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The following is a description of a pivotal scene from a new movie: A young woman has an older man tied up on his knees, with a steel pipe shoved up his rectum. She chides him, “Hold still, it’s hard to hit when it’s wiggling like that,” before driving home a sledgehammer into the pipe.
If that sounds like fun, then I Spit on Your Grave 3: Vengeance is Mine is the movie for you.
Of course, it’s unlikely that anyone who hasn’t enjoyed the previous installments of this franchise spun off from the 1978 cult favorite will subject themselves to this edition, in which Sarah Butler reprises her role from the 2010 version. Having apparently done some good deeds in a previous life, this reviewer possesses sufficiently good karma to have avoided seeing any of them until now.
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In any case, we’re reintroduced to Jennifer, who in the first film exacted violent revenge upon the five men who raped her. Now living in another city under the name Angela, she’s got a new job where she rudely fends off the overtures of a friendly co-worker, and she attends a support group for sexual abuse victims. There she meets the tough-talking wild girl Marla (Jennifer Landon), with the two becoming fast friends and bonding over their mutual violent punishment of an older man abusing his stepdaughter.
The relative contentment is short-lived: Marla is killed by her abusive ex-boyfriend, triggering Angela’s hyper-aggressive impulses against every man in her vicinity. That every male with whom she comes into contact is thoroughly sexist and despicable provides at least some justification for her actions. Angela is unable to even go for a brief jog without attracting verbal threats and abuse.
This example of the rape-revenge film genre (who knew?) serves up its raw meat for its target audience with reasonable efficiency, although the surplus of ultraviolent fantasy sequences quickly proves wearisome. So do the endless scenes of Angela attempting to work out her not inconsiderable issues with her therapist, clearly the least effective shrink ever.
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Besides its unrelenting brutality, the film also delivers enough tiny penis jokes to make one wonder about the insecurities of its male director and screenwriter. But hey, whatever it takes to work out your issues.
Production company: Cinetel Films
Cast: Sarah Butler, Jennifer Landon, Doug McKeon, Garbriel Hogan, Harley Jane Kozak, Michelle Hurd
Director: R. D. Braunstein
Screenwriter: Daniel Gilboy
Producers: Lisa M. Hansen, Paul Hertzberg
Executive producers: Kevin Kasha, Gary Needle, Meir Zarchi
Director of photography: Richard J. Vialet
Editor: Ana Florit
Production designer: Gladys Rodriguez
Composer: Edwin Wendler
Costume designer: Anninka Velie
Casting: Paul Ruddy
Not rated, 91 minutes
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