Behind the Couch

2012 Dir. Paul Hyett During the Balkan War, Angel (Rosie Day), a young deaf girl, watches in horror as her family are murdered by the militia. She is then abducted and put to work in an isolated house specialising in supplying kidnapped women to military personnel for sex. Unbeknownst to her captors, Angel is able to move around the house between the walls and under the floors, watching, learning, and planning her escape. When she witnesses the brutal rape and murder of her friend, Angel can no longer retain her rage and sets out to escape. But not before seeking bloody justice… The Seasoning House is a gruelling and powerful against-all-the-odds tale of survival and revenge. While the subject matter is highly grim, writer/director Hyett’s measured approach works to handle it with surprising delicacy, and resists the urge to stray too far into outlandish exploitation. While events are at times certainly exaggerated, the true horror emerges, fully formed, from the brutal, unspe...

2010 Dir. Steven R. Monroe While staying at a secluded cabin to finish her novel, a young writer is brutally raped and left for dead by a group of local men. Some time later, she systematically hunts down the men to extract merciless and gruesome revenge.  The original I Spit on Your Grave  is a notorious rape-revenge film produced in the 1970s. Written and directed by Meir Zarchi, it generated controversy upon its release for its graphic violence and depiction of the brutal gang rape of the main character (novelist Jennifer Hills, portrayed by Camille Keaton) which lasts about half an hour. It was branded a Video Nasty and subsequently banned. Some critics over the years have suggested the film is ‘pro-feminist’, that Zarchi was exploring 'feminist wish-fulfilment', and that revenge narratives can subvert traditional power dynamics, ultimately empowering the victim. Others have said it can't possibly be a feminist work because rape-revenge films are inherently miso...