Rape and revenge, or rape-revenge, is a
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
subgenre characterized by an individual enacting revenge for rape or other sexual acts committed against them or others. Rape and revenge films are also commonly
thrillers or
vigilante films.
Notable for its graphic depiction of violence, rape, torture, and sexual imagery, rape and revenge films have attracted critical attention and controversy, often gaining a
cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...
and retrospectively associated with the
New French Extremity,
underground cinema, and
arthouse cinema.
Themes and characteristics
"''Rape and revenge''" was the pioneer and, so far, most controversial film hybrid-genre of the mid-20th century that focuses on the main protagonist. It has pioneered and is considered controversial for the portrayal of female (main) characters who become
anti-hero(s)/
vigilante(s) that engage in a vicious plot to eliminate the perpetrator/
rapist(s) who have harmed them. There is some debate as to whether or not the revenge must be carried out by the assault victim to be considered part of this genre, or if it may be carried out by their loved ones as well .
Each early films rose in prominence in the 1970s and relied heavily on the shock value of brutal rape scenes, followed by the even larger shock of the main character's sadistic revenge.
History
The genre stems from a fascination with
revenge
Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...
in western culture, beginning with the descriptive
tragedies of the Greeks and continuing in
Elizabethan England (by
Thomas Kyd and
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
). This desire for revenge or to experience revenge has also been the catalyst of many horror films and novels in general, not just those dealing with sexual assault and rape.
The hybrid-genre's most well known and well labeled works are from the latter half of the 20th century, except the 1931's film ''
A Woman Branded'', which is about a woman who was raped and contracted
venereal disease
A sexually transmitted infection (STI), also referred to as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and the older term venereal disease (VD), is an infection that is spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, or ...
and seeks revenge on the man who raped her. It is possibly considered as the earliest precursor of the "''rape and revenge''" subgenre, retrospectively ''.''
The Virgin Spring
In 1960, the term 'rape and revenge''" was coined in
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...
's ''The Virgin Spring'', considered the earliest film and precursor of the subgenre; the film is about a father who seeks vengeance on three herdsmen for the rape and murder of his daughter. This film however is technically a "Rape and Avange" film as it is not the victim herself that does the killings. According to director
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...
, inspiration for the film came from the legend of Per Töre, which he read as a student. Per Töre has seven daughters who fall victim to seven rapists. He was also heavily influenced by
Japanese cinema, being particularly a fan of ''
Rashomon'' (1950).
The Phantom of Soho
The 1964
Bryan Edgar Wallace "Krimi"
The Phantom of Soho was the first movie to have the rape-victim herself become a serial revenge killer. The production company
CCC infused this storyline later into the iconography of the
Giallo in co-producing the seminal
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage that has a similar theme.
The 1973's film ''
Thriller – A Cruel Picture'' definitively codified the ethics and development of the genre, although the film was permanently banned in the same country.
Influences and pioneers

After the following U.S. release of ''The Virgin Spring'', it inspired
Wes Craven's debut ''
The Last House on the Left'', which is based on both Bergman's film and Swedish ballad "
Töres döttrar i Wänge". Like the Bergman's film, the plot of ''
The Last House on the Left'' is carried by the two victim's parents exact vengeance to the criminals. In some cases, the film was more brutal and controversial than the Bergman's film, due to explicit rape and mutilation.
In the United States, it continues to produce several rape and revenge films in the 1970s including
Sam Peckinpah's ''
Straw Dogs'',
Michael Winner
Michael Robert Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was an English filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous action, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including several c ...
's ''
Death Wish'',
Lamont Johnson's ''
Lipstick
Lipstick is a cosmetics, cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick ...
'', and
Meir Zarchi
Meir Zarchi (; born 1937) is an Israeli-American film director, screenwriter and producer.
Career
Zarchi's first professional film credit came from providing the story for the 1962 Israeli drama, ''Nini (1962 film), Nini''.
Zarchi's first film ...
's ''
I Spit on Your Grave''; some of them are mainly screened in
mainstream theaters, while others were screened independently in
underground cinemas as
exploitation films.
In addition to American films, rape and revenge films have been made in the Philippines (e.g.;
Lino Brocka's ''
Insiang''), Japan (e.g.,
Takashi Ishii's ''
Freeze Me''), Finland, Russia (''
The Voroshilov Sharpshooter''), Argentina (e.g., ''I'll Never Die Alone'';
008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to:
* "008", a fictional 00 Agent
In Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and the derived films, the 00 Section of MI6 is considered the secret service's elite. A 00 (pronounced "Double O") is a field agent who ho ...
original title: ''No Moriré Sola''), and Norway (e.g., ''
The Whore''
009 original title: ''Hora'')''.''
Several female directors have tried their hand at the genre to subvert its codes including
Virginie Despentes' ''
Baise-moi'' (2000),
Coralie Fargeat's ''
Revenge
Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...
'' (2017),
Jennifer Kent's ''
The Nightingale'' (2018), and
Emerald Fennell's ''
Promising Young Woman'' (2020), the latter revitalized the subgenre and garnered multiple awards and nominations''.''
Some of the films, ''
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'' and ''Promising Young Woman'', are subverted examples of the subgenre where a character was raped and murdered off-screen before the protagonist seeks revenge, although both films lack the use of graphic violence and onscreen rape.
Motifs of the subgenre, meaning that without being claimed as belonging to the genre, sometimes appears as a subplot in films to take up the codes at one point such as
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
's ''
Clockwork Orange'',
Gaspar Noé's ''
Irréversible'',
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...
's ''
Pulp Fiction
''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence ...
'' and ''
Kill Bill'',
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier (né Trier; born 30 April 1956) is a Danish film director and screenwriter.
Beginning in the late-1960s as a child actor working on Danish television series ''Secret Summer'', von Trier's career has spanned more than five decad ...
's ''
Dogville'', and
Paul Verhoeven's ''
Elle
Elle may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication
** Elle Style Awards
* Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition
* Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film
* ''Elle: ...
''.
Explanation of the subgenre
Rape and revenge films generally follow three simple rules of the plot as a
narrative structure
Story structure or narrative structure is the recognizable or comprehensible way in which a narrative's different elements are unified, including in a particularly chosen order and sometimes specifically referring to the ordering of the plot: ...
, nearly similar to
three-act structure
The three-act structure is a model used in narrative fiction that divides a story into three parts ( acts), often called the Setup, the Confrontation, and the Resolution. Syd Field described it in his 1979 book ''Screenplay: The Foundations of ...
;
# Rape: The main character / victim is (violently) raped and maybe further abused,
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
d or left for dead; the perpetrator(s) sometimes consider the victim dead.
# Return: There are two optional decisions whereas to survive or not.
#* The main character is heavily
devastated by the victim's death.
#* The main character / victim barely survives, but is still devastated, and may
rehabilitate themselves under psychological circumstances.
# Revenge: The main character (and optionally a third-party) exact vengeance and engage in a plot to eliminate their rapist(s).
In ''Irréversible'', the structure was reversed, with the first part depicting the revenge before tracing back the events which led to that point.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
argues that, by using this structure as well as a false revenge, ''Irréversible'' cannot be classified as an exploitation film, as no exploitation of the subject matter takes place.
Notable films
* ''
13 Assassins'' (2010)
* ''
22 Female Kottayam''
* ''
6 Guns''
* ''
American Mary''
* ''
Avenged'' (2013)
* ''
Bad Reputation'' (2005)
* ''
Bandit Queen''
* ''
Baise-moi''
* ''
Big Driver''
* ''
The Birth of a Nation
''The Birth of a Nation'' is a 1915 American Silent film, silent Epic film, epic Drama (film and television), drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and ...
'' (2016)
* ''
Blink Twice''
* ''
The Crow'' (1994)
* ''
Coward of the County''
* ''
Daughter of Darkness'' (1993)
* ''
Death Rides a Horse
''Death Rides a Horse'' () is a 1967 Italian spaghetti Western directed by Giulio Petroni, written by Luciano Vincenzoni and starring Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law.
Plot
Bill, a boy whose father was killed and mother and sister were gang-r ...
''
* ''
Death Weekend''
* ''
Death Wish'' (1974)
* ''
Death Wish II''
* ''
Demented'' (2010)
* ''
The Devil All the Time''
* ''
¡Dispara!''
* ''
Elle
Elle may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication
** Elle Style Awards
* Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition
* Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film
* ''Elle: ...
''
* ''
Extremities''
* ''
Eye for an Eye
"An eye for an eye" (, ) is a commandment found in the Book of Exodus 21:23–27 expressing the principle of reciprocal justice measure for measure. The earliest known use of the principle appears in the Code of Hammurabi, which predates the wr ...
'' (1996)
[
* '' Fear Island''
* '' Freeze Me''
* '' Girls Against Boys''
* ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'' (]2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
, 2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
)
* '' Gone'' (2012)
* '' Grave of the Vampire''
* '' A Gun for Jennifer''
* '' Gun Woman''
* '' Gutterballs''
* ''Hannie Caulder
''Hannie Caulder'' is a 1971 British Western (genre), Western film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring Raquel Welch, Robert Culp, and Ernest Borgnine.
Plot
Hannie Caulder is a frontier wife, living with her husband at a horse station between ...
''[
* '' Hard Candy''
* ''The Hills Have Eyes'' (]1977
Events January
* January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
, 2006
2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
Events
January
* January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during t ...
)
* '' Horns'' (2013)
* '' Hora'' (2009)
* '' The Horseman''
* '' The House of the Spirits''
* '' I Saw the Devil''
* ''I Spit on Your Grave'' (1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
, 2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
)
* '' I Spit on Your Grave 2''
* '' I Spit on Your Grave III: Vengeance is Mine''
* '' I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu''
* '' Insiang''
* '' Irréversible'' (2002)
* '' Jackson County Jail''
* '' Jungle Warriors''
* '' Jennifer's Body'' (2009)
* '' Kill Bill: Volume 1''
* '' Kill the Rapist?''
* '' Kuroneko''
* '' The Ladies Club''
* '' Lady Snowblood''
* ''The Last House on the Left'' (1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
, 2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
)
* '' Last Stop on the Night Train''
* ''Lipstick
Lipstick is a cosmetics, cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick ...
'' (1976)
* '' Liquid Sky'' (1982)
* '' Memento'' (2000)
* '' Men Can't Be Raped''
* '' MFA''
* '' Mom'' (2017)
* '' Ms .45'' (1981)
* '' Naan Sigappu Manithan'' (1985)
* '' The Nightingale'' (2018)
* '' Nocturnal Animals'' (2016)
* '' Otis''
* '' The Phantom of Soho'' (1964)
* '' Promising Young Woman'' (2020)
* '' Rape of Love''
* '' Red Sonja'' (1985)
* '' Return to Sender'' (2015)
* ''Revenge
Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...
'' (2017)
* '' Revengers Tragedy''
* '' Rings'' (2017)
* '' Riot on Sunset Strip''
* '' Rise: Blood Hunter''
* '' Rob Roy'' (1995)
* '' Run! Bitch Run!''
* '' Savage Streets''
* '' Savage Vengeance''
* '' Savages'' (2012)
* '' A Serbian Film''
* ''Shutter'' (2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
, 2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
)
* '' Sleepers''
* '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' (2007)
* '' The Stendhal Syndrome''
* '' The Strange Thing About the Johnsons''
* '' The Stranger'' (1995)
* ''Straw Dogs'' (1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
, 2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
)
* '' Sudden Impact'' (1983)
* ''Teeth
A tooth (: teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tear ...
'' (2007)
* '' Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'' (2017)
* '' Thriller – A Cruel Picture'' (1973)
* '' Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives''
* ''Titus
Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September AD 81) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, becoming the first Roman emperor ever to succeed h ...
'' (1999), a modernized adaptation of Shakespeare's ''Titus Andronicus
''The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus'', often shortened to ''Titus Andronicus'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first t ...
''
* '' Tomcats'' (1977)
* '' The Virgin Spring'' (1960)
* '' Voroshilov Sharpshooter''
* '' Vulgar''
* '' Wehshi Haseena'' (2004)
* '' Wild Things'' (1998)
* '' Wild Things 2''
* '' Wild Things: Diamonds in the Rough''
* '' Wild Things: Foursome''
Reception and legacy
''The Virgin Spring'' received polarized reviews from critics, but subject to censorship since its U.S release, and later won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
, marked the first rape and revenge film to win an Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
. In retrospective years, the film renewed positively and expressed inspiration of several films, described as a relatively auspicious heritage to rape and revenge films.
The subgenre has attracted critical attention and controversy, especially when it is akin to horror cinema – is probably one of the most controversial genres, accused of voyeurism and complacency by its detractors. Much of this critical attention comes from feminist critics examining the complex politics involved in the genre and its impact on cinema more generally. More recently, a broad analysis of the rape-revenge genre and concept was published in ''Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study'', by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. The book argues against a simplistic notion of the term "rape-revenge" and suggests a film-specific approach in order to avoid generalizing films which may "diverge not over the treatment of sexual assault as much as they do in regard to the morality of the revenge act".
Rape and revenge films, like many horror films, cause controversy by making the audience complicit in the violence of the story. Because of this, both old and new films of the genre struggle with the balance of creating a realistic story that forces the audience to confront the horrifying reality, not putting so many horrifying things on the screen as to isolate your audience, ''and'' not making light or sexualizing the horrifying topics that do end up in the film.
The controversy stems from the fact that films in the genre can often be accused of using the moral of the story as a pretext to justify extremely graphic murder and rape scenes. For example, ''I Spit on Your Grave'', notable for its controversial depiction of extreme graphic violence and depictions of gang rape, sparked controversies with feminists protesting the movie and people accusing the movie of glorifying rape. The Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the Major film studios, five major film studios of the Cinema of the United States, United States, the Major film studios#Mini-majors, mini-major Amazon MGM Stud ...
tried to prevent the film's producers from using the R rating. After the association gave the film an R rating, the producer of the film added rape scenes, making it an X-rated movie. Ultimately, an agreement was reached where the film removed any references or explicit shots referring to anal rape and the MPAA restored the original R rating. In an interview with ''Fangoria
''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr.
The magazine was originally released i ...
'', director Meir Zarchi said as a response to the backlash:
The remaining films ''Irréversible'', ''The Last House on the Left'', and ''Thriller – A Cruel Picture'' continue to spark substantial attention and controversy, with ''Irréversible'' notable for nine-minute continuous rape scene and repeatedly bludgeon-to-death scene, prompting widespread outrage among audiences during the film's premiere, including the cast from the film, and film critics stormed out.
The anime adaptation of '' Redo of Healer'' also attracted controversy for the first two episodes, depicting rape and graphic violence at one point as a plot device, with one review describes the anime:"''Redo of Healer'' may well be the most notorious and divisive anime series this season, in this case it earned a reputation for using ''revenge rape'' as a key recurring story element in the original material".
Despite this, the anime gained higher than average percentage of female viewers and novelist Rui Tsukiyo expressed their surprise on Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
.
See also
* B-movie
A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...
* Captivity narrative
* New Hollywood
The New Hollywood, Hollywood Renaissance, American New Wave, or New American Cinema (not to be confused with the New American Cinema of the 1960s that was part of Experimental film, avant-garde underground film, underground cinema), was a movemen ...
* Vulgar auteurism
* American independent cinema
* Extreme cinema
* Midnight film
* Psychological fiction
In literature, psychological fiction (also psychological realism) is a narrative genre that emphasizes interior characterization and motivation to explore the spiritual, emotional, and mental lives of its Character (arts), characters. The mode of ...
(drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
, horror, thriller)
* Revenge tragedy
* Splatter film
* Social thriller
* Video nasty
* #MeToo movement
References
{{Film genres
Film genres
Films about rape
Films about revenge
Horror films by genre
Thriller films by genre