I Spit On Your Grave (2010) Review

director: Steven R. Monroe

writer: Stuart Morse

starring: Sarah Butler, Jeff Branson, Andrew Howard

genre: Horror, Remake

Its amazing how anyone could think that remaking one of the most tasteless films ever in history was a good idea. But it's logical due to the fact that there is a audience for these kinds of films. A genre that is solely based on having depraving acts towards women and containing extremely detailed mutilation scenes with no coherent story, characters or meanings. This remake might be it's original better but its hardly enough to recommend this to anyone to watch, enjoy or remember.

The film follows closely the plot of the original film. An inspiring novelist Jennifer Hills (Sarah Butler) goes to a small hick town to stay in a secluded cabin and write her book. There she will encounter hideous men who will humiliate her, ravish her and stalk her until the inevitable act of her being raped by all of them. And as with the original film she will take her revenge on them one at a time and make there last moments as horrific as it was for her. 

Now what might have changed from one of the worst films ever made to its remake? Well the most obvious change is the budget of the film. The remake looks substantially better, from its cinematography to its direction. The actors are more serious and believable, the amateur film-making of the original is gone and the film trys to be more realistic in its plot. Not that it accomplishes it that most of the times. The most obvious mistake the film makes is how the protagonist escapes from the gang of hicks. Its truly unrealistic, silly but needed for the terrible story to progress.

Generally my opinion of the remake is practically the same as with the original. It's still tasteless entertainment with minor improvements that doesn't justify it being remade. If remaking rape and torture scenes is called a good time at the movies then I dont know squat from films. If you want more of my opinion, then I would suggest reading my original review as my arguments there are the same for the remake here. I Spit on Your Grave (1980) Review

Besides being a more realistic and less amateur film than its predecessor its still not enough to be seen by anyone except fans of this depraving and sadistic genre. If your in the mood to see a terrible revenge story with rape and blood then be my guest. But if your really into this kind of filmmaking then you yourself need help and time to rethink why you like this genre in the first place.

Personal Rating:

Review by Paul

Sorority Row (2009)

director: Stewart Handler

writers: Josh Stolberg, Pete Goldfinger

starring: Briana Evigan, Rumer Willis, Leah Pipes, Jamie Chung, Audrina Partridge

genre: Horror, Remake

Whoever thought that this film deserved the chance to see the light of day should be punched in the face immediately. Anybody who had anything to do with this film should be ashamed of of their involvement. Sorority Row happens to be the worst film of 2009 and an utter disgrace to humanity as a piece of art.

The story is of 5 sorority sisters and a prank they play on one of the sisters boyfriend. The prank is that one of the girls Megan pretends to be dead and while they try dismember her body and freak the shit out of the boyfriend. The boyfriend thinking shes really dead by mistake kills her. They all vow to keep it a secret and hide the body. A year later everything comes back to haunt them. Scary messages and deaths shows them that the nightmare isn't quite yet over. Who is the murder you might ask? The mystery begins of the most clichéd horror film ever.

The plot from beginning to end is bad, predictable and boring. Seeing this film reminded me of two other films. I Know What You Did Last Summer and Valentine. And immediately the idea that Sorority Row has stoled the whole plot from those two films. Whoever has seen the those films will know what im talking about. Ripoff of the century should be the tagline of this film as seeing Sorority Row feels like seeing those two other films once again.

I haven't even started on the details on where the film gets it so wrong. The biggest problem is it cant get the slasher film characteristics correctly. The filmmakers forgot that a slasher film should be fun, the deaths should be cool, for there to be a interesting serial killer and last incredible sequences and maybe at the end a meaning. Sorority Row doesn't have any of those characteristics but has all of the worst qualities of a bad film. It ties itself down in cliches, bad acting and repetitive storytelling.

Lets mention some of these crazy absurdities the film has. The killer has a Rambo arm at times when throwing the knife. The fact that the killer out of nowhere, finds out the truth from a friend and goes on killing rampage for his girlfriend with no apparent reason. Just that he suddenly went psychologically mad. Also the fact that all the girls characters are cliches. The cute and shy girl, the idiot, the tough smart girl who hangs out with wrong crowd, the bitch leader. The terrible dialogue that accompanies these cliche characters is another problem. The shots of the stars breats or waist line just to sell skin. The only film that could compare to being filled absurdities probably has to be Anaconda 3.

Last let me talk as well about the sororities while im bashing the living daylight out of this film. Throughout the film sorority's are played out as this place of truth,honor, sisterhood, and in the end the killer comments on how thats bullshit. That they are all liars, idiots and whores. The film right at the end it decided to switch gears and have so called commentary. Which doesn't make sense because it feels out of place. As if we also needed this horror film to explore the sorority culture and its negatives. This film should first have had a good story, with a real mystery to who's the killer, genuine and likable characters and then maybe we could have focused on some social commentary.

The studio who made this film should just take the film negatives and burn them and forget about a possible sequel. There is no reason for them to lose more money on this franchise. But there is something I forgot to mention. The icing on the cake you might say. Sorority Row is a remake. Not only is it a simple remake, but a remake who had to ripoff ideas from other Horror films. The only good thing about this film was Carrie Fisher. God bless you Princess Leia for the memobrable moments in one of the worst horror films ever Sorority Row.

Personal Rating:

Review by Paul