Values of Vengeance, The: Meir Zarchi Remembers I Spit On Your Grave (2010)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
This 28-minute featurette can be found on the third DVD (and first Blu-ray) release of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. On the second DVD release from Elite we got a commentary with director Meir Zarchi but for this Anchor Bay disc we're treated to an on camera interview where a wide range of subjects are covered but in the end this is such a controversial and fascinating film that even half an hour isn't enough to cover everything. Zarchi briefly discusses his life and career before the movie but for the majority of the running time he's talking about the film, which was originally titled and released as DAY OF THE WOMAN. Zarchi talks about having to submit the film four times before the MPAA would give it a R-rating and when they finally did it was after ten-minutes worth of scenes were cut. He then goes into detail about making several prints of the film but when it was released it bombed everywhere it played. He eventually sold the movie to Jerry Gross who changed the title against the wishes of the director but it became a massive hit before the producer would eventually pull the film fearing that men would rape women after seeing it. THe director goes into the Siskel and Ebert debate as well as the trouble the film had overseas. Overall this is a pretty strong interview with the director as it goes into some pretty interesting detail including the R-rated version and how it originally bombed before the title change. He talks briefly about Camille Keaton but it's mostly about their marriage. The downside is that, as a fan, there's so much more that needed to be discussed including the other actors in the film who have pretty much disappeared. There's brief talk of the remake and of a possible sequel to the original film yet there's never any mention of the 1993 film SAVAGE VENGEANCE, which featured Keaton and was apparently originally meant as a sequel to the first film. Even the impact this film had on the director's career is never discussed. So, for what's here it's great but in the end you can't help but wish it had gone into a bit more detail.