Best Rape and revenge Movies
Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of rape and revenge cinema — measured across 1,148 indexed frames from 14 films, against a 404,689-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.
Rape and revenge films over-index on blood, foliage and candle — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.
- 1
The Nightingale (2018)
Jennifer KentDP Radek ŁadczukIMDb 7.3TMDB 7.1See in full on FrameThrower →
THE NIGHTINGALE is a meditation on the horrors of Australian colonization, set at the turn of the 19th century. The film follows Clare, a 21-year-old native Irish wife and mother held captive beyond her 7-year sentence, desperate to be free of her obsessed master, British lieutenant Hawkins. Clare's husband Aidan intervenes with devastating consequences for all. When British authorities fail to deliver justice, Clare pursues Hawkins, who leaves his post suddenly to secure a captaincy up north. Unfamiliar with the Tasmanian wilderness she enlists the help of an orphaned Aboriginal tracker Billy. Marked by their traumas, the two fight to overcome their distrust and prejudices against the backdrop of Australia's infamous 'Black War'.
- 2
The Last House on the Left (2009)
Dennis IliadisDP Sharone MeirIMDb 6.5TMDB 6.5See in full on FrameThrower →
After kidnapping and torturing two innocent teen girls, a group of people seek refuge in the home of the parents of one of the victimized girls. When the parents find out what happened to their daughter, they plot and carry out revenge on those that hurt her.
- 3
I Spit On Your Grave (1978)
Meir ZarchiDP Nuri HabibIMDb 5.7TMDB 6.0See in full on FrameThrower →
Oozing with confidence and the air of a big-city girl, the talented short-story author, Jennifer Hills, arrives in verdant Kent, Connecticut, to take a break from the hustle and bustle of New York City, and write her first novel. But, there, holed up in her secluded riverside cabin, Jennifer is utterly unaware that she has already caught the eye of violent Johnny and his misogynistic jackals, who are hell-bent on having their way with the unsuspecting visitor. And before long, poor Jennifer is sexually assaulted over and over again and left for dead. But, Jennifer is a hard nut to crack, and her fierce will to survive will pave the way for a relentless mission of vengeance. Now, no one is safe. Who can stop Jennifer from tasting the ambrosial nectar of revenge?
- 4
Elle (2016)
Paul VerhoevenDP Stéphane FontaineIMDb 7.1TMDB 6.6See in full on FrameThrower →
Michèle seems indestructible. Head of a successful video game company, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business. Being attacked in her home by an unknown assailant changes Michèle's life forever. When she resolutely tracks the man down, they are both drawn into a curious and thrilling game-a game that may, at any moment, spiral out of control.
- 5
The Virgin Spring (1960)
Ingmar BergmanDP Sven NykvistIMDb 8.0TMDB 7.8See in full on FrameThrower →
Devout Christians Töre and Märeta send their only daughter, the virginal Karin, and their foster daughter, the unrepentant Ingeri, to deliver candles to a distant church. On their way through the woods, the girls encounter a group of savage goat herders who brutally rape and murder Karin as Ingeri remains hidden. When the killers unwittingly seek refuge in the farmhouse of Töre and Märeta, Töre plots a fitting revenge.
- 6
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Emerald FennellDP Benjamin KračunIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.4See in full on FrameThrower →
Pushing thirty, and defined by a hideous crime involving her bosom friend, Nina, emotionally scarred medical school dropout, Cassie, knows firsthand that some wounds never heal. Leading an uneventful existence, still living with her parents, waiting tables at a cheap coffee shop to earn a living, Cassie has found the perfect way to deal with the painful past. Dressed to kill, at night, Cassie frequents the local bars and nightclubs, pretending to be dead-drunk, utterly helpless and vulnerable. And, every week, lethally beautiful Cassie is on the prowl for all sorts of nocturnal predators and other wolves in sheep's clothing, who are unaware that, sometimes, the hunter can become the prey. Then, Ryan, a kindly and caring old classmate who is the bee's knees, enters the picture, and just like that, Cassie wants out. However, everybody knows that breaking bad habits is easier said than done. Could Ryan be the one?
- 7
Death Wish II (1982)
Michael WinnerDP Thomas Del RuthIMDb 6.0TMDB 6.3See in full on FrameThrower →
After using himself as bait to rid New York City of its muggers in Death Wish (1974), Paul Kersey relocates to Los Angeles with his traumatised daughter, trying to wipe the slate clean, and bury the past. However, once again, Paul catches the eye of a new bunch of savage street thugs, and before long, rape and murder destroy his family. Now, armed with his unforgiving semi-automatic Beretta 84 pistol, Kersey prowls the filthy backstreets of L.A., eager to pick up where he left off, and clean up the city. But, Paul's brutal method of justice is starting to attract unwanted attention. Will the police corner the notorious vigilante this time?
- 8
Irréversible (2002)
Gaspar NoéDP Benoît DebieIMDb 7.3TMDB 7.2See in full on FrameThrower →
A young woman, Alex, is raped by a stranger in a tunnel. Her boyfriend Marcus and ex-boyfriend Pierre decide to do justice themselves. In 2002, Gaspar Noé created controversy (and controversy) by presenting his film at the Cannes Film Festival. 17 years later, he returns with a brand new version of his cult film. Initially operated in an anechronological form (the film starts at the end and ends at its beginning), with Irreversible "Full Inversion" (2019), the filmmaker offers us a completely different reading, offering it to us in a chronological order.
What rape and revenge films are made of
How much more often each element appears in a rape and revenge frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — blood is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.
- blood3.1×
- foliage3.0×
- candle2.6×
- stone wall2.1×
- trees2.0×
- tree1.8×
- grass1.8×
- hair1.5×
What breaks the pattern
Law Abiding Citizen (2009) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.
Method
Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 1,148 frames from 14 films carrying the rape and revenge label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (404,689 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.
Machine-readable: /api/list/rape-and-revenge
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