Youtube is now circulating ads for a movie which releases tomorrow called "Revenge". It features a woman raped by three married men who comes back for revenge. However, unlike I Spit on Your Grave, this movie advertises itself explicitly as an attack on Youtube commenters and "the male gaze" with it's teaser trailers intercutting the main character hunting down the male leads and torturing them with text on screen cited as coming from "Youtube". These include:

"What the fuck is with all these new movies and women in power everywhere?" -Youtube

"Why are women always so bad at being cool? Really?" -Youtube

"Women belong in the kitchen." -Youtube

Curiously, the original trailers make virtually no reference to this, resembling a low-budget Mad Max: Fury Road knockoff. It has a good thumbs-up to thumbs-down ratio, and even has an over 90% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes as of it's appearance at last year's Toronto Film Festival.

It appears that it wasn't until this recent ad campaign that the movie has suddenly and proudly adopted the title of "Feminazi: The Movie". An interview with Seventh Row has the writer/director, Coralie Fargeat, explain that the movie wasn't conceived with that in mind, but goes on to say:

CF: I’m not a big social media person, but I use it, and I like it. I will admit that. I used to be so concerned about what people would tweet about me, but I just got one tweet that said something really mean and angry about me. And I know that, a year ago, I probably would have been really upset about it. But now, I understand better that not everyone is going to like me. I have to be myself, and whoever likes me, likes me; whoever doesn’t, whatever. It really helped me with my personal life.

7R: In the film, the character is initially treated by others like a superficial, pretty girl. No one really cares about her. Usually, in rape-revenge films, the girl attacked is the opposite: someone who is more intellectual, as though this would make the attack more unfair. In Revenge, it’s very refreshing to see a character who knows that she is beautiful, never hides that, even after she’s attacked, and proves to be very resourceful.

CF: I wanted a character that could be as superficial, seductive, and sexy as she wanted to be, and that never being an excuse for anyone to harm her. That’s a real problem: women are made responsible for what others do to them, even though they are the victims.

Bloody-Disgusting goes on to elaborate in their Sundance interview with lead actor Matilda Lutz:

“I do really feel this film was made at the perfect moment in history,” Lutz told Bloody Disgusting in an exclusive interview.

“It’s obviously not a realistic movie and I wouldn’t encourage revenge on anyone, of course, but it’s a very strong metaphor for what’s happening right now.” She goes on to explain: “Something is definitely changing. Women are encouraged to speak up (and men to stand by their sides) and I think it is a great example for kids.

In multiple interviews she states that the movie was primarily inspired by films like Kill Bill, Rambo, and Mad Max, but even during the post-production process it appears that there was evidence that the movie was being retroactively edited into an allegory about modern culture and the perception of women in media.

For my two cents? I own Mad Max: Fury Road. Charlize Theron is practically the main character of that movie and she kicks tons of ass. I put her up there with the other Hollywood female action greats like Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton. Do I want to see more women in action movie roles? Hell yeah. Jeeja Yanin and Cynthia Rothrock are massively underrated, and hell, I even liked Demi Moore in G.I. Jane, but this? Even if not indicative of the final product, this is downright embarrassing. This Bully-Hunters-esque tryhard shit is going to hurt your movie, whether it turns out to be good or not.

Trailers in chronological order:

Jan 3rd, 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTJrztVvmx0

Mar 30th, 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0We8oml-os

May 8th, 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiAWS5QrgBE

*I can't find the one currently circulating on Youtube right now which features the "male gaze" comment.