‘I Spit On Your Grave’ Remake – Director Steven Monroe Speaks!
by Marc Patterson
An interesting turn came over the weekend for the upcoming Steven Monroe directed remake of I Spit On Your Grave. Moviehole got an exclusive first chat with Monroe on the film, which to our knowledge at this point should have wrapped production. There were a few interesting quotes to emerge from the conversation. One thing that was quickly emphasized was how much Monroe is a big fan of the Meir Zarchi original and that he promises the new film, which will be distributed by Anchor Bay, will be an updating but one that stays “as true to the original as possible” (Please note key words “as possible”). If you’re a regular reader of our little website then no doubt you’ve read my thoughts on what this new remake should be and you’ll know that in my less than humble opinion, it’s basically an unmakeable film. I just can’t see an audience in this day and age paying money at a theater to watch a film like I Spit On Your Grave.
Steven Monroe is quoted as saying: “I always have a lot of respect for people who make films that push the envelope and I remember seeing the film in 1980 and even when re-watching recently that it disturbed me enough that each time it stayed with me for several days. So I feel that Meir Zarchi deserves a lot of respect and kudos for having the guts to make the film especially when it was made. I know that fans of the film and haters of the film are already up in arms about the remake and already saying that I am going to screw it up and chicken out of doing this and doing that… But I hope that maybe they can at least wait till the film is released and make a educated decision then, even if they still hate it, they have at least seen it.’’
Well Steven, I think we’re up in arms for good reason. But I’ll let you continue…
“We wanted to stay as true to the original as possible while making sure it was updated in a few ways. There is one additional lead character, a Sheriff played by Andrew Howard, and of course we upped the brutality and length of the tortures and kills – as they were quite short in the original – which was really a disturbing Thriller at heart not a Horror film. I also wanted to update the look of the film and give it a very voyeuristic quality and gritty realism”.
Again – this is where my skepticism comes into play. For whatever reason it seems perfectly acceptable in Hollywood to torture the living shit out of anyone and anything. We’ve come off a long run of torture porn and we know the limits that are out there for a film like Hostel to get into a theater. The question isn’t what can be shown as revenge… it’s can Monroe pull off an extended gang rape scene on par with Irreversible and still get his film in a theater? As I said before, this is what it would take to give the film a proper updating. You can’t shy away from this.
Of lead actress Sarah Butler, Monroe said, “She took this role on fearlessly and nailed it like I don’t think anyone else could have. I can’t and will never say enough about her. There are also a lot of horror fans out there already complaining that the cast is all no names, I can personally guarantee you that no actress with a name would have had the guts to pull of what Sarah did or went through during shooting, no way. She is awesome.’’
Well, this is one point to which I’ve already stated that I would agree. When I first checked her out Sarah was a perfect casting choice.
I’m going to go on the record right now to say don’t be surprised to see this not get a wide release and don’t be surprised to see Anchor Bay dish out a name change of the film. While I appreciate Monroe’s effort in doing his part to assure fans that he’s paying proper homage to the Zarchi original I’m just not buying it.
