A Surprisingly Successful Sequel: “I Spit on Your Grave 3”
An unexpectedly successful sequel to the popular “torture” series, in some ways even surpassing its predecessors.
Having somehow escaped punishment for the carnage she unleashed on her rapists in the first part of the trilogy, Jennifer (Sarah Butler) has changed her name and is trying to start a new life. One of the steps she takes is attending group therapy for rape victims, where she meets the rebellious Marla (Jennifer Landon), who insists that pain must be returned. Jennifer doesn’t want to return to violence, but circumstances force her to taste blood again.
The Formula of Torture Porn
Horror films in the “torture porn” genre have a very simple formula: the first half of the film features a young, attractive girl being sexually tortured, and the second half features her brutally avenging herself on her tormentors, splashing blood and entrails into the camera. In other words, everyone is happy – on the one hand, male viewers get their generous dose of sexploitation, and on the other hand, the authors appear to be clean – they don’t glorify violence, but condemn it and even warn against the consequences of such behavior.
The first two parts of “I Spit on Your Grave” followed this formula so blindly and meticulously that they seemed like two remakes of the classic 1980 horror of the same name. In the third part, the rules of the game have unexpectedly changed – the seemingly obligatory abuse of the heroine has been decided to be left off-screen. Instead, we are presented with several girls from a group therapy session for rape victims, their stories are spoken aloud, omitting any hints of salacious details, and we move on to the second part, in which Jennifer equips herself with piercing and cutting objects (as well as a steel pipe and a hammer for driving that very pipe, you can guess where) and turns into an angel of vengeance.
A More Mature Approach
This approach may disappoint those who watch “torture porn” for the actual abuse of defenseless girls – even if the person is subconsciously unaware of it. At the same time, “I Spit on Your Grave 3” is, from a purely artistic point of view, perhaps the strongest and most complete in the entire series – and it’s not just about the technical side of the film (the makeup is still very realistic, during the blowjob scene with a sad ending, many men will painfully wince), but also about how confidently the authors build the drama. On the one hand, we are literally bombarded with arguments in favor of the fact that in such a case, you should never turn the other cheek. But at the same time, they note that violence is akin to drug addiction – it penetrates under the skin, destroying the personality and drying up the soul.
It is clear that this “message” is not implemented much deeper here than in some “Death Wish” (which, by the way, “I Spit on Your Grave 3” is very similar to in places), but against the background of the straightforward sexploitation of the first two parts, it looks almost like a revelation. And coupled with the excellent acting of Sarah Butler, Jennifer Landon, and – especially – Doug McKeon, who very touchingly portrayed the father of a girl who committed suicide after being raped, the picture even claims the title of one of the best films in its genre.