Rape and revenge films

Rape and revenge films are a subgenre of exploitation film that was particularly popular in the 1970s. Rape / revenge movies generally follow the same three-act structure:


 * Act I: A woman is gang raped, tortured, and left for dead.
 * Act II: The woman survives and rehabilitates herself.
 * Act III: The woman kills all of her rapists.

In some cases, the woman is killed at the end of the first act, and the "revenge" is carried out by her family (as in The Crow and The Virgin Spring). Notable rape / revenge movies include I Spit On Your Grave, Lipstick (film), They Call Her One Eye, and Last House on the Left, Dogville, Irreversible.

Although rape / revenge films usually claim to have a moral that the rapists "get what they deserve", the genre is frequently criticized for using that moral to justify creating exploitative and lurid rape scenes, followed by exploitative scenes of gruesome violence.

The genre has attracted critical attention (Carol J. Clover, 1992; Claire Sisco King, 2003; Jacinda Read, 2000). Rape / revenge films have been made in Japan (e.g., Takashi Ishii's Freeze Me) and in Finland.