"This thing with you is the thing any man would have done, you coax a man into doing it to you!"
*This applies to the uncut version*
Jennifer Hill (Camille Keaton)is an aspiring writer who has brought a summer house in the country so that she can start her debut novel in piece. After stopping off to get some gas she goes to the house which is by a lake. She gets some food delievered by Matthew, who is slightly retarded. he asks to be her friend and she agrees. He goes home and tells his three friends Johnny, Stanley and Andy about Jennifer and they decide to help Matthew hook up with Jennifer. They go out to the lake, where Jennifer is relaxing in her boat, they take her boat and she runs off. They catch up with her and one of them rapes her. She thens goes back to the house but is ambushed again, and raped again. She finally gets home and is about to call the cops when the four show up again and she is raped a third time. They then leave but send Matthew back to kill her. Matthew can't do it so just puts some blood on the knife and runs back to his friends, telling them he killed her. However Jennifer is still alive and over the two following weeks she recovers and formulates a plan to get the men back.
This film has a reputation for being a very challenging film to watch, however I have seen worse (Cannibal Holocaust) but I can see where the film does get its notority from. The film starts off ok, the Jennifer's character is established well and we see her relaxing and enjoying the summer. However about 15 minutes in the rape bit starts to set in and it is very unpleasent to watch, and I think it makes the film quite powerful in a sense because we fell more sympathy for Jennifer. The whole three rapes streches over about 40 minutes which is a tad to long but does have the desired effect and makes the second half of the film even better. The revenge part of the film does feel rushed but the characters, especially the one in the bath, get their just desserts and we cheer on Jennifer because we saw how horrible they were. This film is unpleasent to watch and may not be suitable for everyone, so be warned. I have the American DVD of the film and it does have a good picture quality, but the sound is bad, dialogue is echoy and sometimes it looks as if the character speaking isn't speaking. The direction is good and so is the story, although if more time was given to the revenge section rather than the rape section it would have been better. I haven't seen the heavily cut British version (7 mins cut) but I've heard that the rape scenes are the only ones that are cut. If this is true this would be the version I would people who haven't the stomach for the uncut version watch. 8 out of 10  Home Reviews Top Ten Horror Trivia Links |
