Comparison between the shortened British DVD released by Anchor Bay (BBFC 18) and the uncut US DVD released by Anchor Bay (Unrated)


17 changes due to censorship:
* 11 cuts
* 5 zoomed scenes
* 1 repetition of a scene to cover up a cut

Difference: 20.4 sec

The Movie

The remake-trend obviously won't come to an end soon. By now, they even remake Rape'N'Revenge movies. After they remade Wes Craven's The Last House On The Left in 2009, they then had a focus on Meir Zarchi's infamous I Spit On Your Grave (which by the way was called Day Of The Woman when it first ran in theatres in 1978) just one year later. Both remakes have something in common - the rape scenes are a little more explicit than in the original and the revenge in the second half of the movie is way more brutal. However, it has to be mentioned that the rape scene of the 1978 version of I Spit On Your Grave is about 45 minutes long and absolutely not for the faint-hearted. The 2010 version's rape sequence is a little shorter but still very intensive and gruesome. And even though Jennifer Hill's revenge towards the end of the movie is a little too heavily inspired by modern torture movies (such as "Saw"), the main mood of the original is still there in the remake - a quality that can't be said about the "Last House on the Left"-remake. Meir Zarchi was the producer of the remake and he reommended watching it - so if you're a fan of the original, give it a try.

Censorship

If you know what the movie is about it should come as no surprise that the producers had to face several censorship-issues (especially because they wanted to stick to the original movie as much as possible). Because of these massive extend of censorship issues, the producers of the movie asked Anchor Bay to do a pretty unusual move: Due to the extensive cuts they would have been forced to do in order to receive an R-Rating from the MPAA (in the DVD's audio commentary they talk about more than 100 cuts!) they released I Spit On Your Grave in its original version only. The cinema posters all included a huge "Unrated"-overprint. In February 2011, exactly this version was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the USA.


In the UK, even the original movie has a long story of censorship-issues. Thanks to the inclusion on the infamous "Video Nasties"-list, the movie for years could only be purchased in a version that misses out on roughly 7 minutes. In 2010, they finally re-released the movie in the "Most complete version ever released in the UK" - unfortunately this means, that this version "only" misses out on 3 minutes. This makes the movie one of the few ones that are not accessable in an uncensored version in the UK (despite the high BBFC rating).

It looks like they're going to pass down this tradition to the remake. While recent movies such as "The Expendables" are only censored to receive a lower BBFC rating but still are released in their uncensored form, I Spit On Your Grave could not receive a BBFC-18 rating without cutting out several scenes. In their report about the movie the BBFC wrote:



It's a little misleading to talk about "new material". As opposed to a lot of R-Rated movies (where the MPAA tells the producers how to cut the movie), the British version does not include alternative material in the proper meaning of the word. The BBFC refers the "new material" aspect to 5 scenes of the movie, where the UK version shows a zoomed image section, resulting in less explicit material. Even though there are other scenes that include excessive nudity, the scenes that had to be shortened/altered all concern rape scenes (so it is all about context). What's really annoying about these short moments is the fact that every time a scene was zoomed, the film size changes. If the lower part of the image had to be censored, the zoomed image completely fills out the whole screen (and therefore also the parts where the black bars resulting from the original film size [2,35:1] should be). This effect is very annoying and probably even unintended.
Another censorship method is repeating several frames towards the beginning of a scene in order to be able to cut out a the ending of this sequence.

In the detailed BBFC report (which was already mentioned) as well as the press handout about the cuts in I Spit On Your Grave as well as A Serbian Film you can find some interesting comments on the censorship. This is a point where you really have to speak in high terms of the BBFC who at least justify each and every case of censorship.

Before awarding an '18' classification to I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, the BBFC required seventeen individual cuts to its scenes of sexual violence in order to remove elements that tend to eroticise sexual assault (for example, through the use of nudity), as well as other elements that tend to endorse sexual assault (for example, by encouraging viewer complicity by the use of camcorder footage, filmed by the rapists, during the various scenes of sexual assault). With these cuts made, the film's scenes of very strong terrorisation and sexual violence remain potentially shocking, distressing or offensive to some adult viewers, but are also likely to be found repugnant and to be aversive. They are not credibly likely to encourage imitation. There are three scenes in which Jennifer is terrorised, humiliated and sexually assaulted by the men. She is verbally and physically abused, being forced to drink alcohol, dance in her underwear and behave like an animal. She is also beaten and pushed around by the men. Jennifer is then raped by each of the men in turn, although only two rapes are shown onscreen. In the cut version, the rape scenes feature only incidental nudity and are played largely off facial reactions. Although the scenes of assault are protracted, the most likely response to the cut version of the scenes is revulsion and disgust rather than excitement or arousal. [...] David Cooke, Director of the BBFC said: “It is the Board’s policy that at the adult category the Guideline concerns will not normally override the principle that adults should be free to choose their own entertainment. However, there are cases where the Board will intervene, even at ‘18’, where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to pose a credible potential harm risk to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society, and in particular where portrayals of sexual or sexualised violence might eroticise or endorse sexual assault or where children are portrayed in a sexualised context. The cuts to this version of I Spit on Your Grave, which the Board has required, remove elements that tend to eroticise sexual assault (for example, through the use of titillation), as well as other elements that tend to endorse sexual assault (for example, by encouraging viewer complicity by the use of camcorder footage, filmed by the rapists, during the various scenes of sexual assault). With these cuts made, the film’s scenes of very strong terrorisation and sexual violence remain potentially shocking, distressing or offensive to some adult viewers, but are also likely to be found essentially repugnant and aversive. The Board takes the view that, with these cuts, they are not credibly likely to encourage imitation."

The real cuts they had to make fall into the same category. Only a few short and potentially sexually arousing sequences had to be cut out. The usage of weapons as phallus-replacement as well as the voyeuristic glimpse through one of the tormentors' camera are 2 examples for these cuts. The brutal scenes of Jennifer's revenge were not altered and even the multiple rape scenes are basically shown. If you don't know the uncensored version, you might not even notice the cuts, so one could say that this version still is reasonable for an interested viewer. Still, it's not a bad idea to just buy the uncensored American version.


The time index will be mentioned as follows:
UK DVD [PAL] / US DVD [NTSC]

29:29 / 30:46-30:49

You see a shot of Stanley's camera (including a zoom) where Jennifer is forced to suck on Johnny's gun.
Johnny: "Breathe through your nose. Come on, you know this."

3.3 sec

30:14 / 31:35-31:37

A missing shot of Andy holding a glass bottle in front of his private parts and putting it into Jennifer's mouth.
Matthew comments it (from off-screen): "Come on now. We're doing this for you."

1.9 sec

37:34 / 39:16-39:18

Storch pulls Jennifer's top to the side with his rifle - you see her naked breast.

1.9 sec

37:36 / 39:20-39:22

After the cut to Matthew (who's shaking), the following shot was cut out.

1.8 sec

37:49 / 39:36

When Storch's gun "arrived" at Jennifer's genital area, the scene is slightly longer.

0.5 sec

37:50 / 39:37-39:38

When Storch bends over, a very short shot of him in this position was cut out.

0.4 sec

40:12 / 42:06-42:10

A shot of Stanley with the camera. Then follows a shot from what he's filming - you see Jennifer who is anxiously "dancing".
They root for her from off-screen: "Prance for us. Prance, show horse!"

4.4 sec

Zoom
40:55-40:56 / 42:55-42:56

Curious: When Jennifer rolls over the floor, Andy grabs her. This scene was zoomed for the UK version - therefore, you can't see her genital area/behind anymore.

This results in an annoying different film size (the lower part of the image is lost due to the zoom and so is the black bar at the bottom of the screen).

No difference in time.

BBFC18	Unrated

41:16 / 43:17-43:19

A shot from Stanley's camera: Jennifer is pushed to the ground and undressed.

2 sec

Zoom
41:35-41:37 / 43:39-43:41

Als Matthew Jennifer vergewaltigt, wurde die Aufnahme erneut nicht gekürzt, sondern lediglich gezoomt. So ist Matthews Hintern nicht zu sehen.

No difference in time.

BBFC18	Unrated

41:49 / 43:54-43:55

Another shot of Matthew on top of Jennifer (again, filmed by Stanley with his camera).

1.6 sec

Zoom
41:49-41:50 / 43:55-43:56

The following shot was zoomed for no particular reason. This time it mainly affects the upper part of the screen.

No difference in time.

BBFC18	Unrated

Repeated Footage
41:57-41:59 / 44:03-44:05

Another curious type of censorship. During the blurred shot where Stanley puts his camera away because the cell phone rings, the UK version shows several frames twice - due to the blurred image you will hardly even notice it.
Thanks to this method they were able to cut the last 0.5 seconds (where you see Matthew's behind) out without any difference in time. Also, by censoring the scene in this way they didn't have to alter the soundtrack.

No difference in time.

Zoom
45:10-45:13 / 47:25-47:28

When Johnny pulls Jennifer forwards and pushes her in Andy's arms (agian, this is shown by Stanley's camera), the UK version shows a slightly zoomed image - you no longer see her behind.

No difference in time.

BBFC18	Unrated

45:13 / 47:28-47:29

Subsequent to that, the following shot was shortened towards the beginning.
They probably did this because you see Jennifer's naked breasts before she falls to the ground.

0.4 sec

Zoom
45:17-45:18 / 47:33-47:34

Due to the zoom in the UK version you don't see Jennifer's behind anymore.

No difference in time.

BBFC18	Unrated

49:09 / 51:34-51:36

The beginning of this shot (= a panning shot top down Jennifer's abased body) was cut out.

2.2 sec