THE BOOK:

Often considered the lowest depth to which the cinema can plummet, rape-revenge films have been dismissed as exploitative and sensational, catering to a demented demographic. Only on rare occasions as ‘The Virgin Spring’, ‘The Accused’, ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ and ‘Deliverance’ has the rape-revenge movie supposedly transcended what is commonly assumed to be its intrinsically exploitative nature and moved into the mainstream.

This critical overview challenges and reassesses that viewpoint by exploring the diversity of the rape-revenge category across genres, national contexts and historical periods and argues for both their longevity and the elasticity of the trope. The author discusses an array of films directed by both noteworthy and lesser known directors, and claims that diverse and often contradictory treatments of sexual violence can exist simultaneously.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is a film writer and researcher from Melbourne, Australia.  ’Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study’ is her first book.