Please be warned, the following article contains details that some may find distressing, including content relating to sexual assault and rape.
Stories ofbloody and brutal revengecontinue to be a cathartic cinematic experience for audiences. Always have been. Putting what this means about humanity to one side for now, there is something primal about watching a character who’s been wronged carry out their vengeance on vile adversaries, and this underrated thriller from 2017, which is now free to stream, promises to be one of the most visceral experiences you’ll ever have in the genre.
Written and directed by Coralie Fargeat in her feature directorial debut,Revenge(the title says it all) follows in the infamous vendetta-seeking footsteps of 1978’s controversialI Spit on Your Grave, as a young woman finds herself raped and left for dead in the desert, before finding the strength to take down her aggressors. Starring Matilda Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe, and Guillaume Bouchède,Revengeis streaming free onTubi, and you can check out the official synopsis below.
The 20 Best Revenge-Themed Movies That Came Out Recently
Many great films explore the dark corners of human nature and the lengths one can go to seek justice.
“Jen is enjoying a romantic getaway with her wealthy boyfriend – until his two sleazy friends arrive for an unannounced hunting trip. As tension mounts in the house, the situation abruptly and viciously intensifies, culminating in a shocking act that leaves Jen left for dead. Unfortunately for her assailants, she survives and soon begins a relentless quest for bloody revenge.”
‘Revenge’ Was Praised for Putting a Feminist Spin on the Thriller Subgenre
UnlikeI Spit on Your Gravebefore it(legendary film critics Rogert Ebert and Gene Siskel both considered it one of the worst movies ever made),Revengewas met with rave reviews. The revenge thriller holds a seriously impressive score of 92% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, who praised the movie for slicing and dicing genre tropes and “working within an exploitation framework while adding a timely – yet never less than viscerally thrilling – feminist spin.”
Revengeis one of several movies within the highly controversial “rape and revenge” thriller subgenre, which usually tells a three-act narrative comprised of rape, return, and revenge. As well asI Spit on Your Grave, which itself spawned several sequels, the likes of suchwell-known revenge outings asDeath Wish, The Crow, 13 Assassins, Hard Candy, Irréversible, Memento, Wild Things, and even Quentin Tarantino’sKill Billsaga fall somewhere within this category.
However, first-time writer and director Coralie Fargeat, who last year found huge success, critical acclaim, and Oscar glorywith her body horror movie,The Substance, revealed at the time that she did not set out to make a rape and revenge movie, nor had she ever seenI Spit on Your Grave.
“I wanted to take this story out of the genre of horror. I didn’t want Jen to be screaming and suffering for the whole movie, trying to survive. I wanted her to go somewhere else and transform into a cool and badass character.”
