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 raped/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 Last House on the Left). Notable rape/revenge movies include I Spit On Your Grave, Baise-moi, Lipstick, Thriller - A Cruel Picture,  Death Wish, Ms. 45, Sudden Impact, ¡Dispara!, Steel and Lace, I Drink Your Blood and South Korean film The Naked Rage.

Notably, in Gaspar Noé's 2002 film Irréversible, the structure was reversed, with the first act depicting the revenge before tracing back the events which led to that point. Roger Ebert argues that by using this structure, as well as a false revenge, Irreversible cannot be classified as an exploitation film, as no exploitation of the subject matter takes place.

Although rape/revenge films may imply 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. In addition to U.S. films, rape / revenge films have been made in Japan (e.g., Takashi Ishii's Freeze Me) and in Finland.