Rape and revenge
[5] The genre stems from a fascination with revenge in western culture, beginning with the descriptive tragedies of the Greeks and continuing in Elizabethan England (by Thomas Kyd and William Shakespeare).[7] After the following U.S. release of The Virgin Spring, it inspired Wes Craven's debut The Last House on the Left, which is the base of both Bergman's film and Swedish ballad "Töres döttrar i Wänge".In the United States, it continues to produce several rape and revenge films in the 1970s including Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs, Michael Winner's Death Wish, Lamont Johnson's Lipstick, and Meir Zarchi's I Spit on Your Grave; some of them are mainly screened in mainstream theaters, while others were screened independently in underground cinemas as exploitation films.Several female directors have tried their hand at the genre to subvert its codes including Virginie Despentes' Baise-moi (2000), Coralie Fargeat's Revenge (2017), Jennifer Kent's The Nightingale (2018), and Emerald Fennell's Promising Young Woman (2020), the latter revitalized the subgenre and garnered multiple awards and nominations.[12] Motifs of the subgenre, meaning that without being claimed as belonging to the genre, sometimes appears as a subplot in films to take up the codes at one point such as Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange, Gaspar Noé's Irréversible, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, Lars von Trier's Dogville, and Paul Verhoeven's Elle.The book argues against a simplistic notion of the term "rape-revenge" and suggests a film-specific approach in order to avoid generalizing films which may "diverge not over the treatment of sexual assault as much as they do in regard to the morality of the revenge act".[24] The controversy stems from the fact that films in the genre can often be accused of using the moral of the story as a pretext to justify extremely graphic murder and rape scenes.
I Spit on Your GraveIrréversibleThe Virgin SpringEuropean art cinemaExploitation filmFeminist filmNew French Extremityhorror filmthrillersvigilante filmscult followingunderground cinemaarthouse cinemaanti-hero(s)vigilanterapistrevengetragedies of the GreeksElizabethan EnglandThomas KydWilliam ShakespeareA Woman Brandedvenereal diseaseIngmar BergmanJapanese cinemaRashomonThriller – A Cruel PictureThe Last House on the LeftWes CravenTöres döttrar i WängeSam PeckinpahStraw DogsMichael WinnerDeath WishLamont JohnsonLipstickMeir Zarchimainstream theatersunderground cinemasexploitation filmsLino BrockaInsiangTakashi IshiiFreeze MeThe Voroshilov SharpshooterThe WhoreVirginie DespentesBaise-moiCoralie FargeatJennifer KentThe NightingaleEmerald FennellPromising Young WomanThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, MissouriStanley KubrickClockwork OrangeGaspar NoéQuentin TarantinoPulp FictionLars von TrierDogvillePaul Verhoevennarrative structurethree-act structuretortureddevastatedrehabilitateRoger Ebert13 Assassins22 Female Kottayam6 GunsAmerican MaryAvengedBad ReputationBandit QueenBig DriverThe Birth of a NationBlink TwiceThe CrowDaughter of DarknessDeath Rides a HorseDeath WeekendDeath Wish IIDementedThe Devil All the Time¡Dispara!ExtremitiesEye for an EyeFear IslandGirls Against BoysGrave of the VampireA Gun for JenniferGun WomanGutterballsHannie CaulderHard CandyThe HorsemanThe House of the SpiritsI Saw the DevilI Spit on Your Grave 2Jackson County JailJungle WarriorsJennifer's BodyKill the Rapist?KuronekoThe Ladies ClubLady SnowbloodLast Stop on the Night TrainLiquid SkyMementoMen Can't Be RapedMs .45Naan Sigappu ManithanNocturnal AnimalsRape of LoveRed SonjaReturn to SenderRevengers TragedyRiot on Sunset StripRob RoyRun! Bitch Run!Savage StreetsSavage VengeanceSavagesA Serbian FilmSleepers