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I SPIT ON YOUR CORPSE, I PISS ON YOUR GRAVE
Produced by Jeremy Wallace
Written and Directed by Eric StanzeSandy - Emily Hack
Kevin - Eric StanzeI want to vomit.
Eric Stanze's I SPIT ON YOUR CORPSE, I PISS ON YOUR GRAVE is a vile exercise in depravity that will sicken the casual horror enthusiast while exciting those hardcore gore fans waiting for the return of extreme horror, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the heyday of Todd Sheets. This movie deserves the same type of notoriety reserved for films along the lines of the Japanese GUINEA PIG series.
Maybe the miles and miles of open cornfields are enough to drive a person insane. Stanze, Sheets, and Leif Jonker all hail from the mid-western bible belt and all three have made some wildly perverse movies. Their styles vary greatly, but they all have one thing in common - all three possess extreme views on horror filmmaking and are willing to do what they have to get the genre where they feel it needs to be.
Maybe it's the pesticides in the groundwater warping their brains.
According to Stanze, we could just blame it all on the French. That much doesn't surprise me.
I SPIT ON YOUR CORPSE, I PISS ON YOUR GRAVE is the flagship title from Sub Rosa Studios' Sub Rosa Extreme label. SRE is a series of films designed to push the boundaries of depravity to exploit the nitch-within-a-nitch market of gonzo horror. They are films designed to be made cheaply in order to guarantee maximum return on investment, and by giving fans exactly what they are looking for - lot's of sex and gore.
On the DVD, there's a frank interview with Stanze where he goes over the production and marketing of I SPIT. The rolls of investors, and how they can dictate the evolution of script and story, are explained so clearly and bluntly that I'm sure some people will yell "sell out" in Stanze's direction at the next B-Movie awards.
There's a theory I have about Martin Scorsese. For every THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST there's an AGE OF INNOCENCE that led way for the financing. While commercial in nature, that doesn't mean the filmmaker's presence isn't in every frame. There are themes and ideas that make themselves known through the director's point of view. Even though I SPIT is designed with corporate intentions, it's still very much a Stanze movie and in no way reflects a change in directorial vision, let alone selling out.
Those that have seen Stanze's SCRAPBOOK will be familiar with the story this time around. A young woman is held against her will by a sick sonofabitch. Humiliation and degradation ensue. This time around, Stanze trades vicious brutality for pure shock in the vain of the sleaze classic, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. Again, the point is to go as far as one can into the extreme far reaches of bad taste in order to market a sellable title. This movie delivers what it sets out to, and disgusts the viewer completely. Some of the imagery, and little of it being gore, made me want to vomit.
Also from SCRAPBOOK, is Emily Hack, possibly the bravest actress I've seen this side of porn. The woman is fearless and willing to do whatever it takes to deliver a solid performance. Why she is not utilized more often is something I'll never understand?
The DVD from Sub Rosa provides a slick presentation, better than a film like this would usually receive. Intelligent commentary, other Sub Rosa Extreme trailers, and two behind the scenes documentaries complement each other well and illustrate just how much an Eric Stanze movie this was...despite what the French, their money, and the extreme changes that were ordered did to the movie. Listen to the commentary, I'll let Stanze tell that story himself.
Wicked Pixel Cinema
Sub Rosa Studios