Ireland bans I Spit On Your Grave. Again.
Amidst the exploitation and slasher movie boom of the late 70s and early 80s was a violent low-budget film called I Spit On Your Grave, which was destined to become an underground cult classic that’s courted controversy since it was first released in 1978.
And that controversy continues even today, as the Irish Film Classification Office upholds the warped ideals of the Mary Whitehouse thought police by banning the imminent DVD release of Meir Zarchi’s brutal tale of revenge. This decision, reached only days before the DVD’s release (rather conveniently for the censors), is a continuation of a life-long ban this film has seen across a variety of countries including Ireland.
The story follows Hill’s retreat to the American countryside to write her book, and her repeated attacks by the local thuggery. Pushed to the brink of her sanity and resistance, Hill reclaims her life by taking a brutal revenge against her attackers. Supposedly gleamed from events that director Meir Zarchi witnessed himself after finding a young woman who’d been beaten and raped, and her subsequent, callous dismissal by local authorities.
While very graphic in its depiction of the gang rape of secluded writer Jennifer Hill (in an award-winning portrayal by Camille Keaton, grand niece of Buster Keaton), the movie originally released under the name Day of the Woman was a genre defining event that admirably refused to pull its punches. Launching a rich and important tradition of cathartic revenge stories, I Spit On Your Grave has been celebrated by as many feminist groups and film critics as it has been condemned by others.
While I Spit On Your Grave might have been surpassed quite quickly in terms of film making quality and its overly-simplistic approach to the attack and revenge themes, it’s an important part of cinematic culture that’s only strengthened by the censors refusal to acknowledge it. A remake is due for release at the cinema shortly after the original’s DVD remastering hits the shelves.
It shouldn’t be too hard for Irish film fanatics to pick up a copy by other means, of course.
I’m Irish and the censorship in the Republic is getting pretty out of hand.
Aside from banning films, which is pointless because anyone can buy them online, last year the Government brought in a blasphemy law. Practically everyone was against it, so I really don’t see who wants this censorship or what they get out of it.
The Director didn’t seem to care at all.
“Since the birth of the internet all censor boards around the world have instantly become irrelevant, IFCO included,” he added.
“There are no iron curtains in the skies that can stop it from landing at his or her door.
“The bottom line – thank you IFCO for promoting the film in Ireland.”