him, classy girls. What is nice about these movies though is that the idiots that force themselves on women get their shit pushed in, sometimes figuratively, other times literally, and it is typically gory and intense. Just as Angela/Jennifer starts to enjoy her life, Marla dies and no one is guilty of her death. Angela meets Detective McDylan the officer in charge of the Marla case. He tries his best to bring justice but is unable. Angry about it, Angela decides to seek revenge for her friend and the victims in her support group.
One by one, Paul Kersey…oops I mean Angela stalks down the rapists. This movie basically is a Death Wish knockoff, with brutal deaths. She captures the stepfather of the girl from earlier, ties him up and jams a huge pipe in his ass. Then she grabs a sledgehammer and hammers it in deep until he dies, not sure that would happen but hey it was brutal. I know this is kind of pathetic, but that’s the only death I can remember that isn’t a daydream she has. Yeah, most of the violence in this movie is done through dreams, which pisses you off. A guy named Oscar, a support group member who’s daughter killed herself after being raped, commits suicide after taking blame for the crimes. The police still keep an eye on her but she is even more disillusioned with society and angered that there’s no justice for wrongdoers.
After Oscar dies, Angela gets slutted up to become bait for a predator, kills a guy and the detective has to shoot and arrest her. She ends up in prison, they never really say if she is held responsible for all the murders what the detective witnesses. They show Angela/Jennifer talking to her shrink again but she freaks out, kills her shrink and a couple inmates showing she’s unwilling to stop her murderous rage upon those who earned her wrath.
Wow, I watched this Friday night, and I’m writing this on Monday and I can’t remember most of the movie, that’s sad. That might be a comment on the movie itself actually lol. Was it bad? No, not entirely. Was it good? No, not entirely. It was very middle of the road, forgettable really. I will say it is better than the second one but the style of the movie changes to more of a Death Wish movie. So just replace Bronson with Sarah Butler and boom, there you go. The death scenes, at least the real ones were brutal, the pipe in the ass was the only one that I remembered. I feel like crazy man hating women like the girl I dated years ago will love this, just because she kills rapists and guys looking to get some. Any other horror fan will find it rather boring, because it really does drag in the middle and it is rather uneventful. I would stick to the first remake, as I think that it was entertaining, brutal and actually better than the original. I never say that so trust me the remake is an improvement on the original. If you find yourself bored, hiding from 3 girls talking about how they don’t like the 4th girl that didn’t show up, you can give it a watch. Its not great, not bad, underwhelming really. I’d say just stick to the first one, or watch a Death Wish movie, I suggest Death Wish 3, that’s amazingly corny and 80s. I give this movie a C. I have seen worse, I have seen much better.
Sorry for the short review, like I said it was so underwhelming that I can’t even remember most of it. Hey, could be worse! I could’ve did a review of Titanic or Valentine’s Day, which is what my wife made me watch with her on Sunday. I’ll try in the near future to do another review for you guys that makes up for the shortness of this installment. Stay tuned and if you enjoy my reviews, give me a holler on twitter @31horrormovies.
