History YMMV / ISpitOnYourGrave

** Jennifer: [[spoiler: By the end of the third film, it's pretty clear that she has become mentally unstable. But that last night she snuck out and got caught. She knew she was being watched by the police, yet she was wearing a clearly visible red dress and tried to kill at least two more people, one of them in front of a Detective no less. Did she really go insane that night or was it a deliberate ploy to allow her to plead insanity and dodge any serious punishment?]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpratation:

** It's averted in the second film. Katie's antagonists are [[spoiler: human traffickers who lure women in with free modelling photo shoots (which is TruthInTelevision) and her ordeal. Plus we do see Katie's escape and physical recovery.]] Somewhat played straight in that one of the antagonists [[spoiler: was a sex slave herself and the other is a PsychopathicManChild who was attracted to Katie.]] It doesn't excuse the hell they put her through. Also, unlike Jennifer, [[spoiler: Katie had two people in her corner that tried (and succeeded somewhat) to help her. This display of humanity probably makes her more of a shade of gray than Jennifer.]]
** It's little better in the third film. When we catch up with Jennifer, she is no longer an author, has changed her name and moved to a new city. She is plagued by nightmares, flashbacks and later on hallucinations. [[spoiler: After becoming friends with a fellow survivor who is later murdered, things get even worse.]] Some of her victims she goes after range from being an AssholeVictim to innocent. [[spoiler: It gets so bad that by the end of the film, she has gotten beaten up, sexually assaulted, lost another friend (who killed himself while taking the blame for the murders she committed), slipped into insanity, got shot while trying to kill yet another AssholeVictim, and served two years in prison with no signs that she even wants to get better. Basically, it was RealityEnsues after getting revenge in the remake.]]

* CatharsisFactor: A non-videogame example, and the reason the original film exists. The director wanted to make a feminist movie that empowered rape victims through Jennifer's rampage.

* Tearjerkers:

** It's averted in the second film. Katie's antagonists are [[spoiler: human traffickers who lure women in with free modelling photo shoots (which is TruthInTelevision).]] Somewhat played straight in that one of the antagonists [[spoiler: was a sex slave herself and the other is a PsychopathicManChild who was attracted to Katie.]] It doesn't excuse the hell they put her through. Also, unlike Jennifer, [[spoiler: Katie had two people in her corner that tried (and succeeded somewhat) to help her. This display of humanity probably makes her more of a shade of gray than Jennifer.]]

* TearjerkerMoments:

* HeartWarming: There are some moments in the films

* Tearjerker:

** Katie's entire ordeal in the first half of second film. All of it.
** [[spoiler: What Katie does to her rapists in the last half of the film.]]

** It's averted in the second film. Katie's antagonists are [[spoiler: human traffickers who lure women in with free modelling photo shoots (which is TruthInTelevision).]] Somewhat played straight in that one of the antagonists [[spoiler: was a sex slave herself and the other is a PsychopathicManChild who was attracted to Katie.]] It doesn't excuse the hell they put her through. Also, unlike Jennifer, [[spoiler: Katie had two people in her corner that tried (and succeeded somewhat) in helping her. This display of humanity probably makes her more of a shade of gray than Jennifer.]]

** It's averted in the second film. Katie's antagonists are [[spoiler: human traffickers who lure women in with free modelling photo shoots (which is TruthInTelevision).]] Somewhat played straight in that one of the antagonists [[spoiler: was a sex slave herself and the other is a PsychopathicManChild who was attracted to Katie.]] It doesn't excuse the hell they put her through.

*** Last but not least. [[spoiler: Despite getting court-ordered therapy, Jennifer has no interest in getting help. From her last fantasy, she looks quite eager to continue killing people.]]

*** How Jennifer is doing when we catch up with her. [[spoiler: Short answer: Not good.
She's living alone, working a "shitty job" and still has nightmares and flashbacks from her rape years earlier.]]

* Heartwarming: There are some moments in the films

** Katie's entire ordeal in the second film.

** It's averted in the second film. Katie's antagonists are [[spoiler: human traffickers who lure women in with free modelling photo shoots (which is TruthInTelevision).]] Somewhat played straight in that at one of the antagonists [[spoiler: was a sex slave herself and the other is a PsychopathicManChild who was attracted to Katie.]]

* DesignatedHero / BlackAndBlackMorality - Between the remake's much more sympathetic portrayal of Matthew and inadvertantly softening Jennifer's trauma by avoiding showing her at her worst, its hard to see Jennifer's actions as being an even mildly good person.

** The step father's death in the third film. Ouch.

* NightmareFuel: The rape scene in the original, and the rapists' death scenes in the remake. Especially [[spoiler:Storch and Matthew's]].

* HellIsThatNoise: The harmonica tune.

** Taken further in the remake, Jennifer led to Sheriff to believe that she had killed his daughter. Being a parent who loses a child is generally regarded as the greatest trauma, which by default makes it considerably worse than rape. Probably deliberately invoked by Jennifer to torment her victim.

** It's little better in the third film. When we catch up with Jennifer, she is no longer an author, has changed her name and moved to a new city. She is plagued by nightmares, flashbacks and later on hallucinations. [[spoiler: After becoming friends with a fellow survivor who is later murdered, things get even worse.]] Some of her victims she goes after range from being an AssholeVictim to innocent. [[spoiler: It gets so bad that by the end of the film, she has gotten beaten up, sexually assaulted, lost another friend (who killed himself while taking the blame for the murders she committed), slipped into insanity, get shot while trying to kill yet another AssholeVictim, and served two years in prison with no signs that she even wants to get better.]]

** Taken further in the remake, Jennifer implied that she had killed the Sheriff's daughter. Being a parent who loses a child is generally regarded as the greatest trauma, which by default makes it considerably worse than rape.

** It's little better in the third film. When we catch up with Jennifer, she is no longer an author, has changed her name and moved to a new city. She is plagued by nightmares, flashbacks and later on hallucinations. Some of her victims she goes after range from being an AssholeVictim to innocent. [[spoiler: It gets so bad that by the end of the film, she has gotten beaten up, sexually assaulted, slipped into insanity, shot (while trying to kill yet another man), and serves two years in prison with no signs that she even wants to get better.]]

** Taken further in the remake, Jennifer threatens to kill (and may have killed)the Sheriff's daughter. Being a parent who loses a child is generally regarded as the greatest trauma, which by default makes it considerably worse than rape.