History Film / ISpitOnYourGrave

* ExploitationFilm

Creator/RogerEbert [[RogerEbertMostHatedFilmList hated this]] [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/i-spit-on-your-grave-1980 film]].

* AndThisIsFor: [[spoiler: Jennifer: This is for Marla, show horse.]]

-->'''Angela''': "I didn't want to be [[spoiler:Jennifer Hills]] anymore.

* ThatManIsDead: [[spoiler: Bolton: "Why did you change your name?" Angela: "I didn't want to be Jennifer Hills anymore."]]

** What's more, any jury almost certainly ''would'' convict her of murder, since she has no (physical) evidence of the previous rapes other than her say-so (evidence gathering for rape has become much more advanced since 1976). Even if she could prove that she was raped, that still doesn't mean she's allowed to murder the men who did it.
** In the second film, [[spoiler: Katie was kidnapped and smuggled into Sofia, Bulgaria. Given her story, clear medical evidence of her ordeal and lack of evidence of murder (and a cop willing to cover for her), she'd probably never get charged.]]
** In the third film, [[spoiler: Jennifer's past comes back to bite her in the ass, though she does manage to avoid life in prison or the death penalty due to lack of evidence, her own clear insanity and a sympathetic Detective who shoots her, stopping her from committing a murder in front of him.]]

** Averted in the third film. See RealityEnsues below. [=McDylan=] is seen initially as a bumbling but friendly SVU Detective who by the end proves to be an effective investigator and police officer who [[spoiler: is forced to shoot Jennifer in order to stop her from killing her latest victim.]] The police in general are shown to be competent and quickly connect the victims [[spoiler:to the rape survivor group that Jennifer was a part of.]]

* RealityEnsues: For a horror film, there's actually quite a bit that's TruthInTelevision.

* RealityHasNoSoundtrack: The (in)famous rape scene has no music beyond the harmonica played by another character, which made it one of the most raw sequences put to film at the time. There was planned to be music, but Meir Zachi couldn't find anything appropriate.
* RevengeMyopia: The villains of ''Deja Vu'' want to kill Jennifer, rape her daughter, and kill the daughter too. This is for killing their family members, who were the rapists in the original film, completely ignoring the fact that they raped and nearly killed Jennifer (they're in denial that it ever happened).
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: What the above leads to on Jennifer's part, and the main focus of the movie, along with the remake and sequels.
* {{Sadist}}: Stanley, who enjoys the rape the most and is the only one without redeeming qualities. The others even call him a sex maniac.
* StockholmSyndrome: [[spoiler:Ana]] in the second film is revealed to be a victim of the sex traffickers herself. She'd not only been raped like Katie is, but gave birth to two sons as a result (who now are members of the ring). In the present, she assists them in luring new victims into their clutches (like Katie). Even so, as she's upstairs hearing them rape Katie in the cellar, she weeps silently holding a doll. You can't help but sympathize, despite what she did to Katie, knowing that she's probably been utterly broken and brainwashed by her experience.

* ModelScam: Katie is lured into the hands of the HumanTraffickers of the second movie by means of a modeling scam.

** Matthew, in both the original and remake. In the original, he is hanged from a rope and choked to death by Jennifer, shortly after apologizing and revealing that he spared her life. In the remake, he goes to Jennifer sobbing and apologizing, only for her to kill him anyway.

* YourCheatingHeart: Johnny is being unfaithful to his wife. In addition to participating in the gang rape, when Jennifer offers herself to him, he still enters into a sexual situation with no thought to his wife.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Matthew cannot bring himself to kill Jennifer, and even seems disturbed by some of the things his friends do to her, not that he does (or can do) anything to help.

* TheSociopath: Stanley, who enjoys the rape the most and is the only one without redeeming qualities. The others even call him a sex maniac.

* HollywoodLaw: The poster claims that no jury would convict Jennifer for killing the men. They almost certainly would, as revenge for a previous crime does not justify four premeditated homicides.

* NeverTrustATitle: The movie does not, in fact, contain any graves or any spitting thereon, though Jennifer's utter hatred for her rapists is such that the metaphor definitely qualifies.

* RealityHasNoSoundtrack: The (in)famous rape scene has no music beyond the harmonica played by another character, which made it one of the most raw sequences put to film at the time.

** [[spoiler: Near the end of ''Deja Vu'', it’s revealed that Jennifer’s daughter Christy is this. Her father was none other than Johnny.]]

* TitleDrop: It finally happens in the fourth film, uttered by Johnny's wife, and there actually ''is'' a grave to spit on.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: A visual example occurs in the second film. Father Dimov sees that Katie has been looking at Romans 12:19, or "Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord; I will repay." The middle part is obscured, and he rightly suspects she's not going to wait on God avenging her.

* InformedAttractiveness: Christy in ''Deja Vu'' is said to be the world's top supermodel, even though she looks fairly average.

* MsFanService:

*** [[spoiler: saying you're sorry for raping, torturing and trying to kill your victim doesn't really cut it. In Jennifer's words: "It's just not GOOD ENOUGH!"]]

* BreakTheCutie: Jennifer's rapists do this to her in the worst possible way. So do Katie's rapists in the second film.

** ''Deja Vu'' has Becky, Johnny's wife who leads the group in their revenge and personally [[spoiler: kills Jennifer]]

* AllMenArePerverts[=/=]ImAManICantHelpIt: When Jennifer holds Johnny at gunpoint, he tries to justify his actions with these arguments.

In 2019, 40 years after the original, a direct-to-video sequel titled ''I Spit On Your Grave: Deja Vu'' was released. It revolves around Jennifer Hills, after being acquitted of the revenge she enacted on her rapists, is now a successful author after writing a book of her experience, and has a daughter of her own named Christy. But soon both Jennifer and Christy are kidnapped by the families of Jennifer’s rapists, [[CycleOfRevenge who are planning to enact some revenge of their own]].

** Christy in ''Deja Vu'' goes through this as well, [[spoiler:first getting kidnapped by the families of her mother’s rapists, then finding the decapitated corpse of her mother, then being raped shortly afterwards]].
* BuriedAlive: This appens to Katie in the second film. [[spoiler:She gets out when the ground below the coffin breaks into a sewer system]].

** [[spoiler: The murder of the step father has several parallels to the Sheriff. Especially his plea that he "has a family" (which pushes Jennifer's berserk button) and being anally assaulted and killed (with a pipe instead of a gun).]]

** [[spoiler:Near the end of ''Deja Vu'', it’s revealed that Jennifer’s daughter Christy is this. Her father was none other than Johnny.]]

** The Sheriff in the remake repeatedly mentions going to church with his family, and claims he's God-fearing (but of course it's pretty hollow given his crimes in the film).
** Valko in the second film is seen attending Father Dimov's church in Sofia, and freaks out when Katie shows up there during the service.

** What's more, any jury almost certainly ''would'' convict her of murder, since she has no (physical) evidence of the previous rapes other than her say so (evidence gathering for rape has become much more advanced since 1976). Even if she could prove that she was raped, that still doesn't mean she's allowed to murder the men who did it.

** In the third film, [[spoiler: Jennfier's past comes back to bite her in the ass, though she does manage to avoid life in prison or the death penalty due to lack of evidence, her own clear insanity and a sympathetic Detective who shoots her, stopping her from committing a murder in front of him.]]

* DirtyCoward: Johnny pisses himself during Jennifer's revenge. She reacts with extreme disgust, commenting how even the other men didn't do this.

* DrivenToSuicide: In the third film, Oscar relates that his daughter was spurred to kill herself over her rapist going free because the physical evidence against him went missing, and his lawyers having smeared her as a [[SlutShaming slut]] who was "asking for it".

** The sheriff in the remake also has a wife and a daughter, with another baby on the way. He seems to genuinely love them, and is distraught when he thinks Jennifer kidnapped his daughter.

* FanDisservice: The over 20 minute rape scene is famous for being absolutely brutal, rather than eroticized like many other exploitation films. The sequels carry on that tradition. There's a lot of nudity, but it is never in the least erotic.

* GoodShepherd: Father Dimov is a kind Bulgarian Orthodox priest in the second film. He finds Katie stealing food from his church, and reacts by telling her she had no need to. Instead, he gives her food, clothing and an English-language Bible, then calls in a police friend since he quickly realizes she's suffered terrible abuse.

** That is topped in the third film. [[spoiler:Jennifer outright obliterates a guy's penis with a knife while fellating him. "Ouch" is an understatement in that case.]]

** That is topped in the third film [[spoiler:Jennifer outright obliterates a guy's penis with a knife while fellating him. "Ouch" is an understatement in that case.]]

** [[spoiler:What Katie's antagonists try to do by beating her nearly to death and burying her alive.]][[spoiler: It didn't work. The box she was put in was buried too deep and she fell through the ground into the city's catacombs.]]

** In the second film, [[spoiler: Katie was able to escape the basement she was held in and talked to the police. Sadly, Kirill left her in the hands of Ana, a woman he knows from church,]] [[spoiler: who turns out to be the rapists' mother. She leads her right back to the very basement she escaped from.]]
** In the third film, Jennifer becomes friends with a fellow survivor Marla who stands up for her when she gets sexually harassed and we see her start to get better. [[spoiler: Sadly, Marla is murdered, causing Jennifer to slip back into darkness.]]

* KickTheDog: While it very much pales in comparison to what ''else'' they did to her, the rapists mock and rip up Jennifer's novel during her assault.

** Katie in the second film is an aspiring model.
** Jennifer in the third film [[spoiler: dresses up as a goth, a school girl and in a very sexy red dress to help lure her victims.]]

* RevengeMyopia: The villains of ''Deja Vu'' want to kill Jennifer, rape her daughter, and kill the daughter too. This is for killing their family members, who were the rapists in the original film, completely ignoring the fact that they raped and nearly killed Jennifer.

** Chief from the third movie. [[spoiler: Sure, a woman in a sexy red dress with clear bruising on her face, who seems slightly off-kilter offering you a blowjob is perfectly legit.]]
** The antagonists from Deja Vu are this in spades. Jennifer and her daughter have their moments too in that neither of them try to call for help. Notably, [[spoiler: Christy]] has access to a phone more than once and never uses it.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The 2010 remake never explains how Jennifer survived her fall into the river and where and how she recovered to plot her revenge.

* FanDisservice: The over 20 minute rape scene is famous for being absolutely brutal, rather than eroticized like many other exploitation films. The sequels carry on that tradition.
* FanService:
** The posters and the DVD cases for the original film depict Jennifer walking around in a torn up shirt and panties -- and the poster design for the remake arguably looks even more sexualized.
** Prior to the attack, Jennifer is shown in a bikini and jogging clothes.
** Katie in the second film is an aspiring model.
** Jennifer in the third film [[spoiler: dresses up as a goth, a school girl and in a very sexy red dress to help lure her victims.]]

* ArtisticLicenseCars: In the remake, Jennifer is able to hide in the backseat of a police car and knock out the sheriff while he is in the driver's seat. This is the exact thing that partitions between the front and back seats of police vehicles are there to prevent. This could be averted as scenes in the film establish the area as poor. The Sheriff's car is a 1996 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor that's showing its age and was built during an era where partitions weren't as much of a consideration.