I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu

Director - Meir Zarchi (I Spit on Your Grave, Don't Mess with My Sister!)

Starring - Camille Keaton (I Spin on Your Grave, Savage Vengeance), Jamie Bernadette (/20 Massacre, Dead by Dawn), and Maria Olsen (Killjoy's Psycho Circus, Hansel vs. Gretel)

Release Date - 2019

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Vengeance, thy name is woman"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I had watched the original I Spit on Your Grave several times and its a movie that will always stick with me.  I know sometime ago the film was remade and that film spawned a few sequels but I never had the drive or desire to actually check them out.  Last year a sequel to the original was released and that one did catch my eye.  I snagged the release when I could but I never got around to actually checking it out.  When Ronin Flix sent over their I Spit on Your Grave blu box set it gave me the perfect excuse to finally watch Zarchi's sequel to his classic film.

     The film takes place several decades after the events in the first film with Jennifer (Keaton) now a mother and a notable author as she travels the country telling others about her rape and revenge.  However, the relatives of the four men she killed can not move on with their life so they kidnap Jennifer and her daughter Christy (Bernadette).  They kill Jennifer and then gang rape her.  She is able to escape and plots her revenge in the same fashion her mother did all those years before her.

     I wasn't expecting Deja Vu to be as memorable as the original film but I was expecting something entertaining.  The movie had a few entertaining moments but the overall film was absolutely nothing like the original.  In fact, this one actually made me laugh a few times which is something I would never do at the original.  The acting in this one is very inconsistent and a little on the humorious side.  Keaton in the original film delivers one of the most iconic performances in genre history.  However, she is very underwhelming here.  Jamie Bernadette delivers a very intense and phenomenal performance but the others in the scene with her often underplay her resulting in some unintentionally funny moments.  With that being said, I'm so confused as to why Maria Olsen was directed to deliver such an outlandish character.  She's a great actress but her character in this film is very eccentric and out of place.  The story for this one is pretty much the same as the first film except they are relatives of the first film.  It's clever writing but the predictability and impact of the kills are not the same.  We know what's coming before it happens which really takes away the shock factor that the first film delivers so well.  Also, the film is over 2 hours long which is way too long for the story we are given.  Finally, this one is a little more bloodier than the original.  The practical effects are good and the few visual effects we get are solid as well.  I typically hate visual effects but these were surprisingly well done.  Overall, Deja Vu is not the original film.  It does have a few moments that make the movie worth watching.  The title really does sum this movie up perfectly except it tells the same story in 2 hours when the first one did not.  I would recommend checking it out once but don't expect something with replay value.