Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study By: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Author: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Often considered the lowest depth to which the cinema can plummet, the rape-revenge film has been dismissed as exploitative and sensational, catering to a demented demographic. Only on such rare occasions as Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring, John Boorman’s Deliverance and Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill has the rape-revenge movie transcended what is commonly assumed to be its intrinsically regressive nature.