Why So Blu?

I Spit On Your Grave 3: Vengeance Is Mine (Blu-ray Review)

While part two in the new franchise here didn’t really do it for me, I gotta say I was stoked to see where this newest entry, I Spit On Your Grave 3: Vengeance Is Mine, takes things, especially with Sarah Butler back in the mix.  Hell yeah!  So before we dive deep into the nitty gritty of things, here’s the 411 on this Blu-ray release.  Anchor Bay Entertainment is obviously the distributor of this revenge horror flick.  If you do the math, it’s the third installment of the controversial cult series and will be released in select theaters October 9th before heading to DVD, Blu-ray and Video On Demand October 20, 2015.   So now that we got all that housekeeping out of the way are you ready to start talking about I Spit On Your Grave 3: Vengeance Is Mine in more detail?  I am!  I want to get this over with.  Haha.

Film 

Anchor Bay Entertainment released I Spit on Your Grave in 2010 and I Spit On Your Grave 2 in 2013 to critical acclaim.  The 2010 release was loosely based on Meir Zarchi’s 1978 version (and I loved the re-do immensely).  Because of the success of the re-imagination and of course the lore of the nostalgia from the 1978 version, the franchise has gained the respect of both mainstream and genre critics.  This latest installment is a continuation of the 2010 film’s storyline and reunites us with Sarah Butler.  Thank you for that!  Jennifer Landon (The Young and the Restless), Doug McKeon (On Golden Pond) and Gabriel Hogan (Heartland) co-star in this R.D. Braunstein directed chapter.

Before we begin I want to re-express my love for 2010’s re-imagination of the 1978 cult classic.  I absolutely loved it so much so that it inspired me to write my own revenge flick, Amy, which was later re-branded Take it to the Grave and is still in development hell out in California (insert frown face there).  This is why I was so excited when this third chapter was first announced and now that I have sat down with it this also why I am so absolutely disappointed with things too.  Do you have a minute?  Sure you do!  I’ll tell you why I am so disappointed.

So here we are, Jennifer Hills (Butler) is still tormented by the brutal sexual assault she endured years ago.  Who wouldn’t be, right?  She’s changed identities (now does by the name of Angela) and cities, reluctantly joining a support group where she begins to piece together a hopefully new, positive life.  She even does the unthinkable.  She makes a friend,  However, when her new friend’s murderer gets set free and the tales of serial rapists in her support group begin to increasingly haunt her, Jennifer hunts down the men responsible and does what the system won’t.  She make them pay for their crimes in the most horrific ways imaginable all in the name of justice.  Only this time, she has Johnny Law and the legal system in the way of her extracting revenge on all.  While this all sounds like a good way to kill 90-minutes of your life, it’s actually all quite lame.

I Spit On Your Grave 3: Vengeance Is Mine is what Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2 is to the Halloween franchise, a complete mind-f#%k.  Not that there’s anything extremely wrong with Zombie’s Halloween 2 trip, but I think you know where I’m going here.  Sadly, a lot of the great kills never even happen in real life save for just a few.  However, I don’t think that borders too much into spoiler territory.  I’m just forewarning you that while it’s cool that not everything seems like it really does (I do love mind tripping), but it’s just the poor excuse and way that it’s done that leaves a lot to be desired.  The best part of this chapter for me, besides Sarah’s involvement, was the ending.  Now that’s not because I was happy to see the film end, but I really liked the twist there.  I just wish the rest of the film, harkening back to my fond memories of the 2010 entry, could have been a lot stronger.

So like I said up above, the story was very weak and uninteresting.  I kept myself in the game the whole time though with an open mind hoping for things to get better and really wanting to give it the benefit of the doubt.  Other than the twist at the very end, which I did really love, the only thing that satisfied the gore hound in me was a BJ scene like none other.  I wish I could describe it in more detail, but I’m pretty sure Disney would ban my site from receiving Blu-ray review copies so I will choose my words wisely.  The scene involves a knife, a mouth, some male genitals and my attest that I have never seen a kill like this one before.  Kudos.  That’s all I have to say positive about this movie.  When I hit stop as the credits rolled I turned to my girlfriend and say well that was pretty mediocre (hence the middle of the road film score).  But hey!  At least we both hung in there, right?  Absolutely!

Video

• Encoding: AVC MPEG-4
• Resolution: 1080p
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Clarity/Detail: This one is a hard one to judge because other than the reds we’re always in the dark here throughout the whole film’s runtime.  However, that does not mean there’s not any detail.  Just look to the fabrics, imperfections in skin, hair strands, etc. for signs of clarity and detail in this Blu-ray presentation.  It’s all in there.  It’s just not prevalent like a brightly lit, crisp presentation would be.
• Depth: The depth of field is most impressive here especially in scenes such as the downtown LA background, down the hardware store aisles and even inside of bars.
• Black Levels: Black levels are deep and inky throughout here, which is good because this movie takes place in the shadows.
• Color Reproduction: The only good thing I have to say about here is the reds look spectacular here, from the blood to the red dressed employed by Sarah later on in the film, but other than that the color palette is very muted because of all the darkness shrouding things throughout here.
• Flesh Tones: The flesh tones are all natural looking and accurate throughout.
• Noise/Artifacts: There was nothing nasty, other than the gore, in the presentation that will distract you from enjoying the looks of this one (unless you care a lot about a solid story).

Audio 

• Audio Format(s): English Dolby True-HD
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Dynamics: The dynamics of the track were just so-so.  Things sounded good, but it just did not sound as alive as most Blu-ray audio tracks are.  Things don’t really even come to life in this surround track until acts of violence are conducted onscreen.  In other words, like the movie itself, the dynamics are just mediocre.
• Low Frequency Extension: The LFE is quite active throughout all the random scenes of senseless violence.  Things like gunshots, the pulsating score, punches, etc. come to mind as examples when the subwoofer flexes its mighty muscles.
• Surround Sound Presentation: There’s not too much happening in the rears, but when it does I liked very much what I heard.  Little things like a bus going by behind you to neighbors arguing in a nearby apartment excite me in the rear speakers.
• Dialogue Reproduction:  Spoken words are loud and clear.  I never had a problem hearing what was said.  I do like that!

Extras 

There’s absolutely nothing to be found here in the way of special features, not even a Digital Copy.  Boo!

Summary 

Truth be told, your mileage may vary with I Spit On Your Grave 3: Vengeance Is Mine.  I’m not going to knock it.  I know one man’s junk can be another man’s treasure.  I found things to absolutely love about this Blu-ray release and of course things to hate.  Sadly, if you do like this one, there’s no supplemental features for you to enjoy.  That could be a deal breaker to some.  I would say this is for fans of the franchise only.  You know who you are.  If you followed the second entry in this series tolerable, then I think you can hang well with this one.  Enjoy and thanks of reading!