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Released by: Sub Rosa
Released on: July 16th, 2002.
Director: Eric Stanze
Cast: Emily Haack, Scot Spookytooth, Shaun Snow, John Specht, Jeff Atwater
Year: 1977
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I Spit On Your Corpse, I Piss On Your Grave - Movie Review:
Scrapbook must have been a hard act to follow for independent filmmaker Eric Stanze. It's one of the grisliest rape/revenge films I've seen but beneath all the shock and exploitation is an interesting story with an interesting premise. It's very well directed and the two leads are both far better than your average shot on video performer, Emily Haack in particular.
So when you've got a good thing going, why not give it another go? Stanze followed Scrapbook up with luridly titled I Spit On Your Corpse, I Piss On Your Grave, once again starring the unconventionally attractive Ms. Haack in what is probably her most daring role to date. She plays Sandy, a young lady who is kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend, Chris (Stanze himself), and brought to his lair of debauchery where he's planning to get his revenge on her and three other guys who he's pissed off at for not doing more to keep him out of the clink.
What basically happens is Sandy snaps and reigns down Holy Hell on the misshapen basement crew in all manner of filthy and visually interesting ways. You wanna see a man get his face stomped into some poop? Or how about one lucky boy who gets a dildo attached to a broomstick shoved up his arse (this is, of course, after Sandy inserts the dildo into her fun parts, in a scene which leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination)? Seriously, this movie heads into Nastyland and never once looks back. It's unapologetically sleazy and you kind of have to respect it, even while you're wincing.
Content aside, it's a reasonably well made low budget exploitation movie. Stanze proved he could direct with Scrapbook and in that same movie Haack showed us she can really act. Here? Well, don't expect the same level of quality because it's not happening but I don't think it was meant to either. The movie was made fast and cheap and even when that's evident, it's still at least quite entertaining, even if you want to curl up in the shower in the fetal position and cry when it's all over with. It is well made for what it is though, and is still head and shoulders above most of the shot on video features that find their way into my review pile. So while it may not be for all tastes and I doubt it's going to be nominated for an academy away, it succeeds in that it accomplishes what it sets out to do with a little bit of style and a whole lot of evil.
I Spit On Your Corpse, I Piss On Your Grave - DVD Review:
The fullframe picture looks surprisingly good for a shot on video presentation. Colors are rich, flesh tones look very accurate, and there's nary a compression artifact in site. Some very minor 'video noise' is present in a couple of scenes, but overall I Spit On Your Corpse, I Piss On Your Grave looks pretty solid.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is also pretty good. Some of the levels fluctuate a slight bit but other than that the dialogue is clean, clear, and comprehensible. It's not a really buoyant track in that there's not much in the way of channel separation or impressive audio effects - it's pretty basic. But it gets the job done just fine and it sounds fine.
Aside from a few trailers for other Sub Rosa releases, there are a few interesting extra features hidden amongst the blotchy menu screens. Eric Stanze and Emily Haack are on hand for full length commentary track. The two obviously enjoyed working together and this track demonstrates that. It makes for an interesting listen, particularly during some of the more 'intense' scenes in the film.
A behind the scenes featurette gets input from most of the cast and crew members and gives us a peek backstage during the making of the film. This bad boy runs a cool twenty-five minutes. Most interesting though is a little featurette entitled The Dumpster Incident in which Stanze relates his little run in the with fuzz after they cleaned up the set one day and dumped a bunch of bloody mess into one of the dumpsters - stories like this don't come out of mainstream movies.
I Spit On Your Corpse, I Piss On Your Grave - The Final Word:
This movie is totally trashy and it wears that badge with pride. There's not much to offer in the way of redeeming social values or deep, meaningful metaphors that will cause you to reflect on life. But if you want to see a cute punk girl stick a broomstick up her hoohaw and mess up some lowlifes (and let’s face it, sometimes we do want to see these things), I Spit On Your Corpse, I Piss On Your Grave delivers in spades.